I'm an Australian who is quite disappointed with his culture - call it cultural-cringe, if you will - and who finds the never-ending encroachment of strip-mall/parking-lot/tract-houses across the beautiful Australian landscape a real travesty. The cookie-cutter homes, the non-stop "New Thing™" to which the Australian Now-generation are endlessly upgrading, and so on. This is all very disappointing to have observed over many decades now.

So .. no .. I'm no paid shill, mate - I truly think that Australia is a dystopian nightmare society, caught in a trance of consumption and lifestyle, and which I find less and less appealing as I get older. I'd love to see Australians care more about their rights - maybe you can enlighten me as to where and when that is happening? All I see is loss of interest, and a desire to simply keep calm and carry on, while it all gets eroded towards the feudal master-plan: Sell the resources, keep the change, and don't .. at any cost .. acknowledge the failure of modern Australian civilization to address the wrongs enacted on the natives, newcomers, and boat people.

The fact that you can post here and complain proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that you don't live in "a dystopian nightmare society". If you were North Korean or Burmese, and you said that about your country, you'd be dead or in a labor camp in a heartbeat.

All I see is a bitter person spreading FUD because you don't approve of how other people live their lives.

Oh, I for sure think that North Korea and Burma are also terrible countries. If you want to talk about that, we can do that.

But, staying on the subject .. please, enlighten me: how are the Australian people not losing their rights due to their own ignorance? So far, all I see is disinterest in the subject. Total surveillance: this is okay with you?