How lucky, or well off are we?

[artme]

Just had the pleasure of hosting the sister and brother-in law from Brazil

Their first port of call was Aukland and they were mightily impressed. As they should have been!!
They loved the people, the scenery and the facilities and would like to go for a longer stay.

First stop in Aus. was Melbourne. Again mightily impressed!!

Brisbane, where we picked them up and spent time there, on the Gold coast, the Sunshine Coast and here in Hervey Bay.
Noosa was a particular favourite. The sight of the fruit bats here in Hervey Bay just on dusk was a real treat, particularly
for Arnaldo.

Thence to Sydney where everything impressed both.

Why were they so impressed? Why did they think we are so fortunate to live here, in Australia? Not because Brazil is a
third world country -which it isn't!! No, what impressed our guests were the things we take for granted.

Safety, respect for road rules, free public parks, barbeques, museums and art galleries. The ability to wear jewellery anywhere,
anytime. The friendliness and helpfulness of people. Cleanliness, sporting facilities and hospitals in abundance. Good quality
educational facilities.

Perhaps when our politicians wish to whinge and grizzle about how bad things are - and some donkeys want to agree with them -
then we should take a good hard look at our situation.

Arnaldo and Maria Lucia were also impressed by the political and justice system here. Brazil is a basket case in both regards.

Take a good look at your attitudes and reflect on how fortunate we are.

[Chesand]

You do not have to travel far to realise that we do indeed live in the best country in the world.

[issatree]

Hi All,
The bit that got me was, that we can wear Jewellery anywhere.
So what is it, with Brazil, that it appears that you can't do that.

[cava]

Arnaldo and Maria Lucia were also impressed by the political and justice system here. Brazil is a basket case in both regards.

Take a good look at your attitudes and reflect on how fortunate we are.
Another way to consider it is, look at Brazil and see what Australia will be like in 20 years.

Unfortunately, I think it will happen.

[artme]

Hi All,
The bit that got me was, that we can wear Jewellery anywhere.
So what is it, with Brazil, that it appears that you can't do that.

The level of violence in Brazil is horrendous- something like 60 THOUSAND homicides a year!

Much of the violence is due to the still very high levels of poverty. This encourages theft and this in turn is aided by
endemic corruption at every level.

Those who would steal your belongings in daylight in Brazil would have no compunction about running a knife through you
or shooting you if you resist.

[artme]

Another way to consider it is, look at Brazil and see what Australia will be like in 20 years.

Unfortunately, I think it will happen.

I don't think so. We have a very different set of social circumstances and a very different set of laws. Politicians and
other corrupt officials in this country are regularly exposed and gaoled. This does not happen in Brazil except in extremely
rare instances.

Brazil now has a government that is so corrupt that I cannot see any chance of escape for them, apart from another military coup.
The constitution is framed in such a way as to protect the corrupt.

While I do not see things in this country as perfect I see us as being streets ahead of most places, including the USA.( Don't get me
started on that bandwagon! )

[cava]

I am glad that you are optimistic regarding Australia's future - I am not. This is from first hand experience regarding our corrupt officials.

Think our Constitution protects us? Think again. The courts do not want to know - once again I write this from experience.

Consider this, all documents produced by the courts are supposed to have a 'seal of the court' as authority. Apart from the Supreme Court, none do. Without the seal, there is no Government authority.

Perhaps this is the reason why, in Victoria at least, the courts are registered businesses - from QLD if memory serves me. If I find the registration documents, I will post them.

[BobL]

I've never been there but we have a number of Brazilian relatives. One of my uncles there ran a fuel freight business and he told me that he had to be extremely careful about who he did business with because if he upset someone, that someone could hire someone else to kill him for about US$20 (That was back in the 70's - prices may have gone down since).

[q9]

Safety, respect for road rules, free public parks, barbeques, museums and art galleries. The ability to wear jewellery anywhere,
anytime. The friendliness and helpfulness of people. Cleanliness, sporting facilities and hospitals in abundance. Good quality
educational facilities.

...and compared to Japan, Australia falls short on many of those. Likewise, I could give a long list of Japans shortcomings...

It changed the way I look at things, living overseas. We have plenty of room for improvement.

[artme]

...and compared to Japan, Australia falls short on many of those. Likewise, I could give a long list of Japans shortcomings...

It changed the way I look at things, living overseas. We have plenty of room for improvement.

Have to agree there. I spent time in Japan last year and I could easily live there on account of the honesty of the people,
their friendliness and the cleanliness of the place.

Yes, Aus. does fall short in many areas but on balance we do pretty well, as do the Kiwis, and Canadians, the Norwegians, Danes and Swedish.

Chile is another country for which I have a soft spot. I have had nothing but good experiences there. Considering the sad history of the Pinochet
era Chileans are remarkably happy and optimistic. Argentinians, from my experience are confused. There is this great national pride mixed with
arrogance and a sense that others have done them injustices - particularly over the Falklands.

I think we tend to naval gaze and either whinge about our lot in life r put on the rose tinted glasses. Traveling overseas, living overseas, keeping
an open mind and being observant are critical in developing a sense of our place in the world both as a nation and as individuals.

