Australia, the land of the Lower Class.

It is a difficult situation....

Australia's persona of a wealthy 1st class country is lie.
This recent demonstration in Canberra I think is the result of the "Do Nothing, Achieve Nothing" government we have 'apparently' voted for. And these actions I believe reflect the feelings of nearly all Australians.

The average wage. $66,000. This appears a bit rich, as 50% of working Australians earn less than $44,000.
Believe it or not but only 4.5% of Australian's earn more than $100,000 & 1.5% more than $150,000. The average Australian Tax rate is $4,650 plus 30c for each $1 over $37,000. We pay 10% GST on everything we buy. We pay tax on interest we make when we save. There are 259 taxes Nationally.

To maintain the "typical standard of living" an Australian family needs to meet the folowing requirements, less they fall into the lower class catagory.
-1 adult - disposable income of at least $36,000 + $18,000 for each additional adult + $10,800 per child.
-Average welfare payments for a family of 5 with 1 working adult are $18,200 per year.

So a family of 2 adults and 3 children must have a disposable income of at least $86,400 to maintain a typical standard of living in Australia.
I know there aren't a great deal of families making that kind of income, so the end result is the majority of Australian's, like myself are the lower class. With the current economy, dim witted government, increasing taxes and cost of living that number is growing.

What is the typical Australian Income

I used to have an extremely negative perception of my fellow Australians. Then I left Victoria.

I'm now living a few hours south of Brisbane, and the people here are infinitely more positive. Yes, they're still poor, but so am I. I don't care whether the people I'm around are wealthy or not; I care about whether they're nice to me, and the people here are. Everyone says hello to everyone else, and they are very friendly.

To anyone living in Australia who doesn't like the people, all I can tell you is to get out of the cities, and also preferably to get off the East coast. Sydney in particular is a horrible place. It is also our international port city; if you were going to compare Australia with Tatooine, Sydney would be Mos Eisely.

There are a lot of good things about Australia, though as well. If you're in the right places, crime is low. I don't have to worry about being killed in a riot here like they have in Greece, and I can always get something to eat, too. These days, those two things alone are a pretty big deal. So although I'm not hugely into jingoism like some people, I do recognise what I have to be grateful for.

Hmmm, you have obviously have never travelled to sh#*tholes like Indonesia or most of Africa then. In those countries the people worry about just being able to eat, and being shot by the warring factions - not whether they can afford a house or the latest car.

Sure Australia could be better, but so could any place. A lot of people on other countries would give their right eye to live here. Look at how many boats full of those annoying illegal immigrants rock up - they wouldn't want to come here if it were no better than where they came from......

The article is about how much Australians between the age 15 and 55 really earn. I think you may have misunderstood my point.
I'm not comparing our lifestyle to anyone elses or to any other country. It's about the struggling Australian family and the under estimated position of our countries economy by the Government.

Boat people and the unfortunate masses in the world is a whole other elephant.

Here in Australia we are, like most other countries, controlled by "The Suits" who lurk in the background and are never seen or heard of no matter which Political Party we elect. We continually open our borders to any number of people to settle here (and making them very comfortable) and totally ignore the plight of our aged whilst the Aborigine People's problems, especially in the Northern Territories, are placed in the "Too Hard" basket. Minority ethnic communities demand to live outside of Australian Law but are quick to accept welfare and all it's perks.
Multiculturalism has failed badly in this country.
Compare this with 45 years ago when there was 10 jobs for every person. The employment pages of the newspapers were an inch thick. When you took a job the boss would treat you like gold and take you to the pub every night and 'shout' you your beer because he was afraid of losing you. It really was the "Land of Milk and Honey" but it wasn't broke so the powers that be decided to fix it didn't they by opening it up to non-skilled migrants who had no intention of working for a living.
The standard of living has dropped as we see our orchardists going broke and destroying their crops whilst we import fruit from overseas. All that Australia held dear has been sold to overseas interests. The price of meat is beyond the average wage earner.
Both Labour and Liberal Governments are guilty of putting more emphasis on them 'strutting the world stage' rather than looking after Australian citizens interests.
The OP has merely pointed the predicament out.

reply to post by spearhead

I hear what you mean and I think the point that you are missing is that yes, wages have gone down and living standards are slipping here in Aussie, but they have also gone down in New Zealand, the USA and Europe as well.

This is not a localised phenomena you are talking of, it is the decline of the West and the rise of China. Think about life 20 years ago - almost everything was a lot more expensive, but most of it was made here in Australia. So when you paid an exorbitant sum for your new car, your new 29 inch tube telly or even your bonds undies they were made right here in Aussie meaning that from start to finish in most cases the money went to pay other Australians to make it and sell it to you. Same rthing could be said of most countries around the western world. We all made a lot of our own goods and we only imported what we couldn't make ourselves.

Fast forward to 2012 and all of those items are made in China (even the cars are starting to be now) and all of the money except for the retail end of it is going overseas. To put it quite simply our own foolishness and greed for wanting a cheaper product has seen us all do ourselves out of work and beat down the wages for those who are still in the game. This was all brought about by free trade philosophies that were developed in the 80's and 90's - well before the time of the current government.

You hit the nail on the head. Over the last 20 years this country has been sold like cattle in a stock yard. State governments have sold State owned assets to corporations and fund their political agendas. The entire manufacturing industry (including automotive) is in shambles, the building industry is ruined because owning a home now cost more than 10 times a yearly wage & is out of reach a lot of people.

What it appears has happened is, the 1.5% of the population (upper class) has created 3% of the population (middle class) to manage a 95.5% of the population (lower class) slave labour force.

reply to post by markosity1973
and yet as we hard working tax paying aussies try to get somewhere the b1oody suits give em se1ves 100 grand pay rises when they see fit, ha its not australian!

