Ten things I love about Australia

1) Radio National: what great conversations are had on this great quality radio station! Listen in on

2) SBS (with a few reservations, when they're not busy spreading anti-Jew stereotypes)

3) The support that is available for families who have special needs children, amazing structures are in place here

4) The time warp feel of some aspects of life here, which gives it the superficial veneer of being like South Africa in the 1970s, when I grew up. So here you can still find local corner cafes, paternalistic and punitive cops, rednecks, prejudices of all kinds and persuasions, parks with people kicking a ball around that are not strewn with broken glass (as many South African parks sadly became) etc.
And there are radio stations here which only play an endless stream of 70s pop and rock, so even the soundtrack is right.

5) The entrenched conservativism, which is as much a blessing as it is a curse.

6) the cycle pathways in Melbourne

7) That Kevin Rudd made an apology to the elder inhabitants of this land, and that the wrongs done them are slowly being redressed

8) the efficiency of many government departments - you can get a passport here in 10% of the time it takes to get one in SA, and tax rebates are paid promptly and efficiently.

9) That narrative therapy - Michael White - developed here (or near here, if we're talking about New Zealander David Epston)

Australia likes to see its people arrange themselves in teams and then herd themselves around in groups, preferably in public places.

10) its blessed "parochialism", which is a sanctimonious way of saying that most Australians have the good sense not to be interested in stuff that happens outside of tehir own back yard or that does not directly impact on their pockets