Happily, they do not have to, because such a country already exists: Australia

GOD BLESS AN AUSTRALIAN TRUMP!


that would be lovely!:2up::2up::2up::2up:
We AIN'T THAT MAD,anyhow these manic conservatives are about to be kicked of the Political stage here....I always said Australia is a Million Miles Advanced than that BANANA REPUBLIC CALLED AMERICA...you really have No right to speak here because Australians HATE BIGOTS


we? you say we?

you are islamic loving....Australia is not like you....

but then we all know who and what you are
You Now See What We Are Dealing With Here.....A TWO BIT-ZIONIST BIGOT,she Hates,anyone who isn't a Zionist Racist Jew...Why don't you F OFF,we don't need Shit like you here....YOU SHOULD BE BANNED ( and for your Shitty Mind,Australia is all like me,you ignorant Moron)
So you think Australia is Funny...You SAD RACIST NOBODY...YOU ARE A TOTAL WASTE OF SPACE...Amen



I prefer not to reply to Islamists like you who happen to live in Australia ok?

wakey wakey Australia....do not let this scum in the country!

thanks!
 
What is the biggest problem facing the US? Or Japan? Or Britain? Or France?


Opinions vary, naturally, but some worries crop up again and again. Those of a materialist bent point to decades of slow growth in median incomes, which has bred disillusion and anger among working people.
Fiscal hawks decry huge public debts, destined to grow even vaster as ageing populations rack up ever bigger bills for healthcare and pensions. Then there is immigration, which has prompted a furious populist backlash in the US and Europe. That hints at what, for many, is the most alarming trend of all: the lack of any semblance of a political consensus about how to handle these swelling crises.


Rising incomes, low public debt, an affordable welfare state, popular support for mass immigration and a broad consensus on the policies underpinning these things — that is a distant dream in most rich countries. Many Western politicians could scarcely imagine a place that combined them all. Happily, they do not have to, because such a country already exists: Australia.


Perhaps because it is far away from everywhere, or has only 25 million inhabitants, or is seen mainly as a habitat for cuddly marsupials, it attracts relatively little attention. But its economy is arguably the most successful in the rich world. It has been growing for 27 years without a recession — a record for a developed country. Its cumulative growth over that period is almost three times what Germany has managed. The median income has risen four times faster than in the US. Public debt, at 41 per cent of GDP, is less than half Britain’s.



Luck has had a hand in these feats, to be sure. Australia is blessed with lots of iron ore and natural gas, and is relatively close to China, which hoovers up such things. But sound policymaking has helped, too. After the last recession, in 1991, the government of the day reformed the healthcare and pensions systems, requiring the middle class to pay more of its own way. The result is that Australia’s government spends just half the OECD average on pensions as a share of GDP — and the gap will only widen in the years ahead.



Even more remarkable is Australia’s enthusiasm for immigration. About 29 per cent of its inhabitants were born in another country — twice the proportion in the US. Half of Australians are either immigrants themselves or children of immigrants. And the biggest source of immigrants is Asia, which is fast changing the country’s racial mix. Compare that with the US or Britain or Italy, where far smaller inflows have generated hostility among a big portion of the electorate — or Japan, where allowing foreigners to settle in any numbers is a political taboo.
In Australia both main parties argue that admitting lots of skilled migrants is essential to the health of the economy.



These achievements are not without their flaws. The private investment funds through which Australians are obliged to save for their retirement have been charging excessive fees, leaving pensioners poorer than they should be. And as welcoming as Australia is to immigrants arriving through normal channels, it treats those who try to come by boat without the proper paperwork with needless severity, packing them off to remote islands in the Pacific.



Moreover, there are reforms that Australia should be undertaking and is not. Aboriginal Australians suffer from enormous disadvantages, which a succession of governments has barely dented. Global warming is clearly causing grave damage — droughts have become more frequent and more severe, among other dismal consequences — yet Australia has done almost nothing to curb its emissions of greenhouse gases.



Nonetheless, Australia’s example shows that reforms considered impossible elsewhere are perfectly achievable. Democrats in the US assail most proposals to restrain the rising costs of public pensions or healthcare as tantamount to throwing grannies off a cliff; in Australia it was the Left that pioneered such policies.



The Labor Party sold obligatory private pensions to unions as a rise in benefits, since it is technically employers who are required to make regular payments into investment funds on their workers’ behalf. The party also made sure to retain a basic public pension, which is paid only to those who have not managed to build up adequate personal savings.



