Are Canberrans spoilt?

imhotep said :

So true, and since we’re generalising;

– A great many Canberrans have secure jobs which are almost never under serious threat, a threat which frequently occupies the minds of many Australians.
– Most Canberrans are exceedingly well-paid for quite menial tasks. $60-70k for secure, entry-level office work? No worries.
-Their workload is generally pretty light compared to private sector work – if a genuine performance target is actually set and not met, there is a slight chance that promotion may be delayed. Most Australians are not so lucky.
– Amongst Canberra’s petty bureaucrats, people ‘in trade’ are generally regarded with suspicion. Any non-government development is to be obstructed by all bureaucratic means, despite the fact that ‘trade’ ultimately funds the city’s lavish lifestyle.

The founding fathers made a great mistake in establishing our Capital in an artificially-created city like Canberra. We are now governed by a generation that largely has no real experience of the country they administer.

Well, if government employ is all so well-paid and easy, why isn’t everyone doing it? As for that farrago about the establishment of Canberra, the capital has to be somewhere; do you really think the same sort of complaints, if not actual problems, wouldn’t exist if Sydney (perish that thought; it’s already far enough up itself) or Melbourne were the capital? There’s already complaints at State level how the State capitals dominate the rest of their respective States. Brisbane/Queensland is a particular case in point. Let’s just try to make Canberra the best place it can be.

My day starts off with two mugs of Nescafe while I read about the state of the world and make the kids’ lunches. After getting them to school, I try to find something to keep me occupied/motivated all day, seeing that I am stuck in the limbo that is our worker’s comp system. Two years of chronic pain so far and an indeterminate length of it continuing. A snooze at lunch, unavoidable thanks to pain killers, then I pick up the kids and make dinner, the cheapest and easiest way possible. A little TV in the afternoon during which I nod off again, water the garden and off to bed. I fall asleep wondering if things will ever change, if we can somehow have more money than just barely enough for mortgage and utility bills. With a car rego due and no spare money right before Christmas, I certainly don’t feel spoilt.
I can’t see how $60k is a basic entry level income, nor how a family can survive on it with Canberra’s housing prices.
All the things the OP says make Canberra great, will cost you money to enjoy. Most of us on the fringes don’t have that luxury.

Masquara said :

chewy14 said :

Maryan said :

You keep referring to “the city”, Suzanne. In Canberra, we do not have a “city centre”. We have multiple Town Centres. We have Civic, Belconnen, Woden etc. The city was specifically designed never to have a CBD. It’s one of the planning reasons that have produced a situation where life is somewhat more comfortable than in some other places. That planning also procluded strip development along the transport routes, which every other city has, to their serious detriment.
However, we have a government that insists on bringing as many people as possible from the larger & less functional cities (that historically grew like topsy & function that way), and knowing nothing else, they keep trying to make Canberra like the places they left.
It’s wonderful that you enjoy what this city has to offer.
It would, I think, be even more wonderful if current planners understood at least some of the myriad planning & historical issues that have created this situation, so that they do not participate in its total destruction.
Things like moving residential zones into the Civic area so that now people are complaining of the noise the live bands make, causing them to be curtailed (this is now called creating a “vibrant” city).
There are too many such things to name, but I’m sure you & many others get the picture – from where I stand, anyway.

The suburb/division is literally called “City”, there is no place called “Civic”.

No, they tried to instigate “City Centre” but “Civic” had long been formalised. Civic it is. Anyone who says otherwise is not a Canberran!

Civic Square is still listed in the postcodes as 2608. Don’t know if the PO is still there however.

Canberra is 2600 (or 2601 where the PO Box mail goes) and Canberra Airport 2609 where there is no PO (as far as I am aware).

Then there is Canberra BC at 2610. This is in a very old part of Canberra (joke).

chewy14 said :

Maryan said :

You keep referring to “the city”, Suzanne. In Canberra, we do not have a “city centre”. We have multiple Town Centres. We have Civic, Belconnen, Woden etc. The city was specifically designed never to have a CBD. It’s one of the planning reasons that have produced a situation where life is somewhat more comfortable than in some other places. That planning also procluded strip development along the transport routes, which every other city has, to their serious detriment.
However, we have a government that insists on bringing as many people as possible from the larger & less functional cities (that historically grew like topsy & function that way), and knowing nothing else, they keep trying to make Canberra like the places they left.
It’s wonderful that you enjoy what this city has to offer.
It would, I think, be even more wonderful if current planners understood at least some of the myriad planning & historical issues that have created this situation, so that they do not participate in its total destruction.
Things like moving residential zones into the Civic area so that now people are complaining of the noise the live bands make, causing them to be curtailed (this is now called creating a “vibrant” city).
There are too many such things to name, but I’m sure you & many others get the picture – from where I stand, anyway.

