Australia — The “Place to Be” During COVID Times!!
In 1964, when Donald Horne came out with The Lucky Country, little did he realise that his “Lucky Country” indictment of Australia would stand tall in the blazing pandemic of 2020s. Even as Aussies go through multiple rounds of lockdowns which restrict (not stop) them from their regular ‘offline’ shopping sprees, the early morning latte, trips across their sprawling cities, the Sunday morning brunch, a walk along their beautiful beaches and yes, the trip to Bali, Fiji, Gold Coast or wherever they love to spend their money; Life in Australia is still the best and next to the best available definition of Heaven (or should I say Paradise). It doesn’t matter what our news media says, what our opinion makers rant about or how often we “whinge” about losing our independence, the fact is “you go east or west, Australia is the best”. Why is it that way?
Laundry lists are not my style but they are appropriate for, as Horne puts it “second rate people” (Donald Horne in The Lucky Country: 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).
So here is the list:
1. Geographical Location: Quite often, Aussies forget that they live on a continent and that too almost all by themselves. Surrounded by deep dark oceans (making it difficult to locate MH 370), we have no troublesome neighbours, no refugee crisis and no internal strife. In a corner of the world, this large island is hard to get to and even COVID had a hard time getting here. Next time, thank yourself that you don’t live in the proximity of the Middle East, Pakistan-Afghanistan or China. Having COVID and on top, having to deal with notorious neighbours is the least loved scenario. We are lucky that we just need to indulge ourselves in the story of Ben Roberts-Smith rather than a full blown war + COVID.
2. Low Population: Australia is one of the least densely populated countries of the world. This makes social distancing easier and thus COVID in all its forms has to work harder and rely on poor behaviour and some ‘bad (or good) luck’ for its spread. Compared to a lot of other countries, we are extremely lucky!
3. Big Houses: A large population of Australia lives in comparatively big houses with big backyards. So, in a lockdown, it’s easier to survive and spend time. Thus, the next time you whinge about ‘cabin fever’, think about all those people who live in high rises and apartments, where there is a lot less opportunity to move around.
4. AAA rating: Our AAA credit rating allows us to borrow at much lower rates than many other nations of this world. Without it, most of our dreams would be unfulfilled. So what’s that got to do with COVID? It just means that in this age of uncertainty driven by COVID lockdowns, a national AAA credit rating makes management of the economy easier. And, who wouldn’t want that?
5. Employment: Irrespective of ugly personal employment situations, mark my words: getting a job, keeping it and perhaps making a safe and regular livelihood is far easier in the COVID economy of Australia than other countries of the world. Count yourself lucky, that you live in Australia.
6. Great Government support: If unfortunately, you are on the other side of the employment fence, however difficult it gets, consider yourself fortunate that there is ongoing government support. So if you were caught in the long queue at Centrelink, either physically or online, the best you should do is take a deep breath and SMILE! It could have been a lot worse.
7. Our leaders: Irrespective of what Donald Horne may think of our politicians, they are far better than many across the world. Our system of democracy and government is far superior to rest of the world. So, the next time, you whinge about Morrison, Andrews or Berejiklian, believe me, you are lucky not to live in a dictatorship or a secretive communist state or a failed state of any shade. Life during COVID in those nations is far worse than here. Our politicians are doing their best. They are not Gods and we shouldn’t expect them to be. They are just people like us trying to do a job. Best we can do is to have empathy and be positive.
8. Infrastructure & Services: Infrastructure and services in Australia, in almost all spheres of life is world class. If it ain’t good here, in most probability, it ain’t good anywhere! During these COVIDIAN times, these infrastructure and services come in handy. They go onto make Australia one of the happiest countries with the highest quality of life. Aren’t we fortunate to have them?
The next time you take a glass of Dom Perignon, Penfolds, VB, Heineken or plain old H2O and settle down in your movie room and ask yourself, where the bloody hell am I; take a deep breath, take a sip and then it will dawn on you: in the bloody right place.
And if the woman (or man or the ‘in between’) challenges you with: I’m an Australian and I deserve better; just shed your overinflated ego and superiority complex and think of those in strife during these times and thank your stars of who you are and where you live: Australia, the Place to Be (also during COVIDIAN times).