By the same token, it is quite possible to maintain popular support for mass immigration, even from culturally dissimilar places. But it is essential to give voters the sense that their borders are properly policed and that there is no free-for-all. Again, bipartisanship is important. It was a right-wing government that first allowed immigration from Asia on a big scale, admitting lots of refugees from Vietnam in the 1970s.



Australia’s political system rewards centrism. All eligible citizens must vote, by law, and those who might not bother to turn out otherwise tend to plump for mainstream parties. There is no need to rally supporters to the polls by pandering to their prejudices. Since everyone has to show up, politicians focus instead on winning over the wavering middle. The system of preferential voting, whereby Australians rank candidates in order of choice rather than picking just one, also exerts a moderating influence.
The irony is that, just as the benefits of this set-up are becoming so obvious, Australians appear to be growing disenchanted with it. Voters express growing doubts about the effectiveness of government. It has not cost the two main parties many seats, thanks to the electoral system, but their vote share has fallen by 20 percentage points since the 1980s. Politicians, conscious of voters’ disgruntlement, have also become increasingly febrile.



They are constantly turfing out prime ministers, in the hope that a new face will boost their party’s standing with the electorate. Some in the ruling Liberal Party, although not the current prime minister, have begun to call for a reduction in immigration, undermining decades of consensus. Ambitious reforms have become rare. The rest of the world could learn a lot from Australia — and Australians could do with a refresher course, too.



Nocookies
Australians love of immigrants? As long as they are few and far between white and speak English, they love that. Come on now. But still, Australia? I have a soft spot for the place.
 
What is the biggest problem facing the US? Or Japan? Or Britain? Or France?


Opinions vary, naturally, but some worries crop up again and again. Those of a materialist bent point to decades of slow growth in median incomes, which has bred disillusion and anger among working people.
Fiscal hawks decry huge public debts, destined to grow even vaster as ageing populations rack up ever bigger bills for healthcare and pensions. Then there is immigration, which has prompted a furious populist backlash in the US and Europe. That hints at what, for many, is the most alarming trend of all: the lack of any semblance of a political consensus about how to handle these swelling crises.


Rising incomes, low public debt, an affordable welfare state, popular support for mass immigration and a broad consensus on the policies underpinning these things — that is a distant dream in most rich countries. Many Western politicians could scarcely imagine a place that combined them all. Happily, they do not have to, because such a country already exists: Australia.


Perhaps because it is far away from everywhere, or has only 25 million inhabitants, or is seen mainly as a habitat for cuddly marsupials, it attracts relatively little attention. But its economy is arguably the most successful in the rich world. It has been growing for 27 years without a recession — a record for a developed country. Its cumulative growth over that period is almost three times what Germany has managed. The median income has risen four times faster than in the US. Public debt, at 41 per cent of GDP, is less than half Britain’s.



Luck has had a hand in these feats, to be sure. Australia is blessed with lots of iron ore and natural gas, and is relatively close to China, which hoovers up such things. But sound policymaking has helped, too. After the last recession, in 1991, the government of the day reformed the healthcare and pensions systems, requiring the middle class to pay more of its own way. The result is that Australia’s government spends just half the OECD average on pensions as a share of GDP — and the gap will only widen in the years ahead.



Even more remarkable is Australia’s enthusiasm for immigration. About 29 per cent of its inhabitants were born in another country — twice the proportion in the US. Half of Australians are either immigrants themselves or children of immigrants. And the biggest source of immigrants is Asia, which is fast changing the country’s racial mix. Compare that with the US or Britain or Italy, where far smaller inflows have generated hostility among a big portion of the electorate — or Japan, where allowing foreigners to settle in any numbers is a political taboo.
In Australia both main parties argue that admitting lots of skilled migrants is essential to the health of the economy.



These achievements are not without their flaws. The private investment funds through which Australians are obliged to save for their retirement have been charging excessive fees, leaving pensioners poorer than they should be. And as welcoming as Australia is to immigrants arriving through normal channels, it treats those who try to come by boat without the proper paperwork with needless severity, packing them off to remote islands in the Pacific.



Moreover, there are reforms that Australia should be undertaking and is not. Aboriginal Australians suffer from enormous disadvantages, which a succession of governments has barely dented. Global warming is clearly causing grave damage — droughts have become more frequent and more severe, among other dismal consequences — yet Australia has done almost nothing to curb its emissions of greenhouse gases.



