Transcript of AE 946 - Pete Completes The Australia Talks Survey

G'day, you mob, what's going on? I thought today that I would do the Australia Talks survey. So if you're in Australia, you've probably seen this in the news recently. And I am just going to have to keep an eye on my daughter as- watching her whilst my wife is out. So fingers crossed she doesn't wake up. Anyway, where were we?

So you may have watched in the news recently that ABC has held this Australia Talks survey where they ask something like 50 different questions about, you know, your life and then try and get an idea of where you fit in with the rest of Australia and give you that information. And obviously also understand, you know, the attitudes and behaviours of Australians. So I thought I would take this survey here and see what my results are and give you a window into my life and the lives of other Australians. So let's just get into it.

All right, so it looks like it's just going to be a bunch of these questions that pop up here. First one, I would rather spend time with pets than people. I would say somewhat disagree, maybe strongly disagree. The next question. I know many of my neighbours names. That- it's sort of like I know a few of them. I don't know many of them, but I would say somewhat agree. I often have difficulty making ends meet. So this is obviously making ends meet to have enough money to get by and I guess we're in that sort of stage at the moment where we have a lot of bills. So I'm going to say somewhat agree here.

I like my boss. Well, I'm my boss, so I'm going to say I strongly agree. I would prefer a smaller government providing fewer services rather than a bigger government providing more services. I'm going to say somewhat disagree, as I don't really have a big problem with the government providing services. Next question. I have a secret that I believe would end my relationship with my partner or family. Yeah, I don't think so. I strongly disagree. I am currently trying to lose weight. Yes, I strongly agree. As you guys all know, I'm doing a lot of working out at the moment. Walking a lot. I spend too much time online. Yeah, I'd say somewhat agree. I know the name of the Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Country Language Group or community where- sorry, who are the traditional owners of the land where I live. I do. The Wathaurong people so I strongly agree. I have relatives, friends or colleagues who make racist jokes. So these sort of questions are difficult because it doesn't really put into- account intent. Right. So you can make a racist joke and be a horrible person who is making the joke because you are a racist. But you can obviously also make racist jokes where you're pointing fun at the fact that racist jokes are stupid. Right. So I'm going to say somewhat agree, as I definitely have friends who make racist jokes, but they would be doing it not because they're racists, but to point fun at racists.

Next question. Australia should amend its constitution to establish a representative indigenous body to advise Parliament on laws and policies affecting indigenous people. I would say strongly agree. Australia should spend as much as is necessary to ensure that people with disabilities have the same opportunities as everyone else. Again, here, it's kind of like, what is as much as is necessary. I definitely agree that people with disabilities should have opportunities, but should the government spend everything possible to do that? Again, what does it mean? Just like it's all- it seems like that's a bit of a relative question. I'm going to say somewhat agree.

Politicians should resign if they lie to the Australian public. Yup, strongly agree. Sometimes people's freedoms need to be restricted to keep Australia safe. This was a difficult one, obviously, during Covid this needed to happen quite a bit in terms of rolling out these laws and restrictions. When we were having outbreaks in Australia, a lot of people freaked out and irked up, got angry about the fact that we had these laws come in. But I think that in times of war or pandemic, you need to have governments restrict your freedoms a little bit for the greater good. So I'm going to say I strongly agree. Allegations of sexual assault are almost always true. See this, again? It's like the language they're using. It's loaded - "are almost always true". But- it's like allegations of sexual assault can be true. They're often true. But I don't know much about the statistics of how many allegations are made and how many of them turn out to be true or not. I guess it's about what I believe. I'm going to say somewhat agree. I think that a lot of them are. But there are definitely people who lie, right?

People should be referred to by the gender pronoun they identify with. He or she, they, etc. even if it differs from the one assigned to them at birth. I'm going to say I strongly disagree. I'm going to explain that. I think that obviously on an individual level, when you know people who are potentially trans or non binary and they ask you to refer to them based on certain pronouns, that if you, you know, like the person and respect the person, you should probably do what they want to be done. But should that just be a blanket thing that no matter what, you should always be forced to use whatever pronouns, whatever person decides that they want referred to them? I think it's- your identity is an agreement between the public and yourself. It's not just up to you to decide what you are, what you identify as. Obviously, when you have relationships with friends and family, that's different story.

