Do I live in the 'safest' place in the world? (Australia)

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

So I was surfing the 'net the other night and ended up on a Survivalist web-ring. Wow! The full gamut from really practical people to full-blown, jebus-freak nut-jobs. My personal favourite was the discussion of “when does survivalism become too much of relying on the ‘arm of flesh’ (a bad thing apparently) rather than the Lord?” Not a single respondent took the piss. :stuck_out_tongue:

Anyway, the topic of ‘Strategic Relocation’ was popular, and got me interested. Apparently we in Australia have been entirely overrun by the New World Order and are therefore not worth consideration, but taking the tin hat off for a second, I thought I’d do just that.

Geography:
We’re huge, but isolated. 20 million people in a place the size of the US, and with no land borders.

Climate:
A few cyclones in the north maybe, but that’s about it. I live in the south-east of the country (like almost everyone) and I’ve never seen settled-snow (let alone a blizzard). It floods in some parts, but not severely enough to kill anyone, bar the odd bloke who tries his luck crossing a swollen river.
Come to think of it, we had the worst storm in a 100 years earlier this year, and the net consequence was a few trees falling on roofs, and Melbourne’s river being stirred up and dumping all of its nastiness into the bay.
Drought is probably the big one, but we still export as much of our food production as anyone else on Earth, and I bathe daily.

Geology:
No active volcanoes and as I understand it, we’re right in the middle of a tectonic plate, so no big earthquakes. Actually we did have an earthquake a decade ago near Sydney that killed a few people, but it certainly isn’t anything anyone worries about (c.f. US west coast). No history of Tsunamis either, although a big earthquake in NZ might produce one that could threaten Sydney/Brisbane, I suppose.

Politics:
We’re mostly democratic (even with all that monarchy baggage). There was that whole think with the Whitlam government getting sacked in 1974 - a lot of people got upset, but no one got hurt. In fact I can’t think of anyone who has been killed over politics (?). Really, who’d bother?

Welfare:
Socialised medicine and a generous unemployment benefit means that anyone who can jump through a few minor hoops can get by. Seriously, mental illness/drug addiction aside, there is no reason anyone should be homeless in Australia.

Economy:
We grow some stuff and we dig up some other stuff, that’s about it. But with a couple of billion people to the North-West looking to move from 3rd World to 1st in the next century, that’ll probably do.
Resource-wise we’re completely self-sufficient. Every mineral and energy source that is dug-up anywhere is dug-up in Australia. We’ve got coal for 400 years and uranium for a few thousand. Likewise we export all-sorts of rural produce.
Of course, if the rest of the world disappeared overnight we would have to learn how to do actually do things with minerals and produce - like turning them into TVs and pants, but how hard can that be? :wink:
Oh, we make lots of money out of tourism too, because we’re pretty.

Military:
(Three spitfires and a couple of Blue Heelers - really nasty ones, they’ll take your face off).
Who’s going to invade anyway? The Japanese were going to try it in WW2 until someone checked the scale on the map. With an inhospitable north, and the tyranny of distance protecting the population in the South-East, our military is just for show (even if a somewhat overproduce, artistically confused show).
The only target of any strategic value in Australia is Pine Gap (a US/Australian listening post). It’s in the desolate centre of the continent and if it got nuked, it would be a week before anyone noticed.

Speaking of nukes, our only nuclear capacity is a small research/medical reactor in Sydney, so no melt-downs, well… no more than one.

On the other hand:
Sharks, crocodiles, 9 of the world’s 10 most poisonous snakes, blue-ring octopuses, box jellyfish, funnel-web and red-back spiders and yes, the dingo probably did eat her baby.
…but I’ve haven’t seen any of them, except on Animal Planet.

So, do I live in the safest place in the world?

2

Pretty much, yep. But keep it kinda quiet, willya?
The last thing I want is for the American right to get the idea that there’s anything good down here - I’m very pleased to have left them behind!

PS - don’t forget the 1st Herpetological Unit; Forward, slither!

3

So why are you all over here? :stuck_out_tongue:

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  • When New Zealand finally blows up, the densly populated Australian Eastern Seaboard is fucked tsunami-wise. Similarly, seismic activity in the Indian Ocean can hit Perth.

  • Australia is not self-sufficient in energy. We are increasingly becoming an importer of fossil fuels.

  • Crime in the major cities is at levels not particularly lower than other industrialised countries.

  • We are running out of water.

  • Our healthcare system is underfunded and held together with rubber bands.

  • Our interstate highways are potholed goat tracks.

  • Our soil is low in nutrients and is becoming increasingly salinated and poisoned with chemicals.

  • The Australian welfare state is streched to the freakin’ limit and is about to implode.

  • the power grid is flaky.

  • Our vast distances and LA style cities mean we are in hot water when the price of petrol triples soon.

– As the population and economy expands, we are increasingly known on the world stage, and therefore we get dragged into international disputes and the threat of terrorism. In a way I liked it better when nobody had heard of us (NZ will find this too).
Apart from that, it’s great. :smiley: But not paradise.

5

Yeah, but you live in Sydney. What do you expect?

I feel safe walking the streets at night.
I will take my kids into the bush without fear of loonies with guns.
I have slept on the side of the road in a stationwagon without fear for my life.
I have stepped near a couple of snakes (tigers) but really have no fear of them in the bush.
I don’t fear sending my kids to a public high school.
If I flip someone the bird in the car I do not fear that I will be shot back at.
We lost gas a couple of years ago when an accident occurred at the gas plant, but nothing before and nothing since.
We’ve had water restrictions for the last year, but apart from a dead lawn I’m fine with it all.
Haven’t had a blackout in years (seriously, I can’t remember the last one, but it wasn’t in this house and we’ve been here 3 years).
Petrol is a pain, so I limit my driving where necessary.
We don’t have many right wing / left wing loonies (well, that I’ve come across anyway).