Nonetheless, Australia’s example shows that reforms considered impossible elsewhere are perfectly achievable. Democrats in the US assail most proposals to restrain the rising costs of public pensions or healthcare as tantamount to throwing grannies off a cliff; in Australia it was the Left that pioneered such policies.



The Labor Party sold obligatory private pensions to unions as a rise in benefits, since it is technically employers who are required to make regular payments into investment funds on their workers’ behalf. The party also made sure to retain a basic public pension, which is paid only to those who have not managed to build up adequate personal savings.



By the same token, it is quite possible to maintain popular support for mass immigration, even from culturally dissimilar places. But it is essential to give voters the sense that their borders are properly policed and that there is no free-for-all. Again, bipartisanship is important. It was a right-wing government that first allowed immigration from Asia on a big scale, admitting lots of refugees from Vietnam in the 1970s.



Australia’s political system rewards centrism. All eligible citizens must vote, by law, and those who might not bother to turn out otherwise tend to plump for mainstream parties. There is no need to rally supporters to the polls by pandering to their prejudices. Since everyone has to show up, politicians focus instead on winning over the wavering middle. The system of preferential voting, whereby Australians rank candidates in order of choice rather than picking just one, also exerts a moderating influence.
The irony is that, just as the benefits of this set-up are becoming so obvious, Australians appear to be growing disenchanted with it. Voters express growing doubts about the effectiveness of government. It has not cost the two main parties many seats, thanks to the electoral system, but their vote share has fallen by 20 percentage points since the 1980s. Politicians, conscious of voters’ disgruntlement, have also become increasingly febrile.



They are constantly turfing out prime ministers, in the hope that a new face will boost their party’s standing with the electorate. Some in the ruling Liberal Party, although not the current prime minister, have begun to call for a reduction in immigration, undermining decades of consensus. Ambitious reforms have become rare. The rest of the world could learn a lot from Australia — and Australians could do with a refresher course, too.



Nocookies
Australians love of immigrants? As long as they are few and far between white and speak English, they love that. Come on now. But still, Australia? I have a soft spot for the place.


Australians hate Islamists!

It is what it is my friends!


Australians like surf ....:2up:


but they do not like islamists
 
Ever live in the U.S. mate?
Canada Great AND THE USA..NOT SO GREAT...I hate the poverty,and the Cops always pouncing on motorists for speeding,which most don't...and going in Servo's(service stations) standing at the bowser to get Gas...Nothing,then realising you have to Pay for it first before you can fill the car,and people saying how Great the US is,who have never travelled further than the end of their nose....and Idiots like Skye who are Racist...but apart from that I think most Americans are Great
 
Last edited:
GOD BLESS AN AUSTRALIAN TRUMP!


that would be lovely!:2up::2up::2up::2up:
We AIN'T THAT MAD,anyhow these manic conservatives are about to be kicked of the Political stage here....I always said Australia is a Million Miles Advanced than that BANANA REPUBLIC CALLED AMERICA...you really have No right to speak here because Australians HATE BIGOTS


we? you say we?

you are islamic loving....Australia is not like you....

but then we all know who and what you are
You Now See What We Are Dealing With Here.....A TWO BIT-ZIONIST BIGOT,she Hates,anyone who isn't a Zionist Racist Jew...Why don't you F OFF,we don't need Shit like you here....YOU SHOULD BE BANNED ( and for your Shitty Mind,Australia is all like me,you ignorant Moron)
So you think Australia is Funny...You SAD RACIST NOBODY...YOU ARE A TOTAL WASTE OF SPACE...Amen



I prefer not to reply to Islamists like you who happen to live in Australia ok?

wakey wakey Australia....do not let this scum in the country!

thanks!
We are a Multi-Cultural Society and are the most successful
 
What is the biggest problem facing the US? Or Japan? Or Britain? Or France?


Opinions vary, naturally, but some worries crop up again and again. Those of a materialist bent point to decades of slow growth in median incomes, which has bred disillusion and anger among working people.
Fiscal hawks decry huge public debts, destined to grow even vaster as ageing populations rack up ever bigger bills for healthcare and pensions. Then there is immigration, which has prompted a furious populist backlash in the US and Europe. That hints at what, for many, is the most alarming trend of all: the lack of any semblance of a political consensus about how to handle these swelling crises.