The suburb/division is literally called “City”, there is no place called “Civic”.

No, they tried to instigate “City Centre” but “Civic” had long been formalised. Civic it is. Anyone who says otherwise is not a Canberran!

Suzanne Kiraly said :

Thanks for all of your thoughtful comments. @spades – yes, everything in this article is in the context of those who live in this beautiful city. Yes @bj_ACT and @devils_advocate

I agree with both of you. I am well aware that there is a glaring gap between the “haves” and the “haves not” in this city and the level of homelessness, I believe, is just unacceptable.

Great fodder for another article I might write later….so thanks for your input.

Thanks for writing the article, it is the strength of the RiotACT that allows discussion of these issues across Canberra. P.S. would love you to write a follow up article. Like Devils_Advocate I have done well for myself in Canberra, but over the last couple of years I have noticed declining education, employment and public services for the strugglers in the outer rim of suburbs.

I think you all forget that everyone in Canberra lives in the Canberra bubble. Including our worst off.
At every single income percentile, Canberra’s residents are better off than those in any other major city in the country. This idea that somehow the benefits of living in Canberra are exclusive to those who have high paid public service jobs is simply not true. Those who don’t have public service jobs might not get the gravy train of the APS, but in general they are much, much better off than those in equivalent positions in Sydney, Melbourne or any other Australian city.

Maryan said :

You keep referring to “the city”, Suzanne. In Canberra, we do not have a “city centre”. We have multiple Town Centres. We have Civic, Belconnen, Woden etc. The city was specifically designed never to have a CBD. It’s one of the planning reasons that have produced a situation where life is somewhat more comfortable than in some other places. That planning also procluded strip development along the transport routes, which every other city has, to their serious detriment.
However, we have a government that insists on bringing as many people as possible from the larger & less functional cities (that historically grew like topsy & function that way), and knowing nothing else, they keep trying to make Canberra like the places they left.
It’s wonderful that you enjoy what this city has to offer.
It would, I think, be even more wonderful if current planners understood at least some of the myriad planning & historical issues that have created this situation, so that they do not participate in its total destruction.
Things like moving residential zones into the Civic area so that now people are complaining of the noise the live bands make, causing them to be curtailed (this is now called creating a “vibrant” city).
There are too many such things to name, but I’m sure you & many others get the picture – from where I stand, anyway.

The suburb/division is literally called “City”, there is no place called “Civic”.

I love Canberra, and I do think we are spoilt, but the way I experience Canberra is completely different to that of the OP.

I read the OP as “No kids!! YESSSSS!”

I look forward to just being able to swing out the door for a run on our magnificent trails without having to magically align the needs of 4 other people first 😀 Our natural surrounds are gorgeous, and for this reason I count myself very, very lucky to live on one of Canberra’s outer edges, and still have a 10 min drive to work/school/daycare.

imhotep said :

So true, and since we’re generalising;

– A great many Canberrans have secure jobs which are almost never under serious threat, a threat which frequently occupies the minds of many Australians.
– Most Canberrans are exceedingly well-paid for quite menial tasks. $60-70k for secure, entry-level office work? No worries.
-Their workload is generally pretty light compared to private sector work – if a genuine performance target is actually set and not met, there is a slight chance that promotion may be delayed. Most Australians are not so lucky.
– Amongst Canberra’s petty bureaucrats, people ‘in trade’ are generally regarded with suspicion. Any non-government development is to be obstructed by all bureaucratic means, despite the fact that ‘trade’ ultimately funds the city’s lavish lifestyle.

The founding fathers made a great mistake in establishing our Capital in an artificially-created city like Canberra. We are now governed by a generation that largely has no real experience of the country they administer.

That’s a good case for moving some agencies into the real world then?

But wait, we are already being lectured on another thread that it isn’t a good idea.

So true, and since we’re generalising;

– A great many Canberrans have secure jobs which are almost never under serious threat, a threat which frequently occupies the minds of many Australians.
– Most Canberrans are exceedingly well-paid for quite menial tasks. $60-70k for secure, entry-level office work? No worries.
-Their workload is generally pretty light compared to private sector work – if a genuine performance target is actually set and not met, there is a slight chance that promotion may be delayed. Most Australians are not so lucky.
– Amongst Canberra’s petty bureaucrats, people ‘in trade’ are generally regarded with suspicion. Any non-government development is to be obstructed by all bureaucratic means, despite the fact that ‘trade’ ultimately funds the city’s lavish lifestyle.

The founding fathers made a great mistake in establishing our Capital in an artificially-created city like Canberra. We are now governed by a generation that largely has no real experience of the country they administer.