But by and large, I think it's just- it's your identity is not just up to you. And it definitely shouldn't be forced upon other people to use different language just because, you know, people think it'll make other people feel better. So individual discretion is, I guess what I'm trying to say. If I found a trans friend wanted to be called a certain thing, I'd have no problem doing it. The government should establish a federal corruption watchdog. Strongly agree.

Men and women are treated equally in Australian society. Another one. What do you mean? What is equal? You know, again, it's loaded language. Men and women are different. And so you would imagine that their treatment is different. And so they are treated unequally in Australia in terms of medical treatment or in terms of maternal leave from work and paternal leave from work. These things are inherently different. Are they treat- treated equally? Again, it's loaded. So I'm going to say neutral. I don't know. It depends on what you're asking. Smacking a child is an unacceptable form of discipline. I'm going to say strongly, I think there's a time and a place for smacking a child. If Noah, my son, just suddenly ran out into the street and, you know, nearly ran onto the road and got run over, that is probably when if ever I would potentially smack him. I don't think I would. But I can see that smacking a child in that sense of like you put your life in danger. And I really need you to remember this moment and see that it was serious, is important. But should you to smack your kid any time you're annoyed? No, I'm going to put somewhat agree.

Capitalism, as it exists today, does more harm than good. No, I'm not a socialist or a communist. I think capitalism does a lot more good than it does harm. It's not a perfect system, but it is the best when we have. So I'm going to say strongly disagree. It's becoming more difficult to know which sources of information to trust. Strongly agree. Australia Day should not be celebrated on January the twenty sixth, given the historical significance of that date for indigenous people. So this is an interesting one. Should we change the date? For a long time, I was like, no, no, it's always been like this. And then you do a bit of research and work out that the Australia Day that we celebrate currently has only been around since I think nineteen eighty eight. Before that, it was on a different day, you know, and then you do learn a lot more about how it affects indigenous people. They don't feel like they're part of the day. Why don't we have a day that sort of encompasses everyone in Australia and doesn't celebrate the arrival of people who colonised Australia? So Australia should- should Australia Day should not be celebrated? Yeah, I strongly agree. Now, I reckon we should find a day that everyone can celebrate together. But yeah, back in the day, I didn't think that. So it goes to show how your views can change. Hence the reason for these surveys.

Australia is the best country in the world in which to live. Again. Loaded, right? You're asking people who live in Australia. So what do you think? I think the majority of people who live in any country are probably going to say it's the best country in the world, I think that there's an argument to be made that objectively, Australia is one of the best countries in the world to live for people in terms of wealth, security, safety. That's not to say we don't have our own problems. That's not to say we don't have things that we can improve. The issue that we have with migrants and how we treat them or the refugees that we lock up, the sexual harassment stuff that's going on in the government and in workplaces. There's plenty of things that we need to fix up. Do I think Australia is one of the best countries in the world in which to live? I would say yes. The best? I don't know so I'm going to say somewhat agree.

Racism is prevalent in Australian sport. Again, loaded, massively loaded. It exists. But is it prevalent? What do you mean by prevalent? Is that like it has to happen in every single game for it to be prevalent? Is that that it happens in one in every 100 games? Obviously, it's a question that's subjective. Ah, I'm going to say disagree. I think that it's present, but I don't think that it's prevalent in all consuming. You know what? I'm going to go neutral.

Australia does a good job of respecting and taking care of its own citizens. Again, good job. Do I think they do a good job? I think we do a better job than a lot of other countries based on the information that I know. I mean, you know, my wife's Brazilian and she says that in Brazil they have effectively no- no care for their older citizens. They're just on their own. So in a more global view, I think that Australia does a pretty good job. But again, we have our own problems. You know, we saw that in the Covid outbreak and we've seen that with the people that are taking care of our elderly population that are sort of undertrained, understaffed. So I'm going to say somewhat agree. But again, I think there's a lot of problems that need to be sorted out.

