[spangry]

Indeed. Although I think one big difference is that Australians are occasionally forced to face reality en masse, the last time being around the late-80s early-90s. I think we're due for another dose of reality, now that the mining boom is over and we can no longer sustain our current economic model (which is indistinguishable from a ponzi scheme).

As Donald Horne wrote in his book, 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."[0]

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lucky_Country