For some time, that was the slogan the government used to promote tourism in their "visit Australia" adds. Most Aussies don't see anything wrong with it because it's all part of the more relaxed and laid back culture here, however, it's not so laid back outside the island (yes, Australia is an island) and several big names from big countries (mainly Britian) complained about the slogan being offensive and in bad taste. So it was changed.
But I think it's a good example of how different things really can be here. This may be a Common Wealth country, but it's pretty much the last out-post of the English monarchy (it's the "wide open spaces" couped up monarchs dream of), and though it's often hard to differentiate what is uniquely Australian culture and what is not, a lot of things still surprise me.
So, I intend to write a few blogs in the next month or so about the little things that make Australia different. Let the fun begin!
You're on candid camera!
This one always makes me laugh: in New South Whales (NSW), traffic cameras have to be sign posted. Yeah, so if you're caught speeding by a camera, you really are the biggest dunce on the road. But I honestly think it does the opposite of deterring the speedsters. If I had a car, I'd certainly adjust my speed to accommodate the cameras... I'd slow down just before and speed up just after. (Don't judge--you'd probably do it too.) The cameras are also used to catch people in the bus lane (which I think is great as I ride the bus everywhere) but like speeding, they often just hop out before the camera and back in after. Sign posting cameras really seems so counter-intuitive to me and I just don't get it. Apparently, the idea behind this law is that roads will be safer because people won't brake at the last minute when they spot a camera and therefore an accident will be avoided. I think this argument is a little self defeating though--camera signs don't assure this outcome and mightn't people do the same thing when they see camera signs?
We all Live in a Yellow Customs Ship (think Beatles)
In the US, we are practically assailed with immigrants from all sides. Seriously, they are tunneling into our country like moles!! It's really difficult to keep them under control with such long and empty land borders. So you would think it's a lot easier to control illegal immigration when your country is an island... But a lot of Australians (or maybe it's just Mr. Rudd) think otherwise.
Currently, ol' Kevin Rudd (prime-minister) is facing a lot of very negative press over his handling of "the boat people" (an affectionate Australian term similar to "beaners" and "wet backs"). So far this year, something like 35 boats of illegal immigrants from Indonesia have been intercepted in the waters just north of Darwin and are being held in detention centers on Christmas Island, awaiting refugee status. (Does anyone else see the irony of a prison island/state creating it's own prison island/state?) However, the detention center at Christmas Island has become over crowded from the ever-continuing boats and the petrifyingly slow immigration department, and since the government refuses to process immigrants on the mainland, as John Howard did before him, K-Rudd has resumed demands that Indonesia take back the immigrants (remember, most of the time these people are just traveling through Indonesia on their way to Australia, so Indonesia would then be taking illegal immigrants instead of Australia). And for the last week, a poor group of Sri Lankan Tamil refugees have been stuck on a customs ship just off the shore of Indonesia, threatening Kevin Rudd to bring them to Australia or else they won't get off. Ie: Tamil rebels have hijack an Australian customs ship!!
Of course, Indonesia isn't complaining--they're not too eager about taking the immigrants either. Indonesia, by comparison, has 11 times the population of Australia and roughly 1/4 of the Australia's total area. There are faaaaarrr too many mouths to feed in that country and very little infrastructure.
I like to think of the situation like this: it's Christmas at JFK and immigration tapes off the custom counters and puts out a sign that reads, "America has reached maximum capacity. Please go to Canada." To speed things along, they stick everyone on a plane and instead of flying them to the clean, orderly and modernized streets of Toronto, the visitors are flown to Tiajuana (enough said). Total bummer, dude.
Who knows how this saga will conclude. Of course, Australia will look pretty silly if they take the refugees now after all this hard-to-get stuff and will certainly have created an immigration nightmare (I can already hear the "but you let him immigrate!" complaints now); they'll look pretty much like cruel people if they force the immigrants off the customs ship; they will come off as "un-humanitarian" if they force the Tamil refugees back to their war-torn country (btw, the Tamils are a notoriously oppressed people by the ethnically Indian government of Sri Lanka); and if the boat people do decide to get off, the Australian government will look even more bully-like because they forced Indonesia to deal with truthfully an Australian problem and because those poor people were placed into another situation not too un-like the one they were fleeing from. As you can see, I have no sympathy for the Australian government. This is a right royal mess of their own making.
Recently, the refugees announced that they would get off in Indonesia as long as they were placed in community housing and not in an Indonesian detention center. Can you blame them?? Who wants to spend the next 5 years in an Indonesian prison camp?! So far, I haven't heard anything about an agreement or meeting of the refugees terms, but until the Australian government starts acting like a compassionate and caring country concerned with the quality of life of even illegal immigrants, "boat people" they will remain.
More to come...
Okay, that last snippet on immigration was longer than I expected. I'll write more on other things Australian tomorrow.
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