Prev
Next

Five of the biggest, fattest myths about Australia

Tim Harcourt

by Tim Harcourt

26 Jan 05:40am

Must Reads

The Punch is moving house - this is a caption

The Punch is moving house

385

Will Pope Francis have the vision to tackle this? - this is a caption

Will Pope Francis have the vision to tackle this?

122

Advocating risk management is not “victim blaming” - this is a caption

Advocating risk management is not “victim blaming”

251

Filed under: Australia Day, Immigration, Jobs, Society

31 comments

As Australia Day descends, the great Aussie annual introspection starts. We ask questions about who we are as a nation, how does our history stack up, where are we heading and what our values are. We even have debates about whether we should have Australia Day at all.

Whaddya mean we're too far away?

Of course, having a bit of a national conversation with ourselves isn’t a bad thing. It’s healthy to ask questions. And there can be some spinoffs. A bit of navel gazing by Australians lead to Dr Karl Kruszelnicki‘s mini-thesis and why belly button fluff is always blue (true blue that is, or is it green, Karl?).

But as healthy as questioning is, it is important to know to have a good amount of evidence on side to really get a handle on things.

In these days of 24-hour news cycles, having a loud megaphone and the capacity to put the boot into someone or some group, seems to carry more weight than a considered opinion based on research or a fair minded assessment of a complex issue affecting the nation.

Whether it’s a shock jock at home or a celebrated expat touching down on an airport tarmac to launch a diatribe on the national character, some of the louder voices of public opinion drown out the voices of other Australian citizens.

But as we approach January 26th, we should clear the air by disposing a few great Aussie myths, which will fill the air waves this week. By doing that, we’ll have a better informed dialogue about the future of the nation. If New Zealanders are once were warriors, Australians are once were worriers.

As a result of our mass worrying several myths are created as fact, and distort the debate. So if we can dispose the myth, then we will literally have no worries. Let’s take few myths that you always hear around this time of year.

Myth one: “Immigrants take our jobs.” This has come to the fore recently in the form of Liberal MP Theresa Gamboro’s “scientific” observation that immigrants don’t know how to queue of use deodorant. Putting the great Rexona question aside, in the labour market the evidence shows that immigrants make a positive contribution to the labour market. Immigrants make good exporters. According to Sensis research, 50 per cent of all exporters are born overseas.

They bring skills, networks, language culture and a bit of entrepreneurial flair and enrich us as an economy and a society. Think Westfield, TNT, Myer, Bing Lee, Crazy Johns all started by migrants.

Think of the Australian business hall of fame. Names like Lowy Abeles Parbo come to mind. Immigrants make good employers and good workers. Exporting businesses (many started by immigrants) pay 60 per cent higher wages than other companies, and provide job security and higher occupational health and safety (O H & S) standards.

As employees, immigrants are often highly skilled and work ready. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics while immigrants account for less than 30% of the labour force, they have claimed more than half the jobs created since the start of 2010. Immigrants are both employable and self-employable.

Myth two: “We’re experiencing a brain drain”. Apparently all our best and brightest are leaving and this is harming our economy. Well. It is true that there are 1 million Aussies overseas, according to the seminal work on this subject by the Lowy Institute, but it is more “brain gain” than “brain drain”.

Many Australians work and study abroad – especially in their younger years – get experience and like a boomerang, they come back, especially when wanting to raise a family. But it’s not a bad thing for Australians to have overseas experience, and if some stay on and become Vice Chancellor of Oxford University, editor of The Times, or hold down key positions in Shanghai, Seattle or Sao Paulo, that just opens up strong networks for the rest of us. Also with the global financial jitters affecting northern hemisphere financial markets, more expat Aussies will be coming home than we thought.

Myth three: “Australian workers are bludgers”. When Jeff Kennett was Premier of Victoria and attacking public holidays, annual leave and penalty rates, labour market research showed that Australia was mid-table in terms of public holidays and most countries paid annual leave loading, annual leave and leave bonuses.

On international comparisons, Australians are relatively hard working; they focus more on practical productive outcomes (than clocking up hours at the office or other workplace) and have a moderate amount of public holidays. We’ll be taking Australia Day off, but Chinese New Year holidays and celebrations last 2 weeks and other countries have similar festivals. According to international brand surveys, Australians are perceived to ‘work hard and play hard’ and their easy going nature should not be confused with sloth or laziness.

