Re: Looking for advice
 

You are right in a way, but Australia is a younger country and the poverty rate is increasing faster than ever before. The difference to Europe or the UK is that it's easier to see poverty (more densely populated, older buildings, poverty in cities). In Australia a lot of the poverty is in non urban areas, regional towns and these people have no access to health services, running water so most people here will never see it.

Re: Looking for advice
 

Ok I coughed up my cornflakes when you said access to running water. Yes some people do live on tank water, and the desert can be a pretty dry place, but humans need water to survive. People can"t habitate where there is no water.

Re: Looking for advice
 

Hospitals and Health Services here don't provide accommodation. Nor is there a scheme like the one in London for subsidised housing for key workers.

Re: Looking for advice
 

Oh sorry, what I meant was no taps, no showers or flushing toilets. Then call it access to safe running water if you wish and yes some have bore water which is contaminated. And is this also just all a joke https://www.anu.edu.au/news/all-news...drinking-water
Poverty can be found across the globe, just saying.

Re: Looking for advice
 

I'm not on tank water, but many here are - even close to the cities, and you wouldn't really know the difference if just visiting - taps, shower and toilets as usual. Its very expensive to buy tank water though, and rainwater is often hard to come by, so you have to watch every drop.

There some very small remote Queensland communities however which have hit the news for having towns that are/were very low on water supplies as bores have dried up in the droughts - one example:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-09-...ttle/100495204

Re: Looking for advice
 

It's certainly one of the biggest challenges today. I suppose the more wealth people see, the less we notice poverty and a country the size of Australia will have many hidden secrets. I remember many years ago when Wilcannia still made the headlines, but no idea how it is today. At that time the average life expectancy was less than 40 years. Of course a lot had to do with drugs and alcohol, but it would be wrong to ignore it.

Re: Looking for advice
 

I don't actually know what you are talking use the quote system ! Funny man read it again it clearly says quote Amazulu.

Also your opinions are just that my friend nothing more and nothing less Lol! Many people make bizarre (factual Quotes) But it depends on original sources.
I think your points are ridiculous actually of course salaries are higher! Otherwise people would starve over here. The question is.... Why are they higher? Not because the rewards are greater but the costs are so the salaries are higher to meet the costs and I'm sure if you actually look you will find from (most) articles it is cheaper to live in the U.K. Enough said as I'm. bored now

Freedom of speech opinions and ideas are for all.

Re: Looking for advice
 

Thanks for using the quote system - it makes conversations easier to follow and is just basic common courtesy

Salaries are higher because there is always a supply/demand equation with the availabilty of labour - always. COL pressures have nothing to do with it. People in, say, Mozambique may earn $1 a day, yet a loaf of bread probably costs 50c. They earn a low salary but their COL is high. They could ask for $2 a day but they ain't going to get it as there's a lot of other people chasing that $1 and 50c loaf. Now scale that up to a Western country like Australia and the same equation is in play - your COL is rising and you ask for a raise. Your employer today has to pay it as he needs your services as labour supply is tight, yet there have been situations where there has been high inflation yet incomes have not risen as labour is available and there is no need for employers to increase wages. Supply/demand. End of. Levels of disposable incomes are high in Australia - much higher than the UK. According to the OECD, Australia is 4th in the world for per capita disposable income and the UK is 14th. If you need me to explain what disposable income is, I'd be happy to. Boil it down and the standard of living and levels of wealth are higher in Australia compared to the UK. They just are.

Hope this helps

You started this debate and if you're bored after one reply, why bother in the first place?

Bizarre

Re: Looking for advice
 

But a higher disposable income isn't worth anything if you still pay more for products and services (higher living expenses). I can also have a higher disposable income and then spend the rest on petrol to get to work or half is gone for housing. Discretionary income is what you need to look at and even then it's just a figure.

Example:Discretionary income is the income available to spend. It is disposable (after tax income) – all the payments necessary to meet current essential bills, (such as rent, insurance, food, transport, heating)

For example, a family may have a weekly disposable income of £365. But after bills like rent, insurance, heating, essential food, health insurance, work transport costs – they are left with a discretionary income of £80 a week.