[artme]

I am glad that you are optimistic regarding Australia's future - I am not. This is from first hand experience regarding our corrupt officials.

Think our Constitution protects us? Think again. The courts do not want to know - once again I write this from experience.

Consider this, all documents produced by the courts are supposed to have a 'seal of the court' as authority. Apart from the Supreme Court, none do. Without the seal, there is no Government authority.

Perhaps this is the reason why, in Victoria at least, the courts are registered businesses - from QLD if memory serves me. If I find the registration documents, I will post them.

Interesting comments to say the least and I would be very interested in more detail.

Constitutions are funny things. Britain has an unwritten constitution and that works for them.
The USA has a written constitution and it appears to be
quite prescriptive - at least that's how it appears from my understanding some of the courts' rulings. The law in the US seems to be derived from the constitutio
which is venerated like the bible .In any case the place is a mess.
Australia's constitution seems to be a mix of prescription and "" Let's leave this to the courts"".
Our laws are basically derived from acts of parliament. Well that's my small understanding!

[BobL]

Talking about corruption, how about our local Lord Mayor. And the majority of councillors support her!

[chambezio]

It's been said, "Politicians are like tomatoes....they start off green, turn red and end up rotten"

I think I would add "Some politicians"

[AndrewOC]

The story of your visitors is a nice eye opener, thanks artme.
Reminds me of the following SMH articles;
Tool that compares your income shows most Australians are out of touch (http://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/tool-that-compares-your-income-shows-most-australians-are-out-of-touch-20150512-ggznib.html)
and
Budget 2016: Rich or poor, how do you stack up? (http://www.smh.com.au/business/federal-budget/federal-budget-2016-rich-or-poor-how-do-you-stack-up-20160502-gojt78.html)

I think it an interesting thought experiment to predict a future where the median/average is the moral high ground, and where the financially super-successful try to out do each other in improving the lot of the majority...

regs,
A.

[cava]

Interesting comments to say the least and I would be very interested in more detail.

When I finish going through the courts, and if I am so inclined, I just might write my experiences - we shall see.

[Sturdee]

Australia's constitution seems to be a mix of prescription and "" Let's leave this to the courts"".
Our laws are basically derived from acts of parliament. Well that's my small understanding!

Our constitution is basically an agreement by the original separate colonies (now called states) to form the Commonwealth of Australia to do specific acts as a united country rather then the individual colonies.

Thus it outlines the duties and powers surrended by the states to the Commonwealth whilst the states retain all residual powers and any questions or disputes about this is solved by the High court.

Thus the constitution does not give any rights to the people, nor does it derive its authority from them like the USA. Our only guarantee is the vote at elections for the members of parliament enabling us to toss out a government that turns out to be useless.

Peter.

[artme]

AndrtewOC's post happened to come at the right time!!

Ana and I just had to go to Bris. - again!
Stayed with some friends in suburbia. They own a very good house and are paying off an investment property _yes, negative gearing does help them but they are in their 70s!!!

Just driving around the general area I was struck by the number of vehicles per residence. Mostly 2, very often 3 and sometimes 4 or more. Was also struck by the young age of the car fleet.
Another point was the number of houses with boats and/or caravans.

I would say that these are pretty fair indicators of the amount of disposable income floating around.

Other pointers to good income levels are the quite extensive renovations on existing homes and the number of good quality new homes under construction.

I was also struck by the number of people traveling. A straw poll shows many were simply off from Bris to the Sunshine Coast, Bribie or Redcliffe for the day.Hardly the sign of a struggling population!!

[Bushmiller]

Arthur

Thanks for putting up this thread.

You are of course quite right in what you say: How lucky we are to be relatively safe and secure in our lifestyle despite the fact that we are always bemoaning our lot for one reason or another.

Brazil, which I have not visited but my wife has, in some ways is an excellent country with which to compare Australia. For example it is the closest country in size to us, although it is a tad bigger. However most similarities end there.

There are apparently two Brazils. There is Copacabana Beach and the shanty town on the hills behind.

A young friend of one of our children returned to Australia from Brazil where he had been living. I asked him whereabouts in Brazil he was living. He said Belo Horizonte. I had never heard of it so I asked him if it was a small or big town. He said it was five million people: That was twenty years ago. I have just looked it up and it is the sixth largest city in Brazil. He also said he lived in a house with a walled yard to keep the bandits out.

It seems to me that in counties that are described as impoverished there is a huge disparity between the haves and have nots. This yawning gap between the obscenely wealthy and those starving on the streets can only foster extreme discontent, violence and corruption. It is a universal recipe for unrest and civil commotion and ultimately revolution.

It will have to get quite a bit worse here in Australia for us to fall into that particular abyss. However, just occasionally, we do see pockets of this. The Redfern riots and the Palm Island debacle come to mind as examples, albeit triggered by situations (that is all it takes) but there have been others.

I hope your relatives continue to enjoy what we enjoy every single day.

Regards
Paul

[artme]

When I finish going through the courts, and if I am so inclined, I just might write my experiences - we shall see.

Not wanting to be smug or wanting to lessen the importance of whatever you have going on in court Cava but There will always be dissatisfied
participants as the result of court action.

The real problems lie with the law in most cases and not the courts themselves.