Myth four: “We’re just China’s quarry and Japan’s beach.” This pops up from time to time along with the comments that we are not clever, innovative or “high tech” enough. Australia’s chief scientist (along with the head of Hewlett Packard) said 10 years ago that Australia needed to forget commodities (he said this just before our record terms of trade boom) and build a strong technology sector like Taiwan of the Australian dollar “would be 30 cents US by 2010”.

The comment ignores the fact that innovation comes from many industries including Australia’s traditional areas of comparative advantage in mining and agriculture. Everywhere I go in the world, I meet small Perth companies that sell technology to the Siberian or Brazilian mining sectors, McLaren Vale winemakers selling marketing software and services to Argentina and France, and everyone knows about the innovation in Australian surf wear, surfboard and sports innovation. Check out how many Billabong boardies you next see in Bordeaux, Bali or on the surf coast of Brazil, Peru, Chile or South Africa. Innovation comes from many places, not just the computer industry.

And finally, there is a myth that “We are too far away to matter.” Well that may have been so in 1788 when we were a convict colony waiting for ships to come from England. The brilliant and eminent Australian historian wrote eloquently about this in his famous treatise The Tyranny of Distance.

Now in the 21st century, Australia finds itself at the right place at the right time in the Asian time zone, and supplying what China, India, ASEAN and the rest of the emerging world need. With euro-gloom and American blues economically, the rise of Asia may well see Australians talking less about “the Tyranny of Distance” and more about “the Power of Proximity” in years to come.

Happy Australia Day!

Most commented

31 comments

Show oldest | newest first

    • Erick says:

      05:04am | 26/01/12

      ‘Myth one: “Immigrants take our jobs.”’

      This seems to be a meta-myth of sorts. The only times I’ve seen this line used are when trolls use it in an ironic manner: “They tuk our jerbz”. Does anyone actually use this line seriously?

      ‘This has come to the fore recently in the form of Liberal MP Theresa Gamboro’s “scientific” observation that immigrants don’t know how to queue of use deodorant.’

      Seems to me she was talking about deodorant, not jobs. Couldn’t you find a genuine example of someone saying that?

      In my experience, most people don’t complain about immigrants taking jobs. They complain about boat people NOT taking jobs, but sitting on welfare.

      Thirty per cent of Australians are immigrants. Do you really think we haven’t noticed them working? At my current job, only two out of twelve staff were born in Australia!

      Reply

    • Emma says:

      05:48am | 26/01/12

      I love that myth, especially when complaining that your (highly needed) GP is Asian - Let me tell you, he did not steel your job, because you havent even finished high school, honey.

    • Bertrand says:

      06:14am | 26/01/12

      Well Today Tonight regularly runs episodes that are advertised along the lines of “they’re coming here to take your jobs”, so the myth clearly exists.

      Of course, the opposite is true. Immigration is a net job creator. Expanded consumer markets lead to an expansion in production. The problem lies when we fail to invest in some of the job creating infrastructure that is needed to handle a larger population.

    • acotrel says:

      06:32am | 26/01/12

      @Erick
      “They tuk our jerbz”.
      And the bastards expect us to build houses for them to live in !

    • Erick says:

      06:41am | 26/01/12

      @Bertrand - That might well be true, but I don’t watch TV so I wouldn’t know.

      Perhaps someone is actually still pushing the “taking our jobs” line, but I haven’t seen it recently in any of the media I browse.

      If it’s that big a thing, surely Tim Harcourt could have cited an actual example, instead of a quote that said nothing about taking jobs at all?

    • Super D says:

      08:07am | 26/01/12

      Back to the pile.

    • acotrel says:

      08:42am | 26/01/12

      @Bertrand
      It was the reason we had the White Australia Policy, Erick is just getting desperate, and is scratching around for ammunition !

    • Bertrand says:

      09:09am | 26/01/12

      @acotrel - the white Australia policy is dead and buried. I’m not sure it can be used as evidence of attitudes regarding immigration and jobs in today’s Australia.

    • Erick says:

      09:25am | 26/01/12

      @acotrel - Yes, that was the reason the Labor Party adopted the White Australia Policy, more than a hundred years ago. A policy which was abolished by the Liberal Party more than forty years ago.

