3 ms·
In simple terms, Australia is a relatively young country that formed its own government in 1901. It was also isolated from the rest of the world and has a harsh
by throwaheyy 4y ago
In simple terms, Australia is a relatively young country that formed its own government in 1901. It was also isolated from the rest of the world and has a harsh environment with a lot of things that can kill you. This produced an overall culture of helping each other when you can (what gets called “mateship”), and trust in the government to help when it is needed. Australians generally like an orderly society, that translates to a publically-approved police state.
- YPPH 4y agoSlight nitpick: Australian colonial (State) governments existed well before the Constitution of the Commonwealth in 1901, at least since 1788. I'm not so sure about the relevance of the so-called "harsh environment" to political culture. Although, it may be said Australians have a more deferential view of certain aspects of politics than other Western countries.
- throwaheyy 4y agoI’m well aware of the predecessor colonial governments pre-Federation. My point is that those were symbols and apparatus of British imposed rule, and it is relatively recent that the notion of an “Australian government”, as its own national sovereignty, came about. Specifically since the change in national identity had a direct impact on the government no longer being looked at as “the ruling class”.
- AussieWog93 4y agoDon't forget our geography either! We're in fairly close proximity, physically and politically, with authoritarian Asian states like Singapore, Malaysia and China.