100,000 Serbs live in Australia and the monthly minimum wage there is 3,000 euros.
Imagine a country that didn’t even feel the world economic crisis and that, while others measured the losses of their national economies in trillions ten years ago, that disaster simply – bypassed them. A country where the weekly salary is around 1,000 dollars, and where the monthly minimum is 3,000 euros. In which the public debt is at a low level, which nurtures the welfare state, which successfully manages its immigration policy.
In which unemployment is at a historically low level. In which an efficient health system managed to eradicate infectious diseases such as rubella. And which is one step away from becoming the first in the world to forever go down in history with another disease – cervical cancer, writes Slobodna Dalmacija.
Imagine a country bathed in the sun for most of the year, where even in the winter months the temperature rarely drops below 10 degrees Celsius. A country whose cities are as if made for postcards and whose villages are not abandoned by their inhabitants, but new ones move in. Such a country exists. It is called Australia and about 100,000 Serbs live in it.
Today, Australia is the 12th strongest economy in the world. It has not had a recession for twenty-seven years – three times longer than that, one Germany managed. Australia continues to grow at solid rates.
A country rich in minerals and energy
There are several reasons for such a positive result for Australia. It is rich in ores, primarily iron and coal. It also has large reserves of gas, gold, aluminum, nickel, diamonds and opals. No matter how far away the European and American markets are, the Asian market, the most dynamic in the world, is so close to her.
Half of the world‘s population lives in China, India, Southeast and South Asia. And it has its needs. In addition, Australia is close to China, with its fastest growing world economy. And as it grows rapidly, so does the demand for what Australia has in excess.
In the era 27 years ago, when it was faced with a recession at the beginning of the nineties, the local government did not hesitate to implement reforms. She shifted part of the burden of paying for health insurance and pensions to her middle class. The result? Australia is not drowning in high public debt, and the share of pension costs today is half of what other OECD countries pay on average for the same purpose.
Australia is a highly developed democracy that respects private property and upholds the rule of law. Corruption and bribery are not key modus operandi in the world of politics and business, and transparency is one of the hallmarks of the government there. In addition, it did not have to fight for independence with weapons, it did not have a war, it did not have dictators or military juntas in power, nor did it change social systems like socks.
Australia also has one of the best education systems in the world. Which in the whole success story only helped. Of course, life in Australia has its other, less fairy-tale side of the coin. People over sixty still have a hard time getting a job there. Unemployed people who live with an employed spouse are not entitled to unemployment benefits. The IT sector, construction, agriculture, animal husbandry and the food industry continue to record high growth, so jobs in these sectors are easy to come by.
(MONDO/Novac.hr)