      If you’re bringing that up, then you’re the one who is desperate and scratching about for ammunition.

    • Shane From Melbourne says:

      11:28am | 26/01/12

      @Erick- Immigrants probably don’t take our jobs since they do the jobs that locals don’t want to do in the boom of a cycle. In the bust of the cycle when the competition is fierce, then state expenditure of welfare expands due to the limited number of jobs High immigration also has negative effects such depressing wages (good if you are elite, not so good if you have a high mortgage or high costs of living), raises the cost of renting or mortgages, decreases the standard of living since state expenditure on infrastructure rarely increases to match high immigration and generally lowers the standard of living. Anyone who votes for a party with high immigration policy is an idiot since it is clearly not in their best interests.

    • Andrew says:

      03:29pm | 26/01/12

      If they come here and get jobs then technically they are taking our jobs arnt they, that however doesnt mean there still isnt jobs for the rest of us.

    • rebecca says:

      08:16pm | 26/01/12

      I have friends who regularly complain that immigrants are a) here to steal our jobs, b) here to steal centrelink payments, and c) here to convert us all to islam. Their ignorance drives me crazy, especially because they persist on their views even after i state facts that prove them wrong.

    • Servaas says:

      08:46pm | 26/01/12

      @ Rebecca

      It’s only the Muslim immigrants that’s in Aus to convert you all to Islam, not all immigrants. And if they’re not there to convert you all, what are they doing there then and are they truly Islamic? Or is it that you have already converted them and they only carry the name Muslim around for comfort’s sake?

      They are supposed to convert you all to Islam so if they’re not doing it it is them who are in the wrong not your friends. Or am I misinterpreting Islam here?

    • Hoob says:

      05:19am | 26/01/12

      The mining and oil industry are increasingly bringing in foreign workers and paying them less than the appropriate wage.

      Reply

    • acotrel says:

      06:34am | 26/01/12

      Haven’t you heard about the ‘trickle down effect of wealth’ ?

    • Denny Crane says:

      07:20am | 26/01/12

      acotrel - labor have a drag down effect on wealth. Instead of trying to raise the lower bar they are trying to lower the upper end. Of course the fools dont realize that by taxing the middle class to lower their standard of living that the trickle down effect will also lower the standard of the working class and the poor.
      It the labor way. The dont want the majority to be comfortable because that loosens the grip on power. It’s more like a draining of wealth.

    • acotrel says:

      09:55am | 26/01/12

      @Denny
      Where does wealth come from ?  I suggest it’s from the productivity of the guy on the very bottom of the ladder, the one who actually does a REAL job, all the rest is administration and manipulation.

    • Bill says:

      10:38am | 26/01/12

      @ acotrel - the wealth comes from the guy on the bottom of the ladder? Are you deluded? That guy wouldn’t have his job if those at the top of the ladder hadn’t staked their future starting a business in the first place.

    • Emma says:

      05:51am | 26/01/12

      “We are too far away to matter” - Whats wrong with that? Thats the reason I came here.

      Reply

    • thatmosis says:

      08:10am | 26/01/12

      I think the whole article was not about the myths as much as trying to justify the Governments clear mishandling of the Illegal immigrant problem.
        This furphy about them taking our jobs is as old as Methusala and keeps being trotted out every now and then but thats not what this article is about.
        Its about trying to justify illegall immigrants doing a great for Australia when in actual fact most of them have their snouts in the public trough and this Government actively aiding and abetting more of them to come because of their non policy on Illegal Immigrants.
      As for mythe 2 lets look at the work that Australians do that is world beating and then goes overseas because no one here will bankrole them. No wonder people seem to think we have a brain drain when if fact its not that but the fact that nearly everything we create is sent overseas because of business and Government inaction.
      Mythe 3-Crap, put an Australian on contract work where they get paid for what they produce and they are the hardest workers in the world, whereas put them on wages and in a Union and well????????
      Mythe 4- This is a hard one to disspell as the more we read the more we ralise that Australia is being sold out from under us to various countries. The money is overseas and they are canny investors and can see the worth in investing in Australia whereas most Australians are quite happy with their 800 sq m of ground and a house. There is no real incentive now in Australia to continue to flog ones guts out for others to take advantage of, a case in question, the milk wars, where dairy farmers are being forced to take what they are given to make the consummer happy and intice people into the big supermarkets for cheap milk. A bloody 600ml of water is now more expensive than a 3ltr container of milk so why when offered a good price by an overseas buyer to sell out shouldnt they atke advantage of this. There is no help from the Government so if Australia is being sold out and used as you mentioned it really all comes down to the Government and their lack of action on our part.
      I own a small holding of 100 acres and if some overseas company offered me good money to sell you wouldnt see me for the dust, or mud as is the case now and i would use that money to travel, not here but overseas.