This £80 is the amount that they have to spend or save after paying all essential living costs.

Re: Looking for advice
 

I agree but data on discretionary income by country is hard to get - there's certainly nothing rigorous out there. The best I've found is things like the best country to be born in or where to live, quality of life etc. Numbeo has some data but it's a low rent source:
https://www.numbeo.com/quality-of-li...by_country.jsp

If you filter that table on purchasing power, Australia is 2nd

The EIU (which is a quality source) has some data but it's 10 years old:
https://www.economist.com/news/2012/...ottery-of-life

Interestingly, in 1988, the UK was 7th on that list and Australia was 27th - a role reversal on steroids!

You kind of see this in reality too - drive around an Australian town or city and you see it's clean, tidy, works - it looks nice. it's a great place to live - we all know it - and if someone can't see it then that's their issue and nothing to do with the country

Re: Looking for advice
 

No doubt many areas look clean depending what you compare it with, it's all relative. On the surface it can appear clean and I'll be here in a few weeks time (street view). The beaches are cleaned every day, but that isn't the case in the UK unfortunately. It looks clean, the litter is still there.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/british...d434e38f8b.jpg

I posted this video in the climate change section last week,

Re: Looking for advice
 

I regret mentioning clean cities as it's distracted from the debate and you've focussed on it, but anyhoo. A few years ago, I spent some time in Liverpool. A great city and I loved the place and people but it was absolutely filthy. The same with Manchester (which I didn't like as much). The point I was trying to make was that just spending some time in a city here will show you what a wealthy, functioning country Australia is. It is wealthier and healthier than the UK - HDI, per capita GDP, life expectancy, disposable income, purchasing power etc. It just is. As I was saying, if some don't like these facts, that's their indaba, not Australia's

Re: Looking for advice
 

I get your point and you are right, in the UK there are a lot of really filthy cities. In that sense the Australian government does a lot more, I agree.
My point is that wealthy countries don't offer wealth for all and all it really means is that unless you are already wealthy, it's now a lot harder for newcomers.
Due to the fact that the wealthier Australians don't have a choice to spend their money elsewhere, you see a lot more wealth as the wealth stays in the country (trophy homes).
In the UK or Europe wealth is spread out more between different countries and some might buy a holiday home abroad instead of improving their main home and the focus is not on cities.
I was here last Saturday and met a German couple who were from Cologne and own a holiday home below that hill, probably wealthy but they don't show it (just a different culture).
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/british...658ba30f5b.jpg

Re: Looking for advice
 

Every country has wealth disparity - even places like Norway do. In Australia, this disparity is lower than in most Western countries with the exception, possibly, of Scandinavia - Australia is very eglitarian. The caveat to that obviously is remote indigenous communities, many of which are a mess (for lots of different reasons). However, this is not through lack of wealth as there are huge sums of money thrown at this. It's just that the system is dysfunctional. That Europeans may be able to buy holiday homes in other countries is splitting hairs and diversion - many Australians own holiday homes, well they do around here anyway. It's just that these are usually in Australia, often close by - although I know people who own properties in SE Asia, Italy, Spain etc. The thing I find strange when I visit the UK is how nice the cars are - everyone seems to drive a nice vehicle. But driving around you'll see Audis, BMWs, Jaguars parked outside really average or shitty houses. My mate's sister lives in a bog standard 3x1 semi in Glasgow but drives a Mercedes SUV! I don't get that - spend money on your home, not on a car. If you can afford both then party on but if you can't, a house goes up in value and drives your wealth but a car depreciates and drains it. It's generally different here - it's noticeable

Re: Looking for advice
 

But like the houses most don’t actually own the cars (or the latest iPhones they use) all are on finance/contracts of some sort. They get talked up to bigger, better models and it it also much more common to have a company car in the UK.

I agree that Australia is more egalitarian on the basis of the minimum wage and the fact that skilled workers earn living wages. My son supported himself through uni here (no grant just HECS loan) living independently by casual shifts at a cafe no way could he have done that in the UK.