Rising incomes, low public debt, an affordable welfare state, popular support for mass immigration and a broad consensus on the policies underpinning these things — that is a distant dream in most rich countries. Many Western politicians could scarcely imagine a place that combined them all. Happily, they do not have to, because such a country already exists: Australia.


Perhaps because it is far away from everywhere, or has only 25 million inhabitants, or is seen mainly as a habitat for cuddly marsupials, it attracts relatively little attention. But its economy is arguably the most successful in the rich world. It has been growing for 27 years without a recession — a record for a developed country. Its cumulative growth over that period is almost three times what Germany has managed. The median income has risen four times faster than in the US. Public debt, at 41 per cent of GDP, is less than half Britain’s.



Luck has had a hand in these feats, to be sure. Australia is blessed with lots of iron ore and natural gas, and is relatively close to China, which hoovers up such things. But sound policymaking has helped, too. After the last recession, in 1991, the government of the day reformed the healthcare and pensions systems, requiring the middle class to pay more of its own way. The result is that Australia’s government spends just half the OECD average on pensions as a share of GDP — and the gap will only widen in the years ahead.



Even more remarkable is Australia’s enthusiasm for immigration. About 29 per cent of its inhabitants were born in another country — twice the proportion in the US. Half of Australians are either immigrants themselves or children of immigrants. And the biggest source of immigrants is Asia, which is fast changing the country’s racial mix. Compare that with the US or Britain or Italy, where far smaller inflows have generated hostility among a big portion of the electorate — or Japan, where allowing foreigners to settle in any numbers is a political taboo.
In Australia both main parties argue that admitting lots of skilled migrants is essential to the health of the economy.



These achievements are not without their flaws. The private investment funds through which Australians are obliged to save for their retirement have been charging excessive fees, leaving pensioners poorer than they should be. And as welcoming as Australia is to immigrants arriving through normal channels, it treats those who try to come by boat without the proper paperwork with needless severity, packing them off to remote islands in the Pacific.



Moreover, there are reforms that Australia should be undertaking and is not. Aboriginal Australians suffer from enormous disadvantages, which a succession of governments has barely dented. Global warming is clearly causing grave damage — droughts have become more frequent and more severe, among other dismal consequences — yet Australia has done almost nothing to curb its emissions of greenhouse gases.



Nonetheless, Australia’s example shows that reforms considered impossible elsewhere are perfectly achievable. Democrats in the US assail most proposals to restrain the rising costs of public pensions or healthcare as tantamount to throwing grannies off a cliff; in Australia it was the Left that pioneered such policies.



The Labor Party sold obligatory private pensions to unions as a rise in benefits, since it is technically employers who are required to make regular payments into investment funds on their workers’ behalf. The party also made sure to retain a basic public pension, which is paid only to those who have not managed to build up adequate personal savings.



By the same token, it is quite possible to maintain popular support for mass immigration, even from culturally dissimilar places. But it is essential to give voters the sense that their borders are properly policed and that there is no free-for-all. Again, bipartisanship is important. It was a right-wing government that first allowed immigration from Asia on a big scale, admitting lots of refugees from Vietnam in the 1970s.



Australia’s political system rewards centrism. All eligible citizens must vote, by law, and those who might not bother to turn out otherwise tend to plump for mainstream parties. There is no need to rally supporters to the polls by pandering to their prejudices. Since everyone has to show up, politicians focus instead on winning over the wavering middle. The system of preferential voting, whereby Australians rank candidates in order of choice rather than picking just one, also exerts a moderating influence.
The irony is that, just as the benefits of this set-up are becoming so obvious, Australians appear to be growing disenchanted with it. Voters express growing doubts about the effectiveness of government. It has not cost the two main parties many seats, thanks to the electoral system, but their vote share has fallen by 20 percentage points since the 1980s. Politicians, conscious of voters’ disgruntlement, have also become increasingly febrile.



They are constantly turfing out prime ministers, in the hope that a new face will boost their party’s standing with the electorate. Some in the ruling Liberal Party, although not the current prime minister, have begun to call for a reduction in immigration, undermining decades of consensus. Ambitious reforms have become rare. The rest of the world could learn a lot from Australia — and Australians could do with a refresher course, too.