      Reply

    • Emma says:

      08:32am | 26/01/12

      Illegal immigrants? Excuse me? This about skilled worker migrants, not boat people. The ones that get hired by Aussie companies, because there is no one suitable around to do the job.

    • acotrel says:

      09:19am | 26/01/12

      @thatmosis
      What you said is correct if the workers are actually ‘on contract’  which means paid at the normal contract rate of nearly double normal wages.  Workchoices was not about that.  It was about normal pay, reduced conditions and rights, and coercion !
      The simple fact is that most Australians do a full day’s conscientious work for a day’s pay, until they cop shit !

    • acotrel says:

      09:29am | 26/01/12

      @thatmosis
      Bob Menzies once said ‘Australia will never be any good until we have unemployment’.  What he should have said is ‘Australia will never be any good until the workers experience starvation’ ! Then the workers could be treated as conscripts in the army and subjected to a totally authoritarian management culture ? You will note that the Aussie soldiers in the ANZAC regularly told their officers to get stuffed - they were volunteers, and the most effective storm troopers ever.  That is what we Australians are about !

    • thatmosis says:

      09:25am | 26/01/12

      Forgot the last myth as I was mythed with this whole article. We are too far away,WTF, we are in the range of just about every country that ha Nuclear weapons, now if thats too far away i wont to be further. As far as commerce is concerend the WWW has made it too easy to carry out business without even leaving your chair and any information required is at you fingetips. Thats not too far away. What is too far away is the next election.

      Reply

    • Rick says:

      09:35am | 26/01/12

      One Myth for sure;
      ” we are not a democracy as told by our crooked leaders”
      Democracy means rule by the people.
      Where the bloody hell are the people after each election?

      Oligarchy means rule by the few….parties politic in power sounds more like a mafiacracy.
      Where the bloody hell are the people?

      Now in the 21st century…. we are still living in a serfdom
      the serf or the battlers-the working families with no democratic rights after each election and the Barons the so-called servants of the people who are the Sovereign Servants with the absolute.

      And finally this is not a myth but the reality of our world the Tyranny of political party” and more about “the Absolute Power of political parties in years to come.

      Switzerland is a federal republic with a system of direct democracy, in which the ultimate power lies in the hands of the people AND THIS IS NOT A MYTH.

      In a phoney democracy “We are too far away to matter” ......
      Direct democracy is a way to check political power. It allows benevolent and enlightened citizens to oppose laws made by evil politicians AND THIS IS NOT A MYTH.

      Reply

    • Leigh says:

      10:31am | 26/01/12

      I’ve been well over Australia Day for years. Given what we have done to the country ourselves, our inability to protect our borders, our naive and don’t-care attitude to most things, allowing people to say what they like about us (even agreeing with them), we have nothing to celebrate

      Reply

    • Bertrand says:

      01:45pm | 26/01/12

      “we have nothing to celebrate”

      How about having the 2nd highest standard of living in the world?

      What about our absolutely incredible great outdoors? I’ve travelled the world and we have the best nature has to offer.

      What about the fact we continue to grow our economy while the rest of the Western world sinks?

      What about our fantastic lifestyle? - we work hard and play hard. We have more choice about how to entertain ourselves than we would ever need.

      What about the fact we are some of the luckiest people on Earth - gifted with untold natural resources and a perfect position straddling West and East??

      Being Australian is an incredible privilege and I am thankful for what this country has given me.

      The debates I engage in about Australia and its policies and direction are not about how to drag ourselves out of the mess we are in, but how to build upon our incredible good fortune.

      What a sad world view you hold.

    • cayal says:

      11:27am | 27/01/12

      “What about our absolutely incredible great outdoors? I’ve travelled the world and we have the best nature has to offer.”

      Not even close in my opinion.