In Australia, if you work hard, you can be successful no matter what circumstances you are born into. That I'm going to say somewhat agree. I think you can become successful no matter what your background is. You know, I know a lot of people who were first generation migrants who escaped war in places like Vietnam and the parents have gone on to become, you know, millionaires who own businesses and are thriving and doing really well. And yet I also know people who were born into poverty in Australia who aren't doing that well. So I don't think it's necessarily just work hard. And no matter what, you'll be successful. There's a bit of luck in there as well in terms of what happens to you in life, who your parents are, you know, poor or rich. Did they help you? Did they encourage you? So I'm going to say somewhat agree here.

The gap in wealth between rich and poor Australians is too big. That's a difficult one. I think I'm going to say somewhat disagree. I think there are poor Australians. But when you look at a global scale, the poorest Australians are probably still in the top one per cent of the world. Right. So I think there's a big gap between the world's rich and the world's poor. But within Australia, the gap between rich and poor. And again, are you talking about multimillionaires? I- when you say rich, do you mean just someone who owns their own house? What do you mean? You know, who is the rich and who's the poor? So I'm going to say somewhat, somewhat disagree.

Most unemployed people in Australia aren't trying hard enough to find a job. I would say strongly disagree. I think the majority of people who are unemployed are trying very hard to find a job. I'm sure there are always people who are sort of dole bludgers, people who are being lazy, who don't want to work. But do they represent the majority of unemployed Australians? No, I don't think so. Strongly disagree.

How happy would you say you feel in general? Oh, now we get into the personal questions. Would I answer this honestly in front of a crowd? Oh, I'm going to say somewhat happy. I mean, you know, we're struggling at times. We've got two young children. Life can be difficult, but I'd say somewhat happy. How many months do you think it will be before things are more or less back to normal? Ooh, good question. I think it's still going to be another year or more. So I guess I'm- probably more than that. I'm going to go between 18 and 24 months, another one and a half to two years. In general, how often would you say you feel anxious? I'd say occasionally, to be honest, constantly sort of worried about children, about family, about work, about business, about income.

How much more would you personally be willing to spend each year to help prevent climate change? So what have we got here? Nothing at all. Less than one hundred hundred to five hundred. 500 to 1000, huh? That's a difficult one. I guess if you roll it out on a monthly basis, maybe between 500 to 1000 currently. That's a shot in the dark, though I'm not sure.

How likely do you think it will- oh, is it- is that you would donate your organs when you die? That's something that kind of freaks me out. It's one of those things where I'm like, I'd like to think that the answer would be, yeah, definitely have at it, you know, when I'm dead. But the other side of me is like, I don't know, there's just something weird about donating organs, isn't it? I'm going to say somewhat likely. I might. I reckon I'll change my mind by the time that I die, hopefully, but it does- it is something that sort of I haven't thought about a lot, but it sits a little awkwardly with me. So I'm going to say somewhat likely.

How confident are you that you will have enough money to retire comfortably? Hmm. That's a difficult one. At the moment, not very confident. Not very confident at all. Who knows what will happen in the future. But I have a feeling, you know, house prices are ridiculous. We don't know what happens after the pandemic. Yeah, I'm going to say not very confident. How often do you change your bed sheets? See, this is difficult. Never, less than once a year. Several times a year. Several times a month. Several times a week, at least once a day. Jesus Christ. Definitely not once a day. Definitely not several times a week. Probably not several times a month, probably maybe two times a month. Uh, maybe three, I'll say several times, but definitely more than several times a year.