Nocookies
Australians love of immigrants? As long as they are few and far between white and speak English, they love that. Come on now. But still, Australia? I have a soft spot for the place.


Australians hate Islamists!

It is what it is my friends!


Australians like surf ....:2up:


but they do not like islamists
Keep your Idiocy Away from Paradise
 
What is the biggest problem facing the US? Or Japan? Or Britain? Or France?


Opinions vary, naturally, but some worries crop up again and again. Those of a materialist bent point to decades of slow growth in median incomes, which has bred disillusion and anger among working people.
Fiscal hawks decry huge public debts, destined to grow even vaster as ageing populations rack up ever bigger bills for healthcare and pensions. Then there is immigration, which has prompted a furious populist backlash in the US and Europe. That hints at what, for many, is the most alarming trend of all: the lack of any semblance of a political consensus about how to handle these swelling crises.


Rising incomes, low public debt, an affordable welfare state, popular support for mass immigration and a broad consensus on the policies underpinning these things — that is a distant dream in most rich countries. Many Western politicians could scarcely imagine a place that combined them all. Happily, they do not have to, because such a country already exists: Australia.


Perhaps because it is far away from everywhere, or has only 25 million inhabitants, or is seen mainly as a habitat for cuddly marsupials, it attracts relatively little attention. But its economy is arguably the most successful in the rich world. It has been growing for 27 years without a recession — a record for a developed country. Its cumulative growth over that period is almost three times what Germany has managed. The median income has risen four times faster than in the US. Public debt, at 41 per cent of GDP, is less than half Britain’s.



Luck has had a hand in these feats, to be sure. Australia is blessed with lots of iron ore and natural gas, and is relatively close to China, which hoovers up such things. But sound policymaking has helped, too. After the last recession, in 1991, the government of the day reformed the healthcare and pensions systems, requiring the middle class to pay more of its own way. The result is that Australia’s government spends just half the OECD average on pensions as a share of GDP — and the gap will only widen in the years ahead.



Even more remarkable is Australia’s enthusiasm for immigration. About 29 per cent of its inhabitants were born in another country — twice the proportion in the US. Half of Australians are either immigrants themselves or children of immigrants. And the biggest source of immigrants is Asia, which is fast changing the country’s racial mix. Compare that with the US or Britain or Italy, where far smaller inflows have generated hostility among a big portion of the electorate — or Japan, where allowing foreigners to settle in any numbers is a political taboo.
In Australia both main parties argue that admitting lots of skilled migrants is essential to the health of the economy.



These achievements are not without their flaws. The private investment funds through which Australians are obliged to save for their retirement have been charging excessive fees, leaving pensioners poorer than they should be. And as welcoming as Australia is to immigrants arriving through normal channels, it treats those who try to come by boat without the proper paperwork with needless severity, packing them off to remote islands in the Pacific.



Moreover, there are reforms that Australia should be undertaking and is not. Aboriginal Australians suffer from enormous disadvantages, which a succession of governments has barely dented. Global warming is clearly causing grave damage — droughts have become more frequent and more severe, among other dismal consequences — yet Australia has done almost nothing to curb its emissions of greenhouse gases.



Nonetheless, Australia’s example shows that reforms considered impossible elsewhere are perfectly achievable. Democrats in the US assail most proposals to restrain the rising costs of public pensions or healthcare as tantamount to throwing grannies off a cliff; in Australia it was the Left that pioneered such policies.



The Labor Party sold obligatory private pensions to unions as a rise in benefits, since it is technically employers who are required to make regular payments into investment funds on their workers’ behalf. The party also made sure to retain a basic public pension, which is paid only to those who have not managed to build up adequate personal savings.



By the same token, it is quite possible to maintain popular support for mass immigration, even from culturally dissimilar places. But it is essential to give voters the sense that their borders are properly policed and that there is no free-for-all. Again, bipartisanship is important. It was a right-wing government that first allowed immigration from Asia on a big scale, admitting lots of refugees from Vietnam in the 1970s.



Australia’s political system rewards centrism. All eligible citizens must vote, by law, and those who might not bother to turn out otherwise tend to plump for mainstream parties. There is no need to rally supporters to the polls by pandering to their prejudices. Since everyone has to show up, politicians focus instead on winning over the wavering middle. The system of preferential voting, whereby Australians rank candidates in order of choice rather than picking just one, also exerts a moderating influence.
The irony is that, just as the benefits of this set-up are becoming so obvious, Australians appear to be growing disenchanted with it. Voters express growing doubts about the effectiveness of government. It has not cost the two main parties many seats, thanks to the electoral system, but their vote share has fallen by 20 percentage points since the 1980s. Politicians, conscious of voters’ disgruntlement, have also become increasingly febrile.



