An Australian musician has claimed that Australians are not ‘laid back’ as foreigners think, but are instead ‘lying to themselves’ and ‘projecting’ a false persona to the world.
Mark, from Wollongong, said Australians are ‘conservative, lazy and don’t want to rock the boat’, despite the country’s easy-going ‘larrikin’ reputation.
He said the country’s “boring” attitude is causing its live music scene to struggle and holding it back from becoming a “more exciting cosmopolitan society.”
“Australia can be summed up as people who moved next door to the pub because it was trendy and cool, but then complained about the live music and closed the pub,” he said.
Australians were quick to agree with Mark’s pointed opinion, while others pointed out that they tend to get up early so are tired in the evenings and cannot easily afford to go out as often due to the cost of livelihood.
Mark, from Wollongong, said Australians are ‘conservative and lazy and don’t want to rock the boat’ despite the country’s easy-going ‘larrikin’ reputation
Mark responded to TikToker John Pabon who wanted to know why Australians have an “aversion to doing anything social on a weekday.”
The musician who plays in the Strawberry Swing Band explained that it had to do with the ‘lies’ Australians tell themselves about how the world sees them.
“As Australians we like to think of ourselves as laid-back larrikins, who like to party, like to have a drink and all that kind of thing,” he said.
‘The problem with that is that in Sydney we have one of the strictest lockout laws in the world: you can’t buy booze on Good Friday and no one goes out on weekday evenings.
‘It’s even difficult to get good coffee after 1 o’clock on a Saturday, so are we really into partying? Are we really that relaxed?’
Mark said Aussies are “very conservative people” who are “boring” and “don’t want to rock the boat”.
Mark said Australians are considered easy-going but have an ‘aversion to doing anything social on a weekday’
“You can see that because we’ve had predominantly Conservative governments, we tend to vote for a Conservative vision of Australia,” he said.
“The few times we have been presented with a different, more interesting vision of Australia as a progressive and exciting country, we have historically rejected it.”
Mark said many Australians think they are “the cool kids” who are “descended from convicts”, while many are descendants of prison guards, citing a quote from journalist Clive James: “The problem with Australians is not that so many of them are descended from convicts, but that so many of them are descended from prison guards.’
“That’s why Australia is big on something called preventative compliance. “We want to push governments to regulate us, we like laws, we like laws enforced through fines, we saw that during Covid,” he continued.
“That doesn’t mean that all of these things are inherently bad, but it means that there is a disconnect between how we see ourselves and how we really are, and sometimes these things are really bad.”
He said Australia’s conservatism can be seen in its strict immigration policies that prompted Donald Trump to say then-Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was “worse” than him when it came to letting people into the country in 2017.
He said Australia’s conservatism can be seen in its strict immigration policies that prompted Donald Trump to say then-Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was “worse” than him in 2017.
Mark said the widespread conservative attitude trickles down to smaller issues, such as not wanting to go out during the week.
‘The answer is that we are very conservative and a bit boring. That’s a problem because this is what is destroying things like Australia’s live music industry,” he said.
“If you’re an up-and-coming band, you’ll often get booked on a weeknight and if no one’s going out, you’re not playing to anyone and you’re not making any money. I think it’s time for us to admit some things about who we are as a people.”
Mark shared his insights on TikTok and sparked a lively debate among viewers, with people pointing out that they don’t make plans during the week because everything closes early.
‘Having moved from New Zealand to Australia, one thing that still baffles me is how early everything shuts down. If you want to eat after 9:30 you better be at home or Maccas, restaurants are all closed,” one man said.
“I’ve noticed we’re extremely flaky too. Makes making friends very difficult. People like to cancel,” another replied.
‘Wow, you summed it up perfectly! As a foreigner in Oz that has been my observation,” a third wrote.
“I never thought about how conservatism permeates social life in this way,” one person added.
Many pointed out that Australians are ‘early risers’ and therefore feel more tired in the evening.
The average wake time in Australia is 7.13am, making Aussies the eighth earliest birds in the world according to the Overview of the world population.
“Most Aussies are up at 4am, we’re early risers,” one viewer explained, and a second said: “Up at 4.45am every day. I go to bed every night at 9 p.m. Girl needs her sleep!’.
“People don’t want to be hungover on weeknights,” another responded.
Others blamed the cost of living crisis for keeping Australians from going out during the week.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that there was a 4.5 percent increase in food and non-alcoholic beverages in 2023, while alcohol consumption increased by 6.6 percent in 2023.
The costs of recreation and culture increased by 0.5 percent, while transport increased by 3.7 percent.
“I get paid $18 an hour. A pint of ginger beer costs $17. Think why I don’t go out on a weekday because it’s so expensive,” one user commented.
“I can’t afford $300 to go out and drink four beers,” another joked.