Do you think the technology is having a more positive or negative effect on Australians when it comes to mental health? Oh, that's a good question. I think it's having a negative effect on Australians' mental health, to be honest, more negative. You know, people are getting more anxious. They're getting more depressed, especially the younger generations, especially girls. I've heard from what I've done in terms of learning about that after watching The Social Dilemma and Jonathan Haidt's got some good on- some good books on the topic. And he shows that young girls are really suffering with social media and time spent online.

How well do you think Australia is doing at addressing climate change. Currently? Somewhat poorly. I don't know about very poorly. Again, I don't know that much about the government and what they're really doing, although I do definitely think they could be doing a lot more. So I'm going to say somewhat poorly. Do you think that young Australians today will be better or worse off overall than their parents? See, that's a difficult one. I'm going to say much better off. I think it's going to be harder for them to own a house. I think they're going to be facing things like climate change, but I think they're going to have better health care. They're going to have better overall wealth. They're going to have, you know, a safer world to live in, at least locally. So I'm more of an optimist here. I don't think they're going to be worse off than me. I think they'll be somewhat better off.

The basic job seeker allowance paid to unemployed Australians is six hundred and twenty point eighty a fortnight or just over forty four dollars a day. Do you think this amount should be lower, higher or is about right? Hmm. I think it should be higher, somewhat higher. But again, I'm not an economist. I don't know that much about economics and how much the government could actually have afforded to pay out. So, yeah, somewhat higher. To what extent do you consider misinformation a problem for Australia? Generally, very much a problem, especially with the media and social media. How often do you do the following? Have sex? All right. So we're getting personal now. Well, it's- it's- it's definitely more than less than once a year, at least once a year. It's more than that. At least once a month. Yeah, it's more than that. At least once a week. It'd be more than that at least once a day. Less than that. I prefer not to say I guess it's too late. So at least once a week and we'll put that down.

How often do you cry? Well, personally, at least once a day. Nope, at least once a week now. At least once a month? No, not really. At least once a year. I'd probably say once a year. Once a year, depending on the film I'm watching or- yeah, if something really hits me in the- in that- that spot. Right. You hear someone's story about doing really well in life usually or something really tragic that might hit me a bit. To what extent do you believe the following: a higher power. Not at all. I am an atheist.

Overall, would you say that the following aspects of your life have gotten better or worse since the pandemic? Your sense of priorities? I'd say somewhat better. Definitely focussing more on family, on relationships, on the business. Overall, would you say that the following aspects of your life have gotten better or worse since the pandemic, your physical health and fitness? I would say much better as I've had more time to focus on physical health and fitness. And you guys know that I'm working out quite a lot. Overall, would you say that the following aspects. Yeah, OK. We got it- your mental health. Um, I'd probably say neither, worse. Neither. Neither better or worse. Right. So it's been difficult for sure. But it's also been it's also been good, you know, hanging out with family and friends more frequently and really focussing on what matters. So I'm going to hit neither better or worse.

Your relationship with your family. Yeah, much better. And with friends, much better. How much do you trust the following countries to act responsibly in the world? United States. Hmm, responsibly in the world? Nah, I'm going to say somewhat. How much do you trust the following countries to act responsibly in the world? China. Yeah, so that's a difficult one, I think. China is very, you know, focussed on itself much more than the US. I think the Chinese will probably say the same about the US. To be fair, but based on how China has treated Australia recently, I think they're not really focussed on the world so much at all. But, yeah, it's a tough one. They are doing a lot for climate change. I'm going to say not much.

To what extent do you believe in the following extraterrestrial life? A great deal. I definitely believe that there is extraterrestrial life out there. You know, we're here. Whether or not we'll come into contact with it, that's the- the more important question. But I think that statistically, it's almost a certainty that there is going to be life forms elsewhere in the universe.

Overall, how optimistic or pessimistic would you say you are about each of the following, your own future? Well, what aspect of it? I'm going to say somewhat optimistic. Overall, how optimistic or pessimistic would you say you are about the future of the country? I'm going to say very optimistic. Strategy's going places. The future of the world, uh, somewhat optimistic. Are you male, female or non binary? I am male. What year were you born? Nineteen eighty seven.