They are constantly turfing out prime ministers, in the hope that a new face will boost their party’s standing with the electorate. Some in the ruling Liberal Party, although not the current prime minister, have begun to call for a reduction in immigration, undermining decades of consensus. Ambitious reforms have become rare. The rest of the world could learn a lot from Australia — and Australians could do with a refresher course, too.



Nocookies
Australians love of immigrants? As long as they are few and far between white and speak English, they love that. Come on now. But still, Australia? I have a soft spot for the place.
Not factual at all
 
Australians are just like Americans on this, they are all over the place. Yanks and the Aussies have that in common.
 
Australians are just like Americans on this, they are all over the place. Yanks and the Aussies have that in common.

agree.... islamists theliq thinks because he has a kangaroo as an avatar people will have sympathy for him....


wrong, sorry.:dunno:
 
What is the biggest problem facing the US? Or Japan? Or Britain? Or France?


Opinions vary, naturally, but some worries crop up again and again. Those of a materialist bent point to decades of slow growth in median incomes, which has bred disillusion and anger among working people.
Fiscal hawks decry huge public debts, destined to grow even vaster as ageing populations rack up ever bigger bills for healthcare and pensions. Then there is immigration, which has prompted a furious populist backlash in the US and Europe. That hints at what, for many, is the most alarming trend of all: the lack of any semblance of a political consensus about how to handle these swelling crises.


Rising incomes, low public debt, an affordable welfare state, popular support for mass immigration and a broad consensus on the policies underpinning these things — that is a distant dream in most rich countries. Many Western politicians could scarcely imagine a place that combined them all. Happily, they do not have to, because such a country already exists: Australia.


Perhaps because it is far away from everywhere, or has only 25 million inhabitants, or is seen mainly as a habitat for cuddly marsupials, it attracts relatively little attention. But its economy is arguably the most successful in the rich world. It has been growing for 27 years without a recession — a record for a developed country. Its cumulative growth over that period is almost three times what Germany has managed. The median income has risen four times faster than in the US. Public debt, at 41 per cent of GDP, is less than half Britain’s.



Luck has had a hand in these feats, to be sure. Australia is blessed with lots of iron ore and natural gas, and is relatively close to China, which hoovers up such things. But sound policymaking has helped, too. After the last recession, in 1991, the government of the day reformed the healthcare and pensions systems, requiring the middle class to pay more of its own way. The result is that Australia’s government spends just half the OECD average on pensions as a share of GDP — and the gap will only widen in the years ahead.



Even more remarkable is Australia’s enthusiasm for immigration. About 29 per cent of its inhabitants were born in another country — twice the proportion in the US. Half of Australians are either immigrants themselves or children of immigrants. And the biggest source of immigrants is Asia, which is fast changing the country’s racial mix. Compare that with the US or Britain or Italy, where far smaller inflows have generated hostility among a big portion of the electorate — or Japan, where allowing foreigners to settle in any numbers is a political taboo.
In Australia both main parties argue that admitting lots of skilled migrants is essential to the health of the economy.



These achievements are not without their flaws. The private investment funds through which Australians are obliged to save for their retirement have been charging excessive fees, leaving pensioners poorer than they should be. And as welcoming as Australia is to immigrants arriving through normal channels, it treats those who try to come by boat without the proper paperwork with needless severity, packing them off to remote islands in the Pacific.



Moreover, there are reforms that Australia should be undertaking and is not. Aboriginal Australians suffer from enormous disadvantages, which a succession of governments has barely dented. Global warming is clearly causing grave damage — droughts have become more frequent and more severe, among other dismal consequences — yet Australia has done almost nothing to curb its emissions of greenhouse gases.



Nonetheless, Australia’s example shows that reforms considered impossible elsewhere are perfectly achievable. Democrats in the US assail most proposals to restrain the rising costs of public pensions or healthcare as tantamount to throwing grannies off a cliff; in Australia it was the Left that pioneered such policies.



The Labor Party sold obligatory private pensions to unions as a rise in benefits, since it is technically employers who are required to make regular payments into investment funds on their workers’ behalf. The party also made sure to retain a basic public pension, which is paid only to those who have not managed to build up adequate personal savings.



