Category: Australia

Why are the leaders of the Australian political parties so prone to being toppled?

By: | Post date: February 15, 2017 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: Australia

All the answers given here have been excellent. I particularly liked Kai Neagle’s. Several factors have contributed to Australia recently turning into postwar Italy, and most of them have already been pointed out. Labor has always been factionalised. The Liberals have become much more factionalised recently, with the resurgence of the reactionary right. Both parties […]

Am I shallow or superficial for thinking Australia’s aboriginals are the least attractive race of humans in the world?

By: | Post date: February 9, 2017 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: Australia, Culture

Fascinated why I got A2A’d this. I mean, I have my self-flattering theory as to why, but Robert Thompson, who A2A’d me, do get in touch! Kia Ora, OP, my Māori fellow antipodean! Do me a favour. Google pictures of the Khoisan. (Previous unfriendly names: Bushmen, Hottentot.) Tell me whether you find them more unattractive. […]

Why do Australians really dislike Aborigines?

By: | Post date: February 7, 2017 | Comments: 1 Comment
Posted in categories: Australia

My fellow nationals, let us not hide behind our finger. (I think that’s a Greek expression.) Yes, I’m sure none of us here are racist. But racism against Aboriginal Australians is there, and visitors to Australia regularly manage to chronicle it. (It’s the one dark aspect of Bill Bryson’s otherwise panegyrical Down Under/In A Sunburned […]

Would Australia have been a better place had the French stayed?

By: | Post date: February 5, 2017 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: Australia

I read a uchronia once where Tasmania was French and the rest of Australia British. It got very lazy very quickly, and turned Australia + Tasmania into Canada + Quebec, complete with Quiet Revolution and Vichy France rule. I can’t imagine Australia ending up that much different from Canada, in fact. The Brits would have […]

Do Americans agree that the Prime Minister of Australia should have been treated the way he was by President Trump during their first phone call?

By: | Post date: February 2, 2017 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: Australia

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/no-gday-mate-on-call-with-australian-pm-trump-badgers-and-brags/2017/02/01/88a3bfb0-e8bf-11e6-80c2-30e57e57e05d_story.html?postshare=5521485995853318&tid=ss_tw-bottom&utm_term=.a1028a3b51e3 So, we’re kicking back at the office, 2 PM, and my COO flicks his phone as I’m coding, and says “hey, the Aussie dollar’s up 1 cent!” And I look at him, and I look at my colleague, and she says, “OK, what’s Trump done now?” And I pop onto The Age newspaper, and […]

Why did Trump just harangue and hang up on the Australian Prime Minister?

By: | Post date: February 2, 2017 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: Australia

Nick Nicholas’ answer to Do Americans agree that the Prime Minister of Australia should have been treated the way he was by President Trump during their first phone call? In retrospect, that was more an answer to this question than that one. TL;DR: Trump did it, because he’s not remotely interested in being a statesman, […]

Is University of Melbourne better for electrical engineering?

By: | Post date: January 25, 2017 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: Academia, Australia

My experience in studying Elec Eng at Melbourne as an undergrad was 25 years ago, so it would be monstrously unfair of me to answer this question. I’ll do it anyway. See how my bio says “former Sessional Lecturer at University of Melbourne”? That was in Linguistics, not Elec Eng. 🙂 That’s on me: I […]

Are Mornington Peninsula towns considered suburbs of Melbourne and are they a part of the greater city of Melbourne?

By: | Post date: January 2, 2017 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: Australia

There is a mental barrier for me, as a longtime resident of Melbourne: Melbourne ends at Mt Eliza. The mental barrier is to do with continuous buildings: there is a break in construction just south of Frankston, and there is empty land between Mt Eliza and Mornington (even if it is roughly 5 km). The […]

What are some stereotypes of the different Australian states?

By: | Post date: January 2, 2017 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: Australia

Some stereotypes are to listed here: Aaron O’Connell’s answer to What are some cultural differences between the states of Australia? Here’s mine: South Australians: more prim, more English. Boringest state capital city ever. New South Welshmen: enemies to the Victorians. Sydneysiders: Uncouth, arrogant. Victorians: enemies to the New South Welshmen. Melburnians: Stuck-up hipsters, arrogant. Tasmanians: […]

Will Australia become a republic soon?

By: | Post date: December 30, 2016 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: Australia

As Richard Farnsworth said, republicans are waiting for an unpopular and unfamiliar monarch to raise the question again. OTOH the celebrity appeal of Kate & Wills (which is driving the millennials’ affection for the monarchy) could still see it stick around. Part of the problem is that republicanism doesn’t have the emotional vigour it did […]

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