I'm from the US, and after visiting Australia, I've noticed that Australians really hate Australia(n government).... why?
It's great! You have "decades of prosperity", a social welfare system where "homelessness is a choice", a healthcare system where you can have both private AND public option, and looks like you're on track to beat COVID.
Also there's no tipping, payment systems are contactless, the urban waterfronts (and urban development in general) are just so much better than anything the US has. Hey, the cost of living is "high," but I currently live in California, so that's also a relative thing.
> I'm from the US, and after visiting Australia, I've noticed that Australians really hate Australia(n government).... why?
I suspect it's because we are all forced to vote. Politicians spend most of the time pointing out the failures of their foes. One result of that is we we have a long list of reasons for thinking politicians from both sides are pathetic. So pathetic in fact that given a choice, we wouldn't vote for any of them.
A lot of people choosing to not vote appears to be what happens in places that don't have compulsory voting. A wild guess is that means the people who do vote when they aren't forced to actually like and support the politician the vote for, actively campaign for them, and tell everyone else how great they are. The non-voters just ignore the political process and so don't have a strong opinion one way or the other, and worse probably don't feel they are entitled to one.
But Australians have to vote so we engage more politically. That means we listen to what both sides are saying, and form solid opinions on the performance of our politicians. Given as I said the information you get about a politicians performance comes from other politicians, those opinions are never good. Ask us about it, and we will tell you very loudly all politicans just suck and despite that every 3 years we are forced to vote for one. It's a horrible process that forces us to choose the least worst. But nonetheless most Australian's think compulsory voting is a good thing. And there it is again - Australian's supporting a process that forces them do something they don't particularly like doing.
That's because, the end result is, as you say, "It's great!". No politician can rely on someone blindly liking them. To stay in, they have to convince the votes they are less likely to fuck up than their opposition. If they do fuck up when in power, they're gone. And they know it.
It is inoculate competent people from entering politics by mistake and thereby wasting their potential.
“Australia is a lucky country run mainly by second rate people who share its luck. It lives on other people's ideas, and, although its ordinary people are adaptable, most of its leaders (in all fields) so lack curiosity about the events that surround them that they are often taken by surprise.”
For mine, which I've variously ranted about before, it's the lost opportunities:
Yes, South Australia has (had?) the biggest lithium-ion battery in the world, but the Federal Government pooh-pooh'd it as useless (comparing it to the Big Banana, a third-rate "tourist attraction" in Coffs Harbour).
Yes, one Australian Government proposed a National Optical Fiber network, but the Government that got voted in at the next election walked back the commitment to ninety-something percent optic fiber population coverage to "no new fiber (to the home)", "some new copper, some existing", and "existing coax". As such, Australia's "internet speed" rankings continue to decline on the world stage - this will only contribute to the country's "brain drain" given what the near-future economy will be based on, and where the money will be made.
Australia is a vast country full of unusable land that receives an abundance of sunshine, and the Federal Government has been actively avoiding and down-playing renewable energy in favour of coal and gas. (Yes, coal and gas must still form part of the mix, but there's not a lot of forward thinking going on about what comes next).
There's also the potential that the Australian Government is breaching the Public Service Act as regards employment conditions[2].
Australia's healthcare system is wonderful, yes, testament to the leadership of the kind of politician that no longer exists.
Australia's COVID "success" is thanks to, in no small part, the remote-ness of the country. Our borders with other countries is thousands of kilometres of ocean, so the airports and sea-ports are the only areas that need external security (and "they" - Federal and State Government - still managed to fumble that pretty hard, see Ruby Princess Cruise Ship[0]).
Australia's decades of prosperity is a result of pure geographic luck. Australia is mineral rich. You could have set certain rules on auto-pilot over the last three decades and the end result would have looked wildly successful. If you're interested in how Australia's mineral wealth has been squandered, see [1].
It's great! You have "decades of prosperity", a social welfare system where "homelessness is a choice", a healthcare system where you can have both private AND public option, and looks like you're on track to beat COVID.
Also there's no tipping, payment systems are contactless, the urban waterfronts (and urban development in general) are just so much better than anything the US has. Hey, the cost of living is "high," but I currently live in California, so that's also a relative thing.