By the same token, it is quite possible to maintain popular support for mass immigration, even from culturally dissimilar places. But it is essential to give voters the sense that their borders are properly policed and that there is no free-for-all. Again, bipartisanship is important. It was a right-wing government that first allowed immigration from Asia on a big scale, admitting lots of refugees from Vietnam in the 1970s.



Australia’s political system rewards centrism. All eligible citizens must vote, by law, and those who might not bother to turn out otherwise tend to plump for mainstream parties. There is no need to rally supporters to the polls by pandering to their prejudices. Since everyone has to show up, politicians focus instead on winning over the wavering middle. The system of preferential voting, whereby Australians rank candidates in order of choice rather than picking just one, also exerts a moderating influence.
The irony is that, just as the benefits of this set-up are becoming so obvious, Australians appear to be growing disenchanted with it. Voters express growing doubts about the effectiveness of government. It has not cost the two main parties many seats, thanks to the electoral system, but their vote share has fallen by 20 percentage points since the 1980s. Politicians, conscious of voters’ disgruntlement, have also become increasingly febrile.



They are constantly turfing out prime ministers, in the hope that a new face will boost their party’s standing with the electorate. Some in the ruling Liberal Party, although not the current prime minister, have begun to call for a reduction in immigration, undermining decades of consensus. Ambitious reforms have become rare. The rest of the world could learn a lot from Australia — and Australians could do with a refresher course, too.



Nocookies
Australians love of immigrants? As long as they are few and far between white and speak English, they love that. Come on now. But still, Australia? I have a soft spot for the place.
Not factual at all
What isn't "factual"? from things I have read, Australia has it's fair share of crazy mad hatter liberals and right winger racist loons.
 
It's great for Australia doesn't share a border with another country. They have the pacific ocean and their own sense of right and wrong. They don't have to accept anyone. America/ we got these great neighbors on the north, and these kinda pesky neighbors on the south, that steal in here, change the demographics and there's' all sorts of political shenanigans that go with this. Sanctuary cities, BYTW, nobody actually got to vote on that, it just was mandated to us plebes. You aussies wouldn't understand THAT end of this issue from here in the States. I rather doubt the media elaborates on that.
 
What is the biggest problem facing the US? Or Japan? Or Britain? Or France?


Opinions vary, naturally, but some worries crop up again and again. Those of a materialist bent point to decades of slow growth in median incomes, which has bred disillusion and anger among working people.
Fiscal hawks decry huge public debts, destined to grow even vaster as ageing populations rack up ever bigger bills for healthcare and pensions. Then there is immigration, which has prompted a furious populist backlash in the US and Europe. That hints at what, for many, is the most alarming trend of all: the lack of any semblance of a political consensus about how to handle these swelling crises.


Rising incomes, low public debt, an affordable welfare state, popular support for mass immigration and a broad consensus on the policies underpinning these things — that is a distant dream in most rich countries. Many Western politicians could scarcely imagine a place that combined them all. Happily, they do not have to, because such a country already exists: Australia.


Perhaps because it is far away from everywhere, or has only 25 million inhabitants, or is seen mainly as a habitat for cuddly marsupials, it attracts relatively little attention. But its economy is arguably the most successful in the rich world. It has been growing for 27 years without a recession — a record for a developed country. Its cumulative growth over that period is almost three times what Germany has managed. The median income has risen four times faster than in the US. Public debt, at 41 per cent of GDP, is less than half Britain’s.



Luck has had a hand in these feats, to be sure. Australia is blessed with lots of iron ore and natural gas, and is relatively close to China, which hoovers up such things. But sound policymaking has helped, too. After the last recession, in 1991, the government of the day reformed the healthcare and pensions systems, requiring the middle class to pay more of its own way. The result is that Australia’s government spends just half the OECD average on pensions as a share of GDP — and the gap will only widen in the years ahead.



Even more remarkable is Australia’s enthusiasm for immigration. About 29 per cent of its inhabitants were born in another country — twice the proportion in the US. Half of Australians are either immigrants themselves or children of immigrants. And the biggest source of immigrants is Asia, which is fast changing the country’s racial mix. Compare that with the US or Britain or Italy, where far smaller inflows have generated hostility among a big portion of the electorate — or Japan, where allowing foreigners to settle in any numbers is a political taboo.
In Australia both main parties argue that admitting lots of skilled migrants is essential to the health of the economy.