I feel pretty safe where I live. Western Melbourne.

6

There’s twice as many Brits on visas in Australia than the reverse. Not to mention the hordes of old Poms who emigrate here to sit by the sea and moan about the weather. :wink: Then again, nearly all the Aussies in the UK are clustered in West/South-West London, whereas the Poms in Australia are strategically scattered about the country…

Earlier this year, I drove from WA, to SA, to Victoria, up and down Tasmania, back through Victoria, to NSW, and then back to WA. Then a week later, I flew back to Sydney and drove to Brisbane and back. I don’t know what you’re talking about.

I agree on the crime though. We’re really not safer in that regard than much of the western world.

7

Don’t the vast majority of posionous critters live in Australia? That doesn’t sound very safe to me… My state and Canada sound at least as safe as Australia, except for the occasional blizzard that kills off people foolhearty enough to wander out into them.

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I think your premise is spot-on. As America gets overrun with loonies and cronies, Oz looks better all the time.

My problem with Australia is that I’m over 45, and thus can’t move there. Even though I have three generations of direct ancestry from there, starting with my grandmother. I found out about the age 45 restriction right about when I turned 45. :smack:

9

Jeez make it sound like we are due to blow up any day now! Bloody Aussie :wink: We are trying to attract tourists not scare them away!

At least we can sit on the loo without worrying about funnel webs biting our arses.

Unfortunately Peter Jackson has made us the home of the hobbits. I doubt there are many people that haven’t heard of NZ thanks to him (he’s our Crocodile Man :D)

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Argh! I wish people would just get over this fact. We do not live in fear of snakes and spiders! I walk around barefoot outside all the time. I don’t even ever think about “poisonous critters”, other than getting a torch to look in a dark hole before I put my hand in, and wearing shoes if I go bush walking.

Seriously, this is the worst reason to feel Australia is not safe.

11

-potable water.
burnt sugar, we both know it’s the spiders inside you gotta worry about :wink: That stupid spider has left me with a nice facial scar :stuck_out_tongue:

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NO, you don’t–Singapore is the safest place in the world.

13

I used to live in Singapore, and it was very, very safe (granted this was before the whole 9/11 thing, but I don’t think that much has changed). It was so safe that when I was 10 years old I could take the MRT (kind of a subway system) halfway accross the the city (AKA, the whole nation) with my friends (no parents involved) to go see a movie. When I was in sixth grade it was safe enough for a friend and myself (again, no parents) to take a taxi to our Boy Scout meetings. It was a first world nation, with a good economy.

The only drawback was: The government was very authoritarian, and a de-facto one party system was (and presumably still is) well entrenched, and when any male citizen and/or permenant resident was 17-and-a-half, he was required to go into the military.

Basically it was damn safe, but there was a price. As far as I know that hasen’t changed since I was there (late 1998)

Laaaaah, dadda-dah, dadda-dah,

14

Oh, and also Singapore is home (though not necesacerilly a permenant home) to many people of many different nationalities. I (an American) was friend with British, Canadian, French, Australian, Korean, Indian, Japanese, and Chinese kids, as well as other Americans. My parents’ best friends there were from New Zealand.

15

Okay, I might have been embellishing a tad with my “goat tracks” quip, but have you driven the Great Western Hwy out of Sydney? It’s one of the nation’s major roads and over the mountains (mere hills from the POV of many Yanks and Europeans), much of it is single lane, winding blacktop with blind corners and badly-cambered curves. Mt Victoria Pass is a hair-raising hair-pin laden drop with black ice on the road in winter, and littered with "STEEP DESCENT TRUCKS MUST USE LOW GEAR " signs, and 35km/h advisories. And this is the main road across the continent! I look at the US interstates and the Eurpoean motorways and weep with jealousy.

16

Having spent some time in Singapore, I could agree with you from a crime perspective. But factor in all the other parameters I discussed and I don’t think Singapore is in the ball park.
Size is the critical issue (limited resources and indefensible- i.e. WW2).

NZ then Canada would be my next choices, then a big gap down to the safest European countries (bits of Scandinavia?).

17

(Bolding mine)

I’m not too sure about defensibility. From what I understand (and I am by no means an expert), the British severely underestemated the Japanese at this point in WWII, and assumed that Japan would attack from the south.

When it comes to size and natural resources (and personal freedoms), however, you are absolutely correct.

18

Aon World risk map (warning: 5 MB PDF).

According to the 18 April 2005 issue of The Times, “Aon has increased the terrorism risk ratings of 31 countries, including Australia.” By the map’s color code, Australia now has the same terrorism risk level as the United States, most of Western Europe, and such constant founts of bad news as D.R. Congo and Sudan. Singapore also has the same threat rating, situated as it is by the Straits of Malacca – which, as one of the world’s most important shipping lanes, is a natural target for potential terrorist attacks.

If we add this factor to the ones listed by the OP, maybe Australia isn’t looking so good.

19

I still think New Zealand, even with the occasional earthquake and magma burp, is safer than Australia. In many respects, saner too …

:slight_smile:

20

:stuck_out_tongue: But seriously, you are one of two people I have known (personally) to have been bitten by a spider…