    • Mark/Fox says:

      04:42pm | 26/01/12

      Well there is one thing that is not a myth, immigration and baby bonuses are increasing our population way above a sustainable level. My job is in the enviroment and resource managment area and we are overconsuming our resources and raping or enviroment. So a little bit of family planning and some controls on immigration would go a long way, you never know we may get to a point where we can actually reduce the carbon tax, but I guess not we had to introduce one based on our current population.

      Reply

    • SUSTAINABLE CHOICE says:

      08:35am | 27/01/12

      Correct Mark

      From 2000 to 2020, through high immigration and baby bonuses, Australia’s population is being deliberately increased by six million to 25.2 million. Yet we are attempting to cut emissions by 5 per cent by 2020. This strategy means our target is actually more like a 25 per cent reduction in per capita terms, to achieve just 5 per cent in total. If 25 per cent is anywhere near achievable, imagine what we could do with a stable population!!

      And high immigration, including the uncapped(!) ‘temporary’ 457 visa program DOES act as a disincentive to train the local workforce.  Business doesn’t have to invest time and money training people. There is not even a requirement to market test (advertise) before bringing in a 457 migrant worker! Even the US has this test.

      We won’t resolve any of Australia’s major problems until we first resolve the everything issue - population. That’s why I’ll be voting for the STABLE POPULATION PARTY.

    • Richard says:

      09:40am | 28/01/12

      HANG ON A MINUTE, stone the crows…... my GG Grandfather was an immigrant, he stole no ones job, he was a blacksmith, but worked and help make Australia, Australia.
      Why he even built the school of Arts in Tenterfield, and as an alderman shook the hand of Henry Parkes in 1889 in welcome, when Sir Henry made his famous speech.
      The story goes that one night in 1853 my GG Grandfather had a nightmare, where he saw a terrible vision, a great abyss with fire and brimstone arising, demonic figures ascending and giant letters appear…. EU.
      He awoke in a cold sweat turned and said to his wife, we better bugger off to Australia for this country is doomed to slavery. So they packed up left Lincolnshire and sailed to Australia on the good ship John Fielden, arriving in June 1853.

      Reply
 
Sorry, comments are now closed for this article.

Facebook Recommendations

Read all about it

Punch live

Up to the minute Twitter chatter

David Penberthy

penbo 19 May 13 12:24AM

@KevCorduroy @SallyHitchiner it's a great idea I doubt he'd go for it though far too laid back

ToryShepherd

ToryShepherd 18 May 13 10:48PM

. @mcguiremi is journo of the year! #samediaawards

ToryShepherd

ToryShepherd 18 May 13 10:35PM

.@mariamosco @msmarto Super Smarto. And Shirley Stott Despoja into the Hall of Fame #samediaawards

ToryShepherd

ToryShepherd 18 May 13 10:14PM

Best print journo to @mcguiremi woot! #samediaawards

See all tweets

Recent posts

The latest and greatest

The Punch is moving house

by The Punch Team

385

The Punch is moving house

Good morning Punchers. After four years of excellent fun and great conversation, this is the final post…

Will Pope Francis have the vision to tackle this?

by Hannah Harborow

122

Will Pope Francis have the vision to tackle this?

I have had some close calls, one that involved what looked to me like an AK47 pointed my way, followed…

Advocating risk management is not “victim blaming”

by Sarrah Le Marquand

251

Advocating risk management is not “victim blaming”

In a world in which there are still people who subscribe to the vile notion that certain victims of sexual…

Nosebleed Section

choice ringside rantings

From: Hasbro, go straight to gaol, do not pass go

Tim says:

They should update other things in the game too. Instead of a get out of jail free card, they should have a Dodgy Lawyer card that not only gets you out of jail straight away but also gives you a fat payout in compensation for daring to arrest you in the first place. Instead of getting a hotel when you… [read more]

From: A guide to summer festivals especially if you wouldn’t go

Kel says:

If you want a festival for older people or for families alike, get amongst the respectable punters at Bluesfest. A truly amazing festival experience to be had of ALL AGES. And all the young "festivalgoers" usually write themselves off on the first night, only to never hear from them again the rest of… [read more]

Light weight

Gentle jabs to the ribs

Superman needs saving

Superman needs saving

Can somebody please save Superman? He seems to be going through a bit of a crisis. Eighteen months ago,… Read more

28 comments

Newsletter

Read all about it

Sign up to the free News.com.au newsletter