These achievements are not without their flaws. The private investment funds through which Australians are obliged to save for their retirement have been charging excessive fees, leaving pensioners poorer than they should be. And as welcoming as Australia is to immigrants arriving through normal channels, it treats those who try to come by boat without the proper paperwork with needless severity, packing them off to remote islands in the Pacific.



Moreover, there are reforms that Australia should be undertaking and is not. Aboriginal Australians suffer from enormous disadvantages, which a succession of governments has barely dented. Global warming is clearly causing grave damage — droughts have become more frequent and more severe, among other dismal consequences — yet Australia has done almost nothing to curb its emissions of greenhouse gases.



Nonetheless, Australia’s example shows that reforms considered impossible elsewhere are perfectly achievable. Democrats in the US assail most proposals to restrain the rising costs of public pensions or healthcare as tantamount to throwing grannies off a cliff; in Australia it was the Left that pioneered such policies.



The Labor Party sold obligatory private pensions to unions as a rise in benefits, since it is technically employers who are required to make regular payments into investment funds on their workers’ behalf. The party also made sure to retain a basic public pension, which is paid only to those who have not managed to build up adequate personal savings.



By the same token, it is quite possible to maintain popular support for mass immigration, even from culturally dissimilar places. But it is essential to give voters the sense that their borders are properly policed and that there is no free-for-all. Again, bipartisanship is important. It was a right-wing government that first allowed immigration from Asia on a big scale, admitting lots of refugees from Vietnam in the 1970s.



Australia’s political system rewards centrism. All eligible citizens must vote, by law, and those who might not bother to turn out otherwise tend to plump for mainstream parties. There is no need to rally supporters to the polls by pandering to their prejudices. Since everyone has to show up, politicians focus instead on winning over the wavering middle. The system of preferential voting, whereby Australians rank candidates in order of choice rather than picking just one, also exerts a moderating influence.
The irony is that, just as the benefits of this set-up are becoming so obvious, Australians appear to be growing disenchanted with it. Voters express growing doubts about the effectiveness of government. It has not cost the two main parties many seats, thanks to the electoral system, but their vote share has fallen by 20 percentage points since the 1980s. Politicians, conscious of voters’ disgruntlement, have also become increasingly febrile.



They are constantly turfing out prime ministers, in the hope that a new face will boost their party’s standing with the electorate. Some in the ruling Liberal Party, although not the current prime minister, have begun to call for a reduction in immigration, undermining decades of consensus. Ambitious reforms have become rare. The rest of the world could learn a lot from Australia — and Australians could do with a refresher course, too.



Nocookies
Australians love of immigrants? As long as they are few and far between white and speak English, they love that. Come on now. But still, Australia? I have a soft spot for the place.
Not factual at all
What isn't "factual"? from things I have read, Australia has it's fair share of crazy mad hatter liberals and right winger racist loons.
LOL...Sorry... Yes we do MaryL...I am starting to think I may be one of them LOL...steve
 
It's great for Australia doesn't share a border with another country. They have the pacific ocean and their own sense of right and wrong. They don't have to accept anyone. America/ we got these great neighbors on the north, and these kinda pesky neighbors on the south, that steal in here, change the demographics and there's' all sorts of political shenanigans that go with this. Sanctuary cities, BYTW, nobody actually got to vote on that, it just was mandated to us plebes. You aussies wouldn't understand THAT end of this issue from here in the States. I rather doubt the media elaborates on that.
I agree,we are fortunate in being an Island and Contienent sic but we are Good and Fair people...but do like control of our destiny Mary...have a Gooday, steve
 
It's great for Australia doesn't share a border with another country. They have the pacific ocean and their own sense of right and wrong. They don't have to accept anyone. America/ we got these great neighbors on the north, and these kinda pesky neighbors on the south, that steal in here, change the demographics and there's' all sorts of political shenanigans that go with this. Sanctuary cities, BYTW, nobody actually got to vote on that, it just was mandated to us plebes. You aussies wouldn't understand THAT end of this issue from here in the States. I rather doubt the media elaborates on that.
I agree,we are fortunate in being an Island and Contienent sic but we are Good and Fair people...but do like control of our destiny Mary...have a Gooday, steve
Same back at ya, mate.
 

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