TBH I dont agree with the article or the OP.
Here in WA, the peopel between 18-25 have never had it better.
On the job front, there are so many jobs going that they are looking for FOREIGN workers to come in and fill them.
Men and women from all facest of work up in the mines are earning TOP dollar, and trust me its a fairly large portion of the working youth going north.

You only need to look at scarbs on a sunday or the city on a long weekend to see the endless rows of HSV's, BMW's, Mercs etc etc.

I know in my job there's jobs galore.. my bosses will buy me beers to keep me, sure there's 5-10 people applying for every job but majority of them are foreign workers with no experience.

I've been to about 15 interviews in the last 10yrs, and ive been offered the job atleast 10 of those times. Im not special or anything of the sort, they just want workers.

Ive spent the last 2yrs in Sydney, and likewise there's jobs galore. Cafe's, Mcdonalds, Pubs they are always looking for staff.
You only need to look at seek.com to see the plethora of jobs open atm.

Ive also just returned from west/east europe and asia and Its safe to say we have it the best in the world at the moment.

If people are complaining and moaning about the state of affairs in Australia I say grow up and pull your thumb out. Because we are the luckiest country on the planet right now, and so long as you pull your thumb up, respect your employer and try hard at your job your never going to be unemployed.

The only problem i have with Australians, is there ability to make the worst of a brilliant situation.

Edit to add..

in regards to the pay figures..

I know majority of people up on the mine sites earn upwards of 100k per year.. thats big bux.

I earn 75-80k per year and thats more than enough to support me and my partner.

My best friend earns 65k, his wife earns 50k, they easily handle their 400k mortgage, car loan, food bill, house bill with a few hundred a month for themselves to enjoy.

Now, prices of food and that have gone up in Australia, but not by a great deal.
I can still buy bread and milk for $4-$5
a carton of good quality beer for $40
to fill up my car its around $50-60
a new LCD 40:" TV around $400-500

I know that a receptionist or secretary can earn around $25-$30 per hour.. which is enough to support them selves with a small mortgage.

Personally I think it's just wrong how we dig up a ship full of iron ore, sell it to China, congratulate ourselves on the profit we just made and then import the Same ore back again as cheap low quality goods.
If we take look at a successful western economy like German, they would never do that in million years because they realise that manufacturing economy is a strong economy

reply to post by spearhead


omg what about all the FBT? and the baby bonus?

anyway, speak for yourself. Our living standards are in the top 5% of the entire world.

some Countries don't even have welfare...

reply to post by OzTiger


Cheer cheer, I could not have put it better, it used to be Australia the lucky country, nows it's Australia the slimy country, and its all about the Suits and the Grey's shares and profits. The last time Australians showed much gumption was the Eureka Stockade. My forefathers would be disgusted!

reply to post by Agit8dChop


I work hard. And have for 10 years. Finding really hard to get on top and everyone I know is the same. I guess the sky is a lot clearer from the top aye.... I'm not in any situation to travelling and humble myself with the world nor am I in a position to leave my family behind and dig a whole in the west. The country is riding on that wave for the moment.

reply to post by marsend


pfft... yeah maybe your forefathers might get back on a boat and go back home in disgust?

well, go on..if you don't like it... LEAVE... hopefully you have dual citizenship so that you can go back and forget the disgusting hard time you had in Australia....and that way, one less winging ungrateful recipient of my tax.

reply to post by Thurisaz


That is perhaps the most ignorant thing I have read on this thread. Some one has a issue and they raise it and your reply is get out.....

reply to post by spearhead




now I understand why you made a carpy comment on another thread of mine. Just because I disagree with you.

Your thread title is insulting. Even if I earn bugga all... I am not lower class. If you are going to base your self esteem on how much you earn then forget it. I am on an average wage. 37k maybe plus some perks.... but I work full time, pay maintenance but I don't agree that I am lower class.

I own everything I have. I don't have a home...cannot afford one based on my savings but I am not bitching. I can get medical attention if needed and if I lose my job I can get welfare to tie me over. Some Countries do not have that.

so don't put me in a category of 'lower class' just cos I live in Australia.

How much do you need? What do you expect? What do you want?

I lived in my car for 6 months...why? because I was screwed over by red tape and not once did I believe I was lower than anyone else.

reply to post by spearhead


But im far from the top.. 75k per year is a long long long way from the top. I still eat baked beans and drive a VT commodore.

Dude, 2010 average earnings:
Average Wage By State
(Full Time Ordinary Earnings)

State
Average Annual Wage

Australian Capital Territory
$75,514

Western Australia
$70,101

New South Wales
$65,863

Queensland
$63,840

Victoria
$62,847

Northern Territory
$61,870

South Australia
$59,176

Tasmania
$55,255

consider:

1.00 AUD = 1.05913 USD

Id say we are the ENVY of the world.

reply to post by Agit8dChop


bugga SA is down the bottom and I just knew it would be like that. pfft.

ah never mind.

but I have worked in the middle of bloody nowhere and earnt big bucks and I won't do it again. It was too remote and I couldn't even call my family...so there are perks but it can involve personal sacrifices. Even now, I am thinking about getting a second job just cos I am bored. There are heaps of jobs if your willing to work in a factory or drive a taxi or even flip burgers. I am not proud. I work to live not the other way around.

reply to post by spearhead


yeah it maybe ignorant or even insulting but it was a sticker on my old boss's car and he was a Vietnam Vet... yanno, one of those poor bastards that was spat on when they got home and I tell you what... he fought for this Country and was true blue, hard working. A person I respected and still do.