We are coming next week (YEA!!) and would like to know what the local people are concerned about. Any opinions? Anyone have a favorite website to see what is in the news in Australia?
Sally and Randy in Seattle

Hi, Sally and Randy.

Try this for a short list of local concerns: Iraq and Australia's involvement therein (including who knew what about events in Abu Ghraib), underfunding of schools, hospitals and public transport, high real estate prices and pre-election fever as a right-wing government gets ready to face a strong challenge from the other side. I'm sure none of this sounds familiar

(By the way, to avoid confusion, the conservative party here calls itself the Liberals, hence the term "small-l liberal" to denote the real thing.)

I prefer the Sydney Morning Herald (www.smh.com.au), which has a reasonably balanced albeit Sydney-centric news coverage. The Australian (www.theaustralian.news.com.au) is less parochial and has a better letters-to-the-editor section, but it's a News Ltd (Rupert Murdoch) product and you need to read it while leaning a few degrees to the left to compensate for bias.

Australian print media ownership is heavily concentrated, so if you pick up tabloid papers as you go around the country you may notice a suspicious similarity in coverage. My advice is, don't. You're on vacation and don't want to depress yourselves unnecessarily.

The government-funded ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) also has a good site (www.abc.net.au)where you can get news updates, tune in to their radio stations, access streaming video features etc. And listen to Radio Australia in Vietnamese, Khmer etc. if that appeals.

A word on Australian cities: Canberra as the best-educated populace and is the least parochial. Melbourne considers itself more intellectually and culturally aware than Sydney but is making a sterling effort to catch up with Sydney in the of crime and police corruption stakes. Sydneysiders are too busy talking about real estate values to notice anyone else. Despite the absence of any supporting evidence, Adelaide believes itself the cultural centre of Australia. Perth and Darwin are ... well, they're a long way away. Brisbane people distrust Southerners as a matter of principle, while North Queensland lumps Brisbane in with "the South" anyway. Hobart at least no longer seems to be attracting those tasteless jokes involving rather too close family relationships. Displaying my usual Canberra tolerance and goodwill, I think they're all worth a visit.

The only warning I would issue about my city is that while Question Time in Parliament presents a lively spectacle, it may scar impressionable young children for life and merits a PG rating.

Important issues for average aussies/sydney ppl this week might be..

-when will the federal election be held.
-will Andrew Johns change rugby codes.
-the progress of an albino whale up the east coast.
-how will their kid go at soccer on the weekend.
-what's for dinner.

Lets not kid ourselves.Average aussies are not introspective,intellectual powerhouses.They are too busy enjoying the good life for that.

For your guidance..

sydney morning herald=washington post.
abc = pbs.
sydney=best of los angeles and san francisco.
melbourne=toronto (in summer)
brisbane=tampa
canberra=sacramento.
cairns=hilo hawaii.

I am in Sydney. I don't talk about real estate prices and nor do I hear too many talk about it except for the odd grumble how expensive it is.

The news items we talk about are:-

Crime in Sydney. We have grown from a cutesy city to a real huge mess and crime is a consequence of that.

Transport. The cityrail network has been badly managed with too much emphasis on revenue collection rather than actually providing a service.

Water. Basically we are running out of it and everyone is bitching about how green the next neighbour's lawn is and that must water it when no-one is watching. Also it is getting really uncool to have a clean car.

Babies: We have government spending trying to encourage us to have more babies. From next week there is a $3000.00 baby bonus. All pregnant women due this week are trying to stay preggies for another week in order to get the cash!! meanwhilew e haven't figured out how to water these babies?

Violence against women: We have had an outcry over how women are treated by some ethnic groups and beefy aussie sports stars. This has been brewing for some years but now we have so called "role models" from various football codes implicated in sex crimes. The Federal government has sent out a package to all Australian households detailing measures to prevent sexual abuse.. Violence against women: Australia says NO.

There may be an election called soon so politicians are warming up. Can't wait !! (not)

If you wish to read newspapers then read them all. All suffer a bias of some degree. To suggest one doesn't but another hasn't just means you agree with the particlaur bias of a particular newspaper. But read them all and you will be able to make up your own mind.

Hi Sally & Randy,

If you are able to listen to audio over the net, you might try listening to Aussie talk radio.

I listen to 4BC (Brisbane) and 2UE (Sydney) regularly. Both have a similar format to KIRO or KVI but are not nearly as fast paced. You'll hear news & sport reports but the best part is listening to the callers discuss what's on their mind with the host. There's no better way to find out what the local folks are concerned about.

