Rising sea levels are,increasingly,on Australian minds.
Those global rankings – which I never fully trust – continue to regard Australia as a lifestyle powerhouse. Fourth is where it currently ranks,behind Switzerland,Denmark and the Netherlands,according to Numbeo,an index that takes into account healthcare quality,housing,transportation and crime rates.Australian cities also do well in the liveability leagues,although recently locked-down Melbourne was the only one to makeThe Economist’s 2022 top 10 (offering proof of its unreliability). Australians,when asked to rank their general satisfaction with life,give it on average a 7.1 grade,which is higher than the OECD average of 6.7.
Yet,I wonder whether these indices paint too rosy a picture. For in all the time that I have lived in Australia,I have never known it to be so anxious about the present or so fretful about the future. In a country where property values are a barometer of the national vibe,few things obviously have quite the same buzz-kill effect as interest rates hitting a 10-year high and house prices falling.
When mortgage stress combines with cost-of-living stress,and when pay increases fail to keep pace with inflation,families struggle to tread water,still less get ahead. As Ross Gittins noted last week,the average standard of living in Australia is no better than it was 10 years ago,a lifestyle stagflation unprecedented since the end of World War II.
Two years of COVID-19,which has left us feeling burnt out and mentally fragile,has heightened the sense of anxiety and uncertainty. The monsoon effect of La Nina has not helped either. However,many of the factors contributing to the present downbeat mood predate the pandemic,the cost-of-living crisis and the rain. When we first saw mask-wearing at the start of 2020,for instance,it was not in the Chinese province of Wuhan but rather the CBD of Sydney,which was shrouded in smog from the bushfires. The destabilisation of the Australian climate has had a destabilising effect on Australian self-confidence. Beachfront properties,once the most prized real estate in the land,now look precarious.
Breathing was an issue in Sydney well before COVID.Credit:Wolter Peeters
Country dwelling comes with a heightened threat of fire. Flood-hit Lismore offers a glimpse of the future for other vulnerable communities. Small wonder that new polling fromThe Australia Institute found that a record number of Australians are “very concerned” about climate change.
The strategic environment is also unsettling.Perhaps the most noticeable change from 10 years ago is the shift in attitude towards Beijing. Back then,China was the goose that laid 24-carat eggs. Now,under Xi Jinping,it has shape-shifted into a menacing dragon. The great Australian straddle between Washington and Beijing,which always required a considerable degree of double-jointedness,has become almost ergonomically impossible.