[vacri]

Median income isn't the whole story. Disposable income is a better story (particularly for entertainment), and Ireland in US$24k, Australia $31k. In Germany (the most populous European country that no-one questions is in Europe) it's US$30k. France is US$29.5k. (stats from OECD). Norway, with the same size population as Ireland, is more than Australia at US$32k. Australia isn't really as far ahead of Europe as you paint it. Picking one of the poorest countries in Western Europe and using that as the baseline isn't really playing fair.

These links have the country's median household disposable income listed in the first paragraph.

  http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/countries/ireland/
  http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/countries/australia/
  http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/countries/germany/
  http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/countries/france/
  http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/countries/fill-in-the-blank-here-or-just-click-on-a-flower/