The websites are www.4bc.com.au and www.2ue.com.au. 4BC has better audio quality.

John in Miami

This is too subjective for words. What are Australians concerned about? I can only tell you what I am concerned about - and that's Iraq, funding for public services and the forthcoming election - not that I have a vote - just watching as an outsider to see if mendacity (decode to "Tampa&quot pays.
Water (capital W) too is in the news but does not feature as much as the subjects Jono mentions.

Continuing on the subjective front - I believe the ABC is special. Australians are fond of drawing up lists of "national treasures" - the ABC should be top of it every time. SBS is also a fantastic asset.

johnj
You forgot this weekend's rugby - rematch of last year's World Cup final, England vs Australia. Hoopefully, with a different / better result.

Go the Wallabies!

If you want to get a good view of Australia - wide, you could listern to Australia All Over, Sunday morning on ABC Radio:

http://www.abc.net.au/australiaallover/

Avoid talk-back radio - some of the great nutters like to hear the sound of their voices...

I'd just warn that talkback audiences aren't representative of the community at large. The last time I listened to such a show (on commercial radio at least) it displayed a disturbing tendency to attract the incoherent and sometimes outright barking mad. And that was just the host. You should have heard the audience.

A disproportionate number of listeners seem to be old and/or socially isolated, fearful and easily panicked, and invest a pathetic degree of trust in their manipulative hosts. At its worst it's a home to conspiracy theorists, purveyors of urban myths and closet racists - the dark underbelly of the national psyche.

Fortunately, all is not lost! The ABC yet again comes to the rescue with "Australia Talks Back" on Radio National. The host, Sandy McCutcheon, is polite and unassuming and the phoners are for the most part sane and often intelligent.

I agree 100% with alice13 - the ABC is a fantastic national resource, especially in rural and regional areas where the alternatives can be pretty grim.

Neil - you must be talking about John Laws or Stan Zemanek on 2UE. They are absolutely raving lunatics. They would fit in perfectly here in the USA

I agree wholeheartedly with the remarks about the ABC. What a great resource it is! The "Australia Talks Back" show has recent programs available for online listening at http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/austback/

I wouldn't count out the talk back programs though. I've been listening to 4BC Brisbane online for about 3 years. I'm constantly amazed at how polite and professional they are. Yes, there are some crazy people that call, but the majority of callers are average, everyday Aussies that have an intelligent opinion about the topic being discussed.

Sally & Randy, if you plan to spend any time in a pub, be sure you know a little about Rugby League, Rugby Union, Aussie Rules (AFL) & Cricket.

John, I was probably being a bit unkind. It was indeed Stan Zemanek I heard. 'Nuff said. And you've reminded me that from all accounts Mike Carlton also runs a pretty sane program.

I don't know if he's still around, but a few years ago there was a late-night talkback program run by a guy named Brian Wilshire (sp?) that really catered for the nutcases. They seemed to have a particular focus on the "Fabian Socialists", who were bent on instituting one world government and implanting ID chips in the lot of us. Mad as cut snakes.

Another talkback host who's been in the news recently is Alan Jones, who suffered a withering attack from his old buddy and now competitor John Laws because of Jones' closeness to the head of the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA), Professor David Flint. Laws' ire was sparked by the fact that both he and Jones were accused of "cash for comment" (i.e. taking money from sponsors in return for favourable opinion while failing to disclose the connection - I believe that in the US this can carry a jail term). However, the ABA was not pursuing Jones, only Laws, on the grounds that the cash was being pocketed by Jones' station, not himself personally. Not unreasonably, Laws felt that as Jones owned half the station this was something of a technicality.

The resulting brawl was hilarious. Laws called Jones a "vicious old tart", claimed that Jones had once told him that he had "instructed" the Prime Minister to re-appoint Flint, and quoted from a gushing letter from Flint to Jones, written on ABA letterhead. He also indulged in some less-than-subtle but presumably not actionable hints which some unkind souls interpreted as referring to aspects of Jones' and Flint's private lives.

Flint, a vocal conservative, leading monarchist and prime ministerial favourite, eventually resigned his post. The whole affair was hugely entertaining and drew the comment from a "Sydney Morning Herald" columnist that the matter had embroiled not one but four "vicious old tarts" - Jones, Flint, Laws and the Prime Minister.

Sally and Randy, it does help to know something about football, but I've managed to survive many pub conversations without even the dimmest understanding. I just wait for someone to draw breath and then change the subject. And in any case not all Australians are sports tragics. In fact, more of us attend cultural events than sporting contests.