Sunday, February 12, 2006
AUSTRALIA’S SADDEST PEOPLE
The SMH’s Adele Horin asks:
Is it aircraft noise, John Howard’s long reign, or being overworked and underpaid that makes the so-called chardonnay socialists of Sydney’s inner west the most disgruntled people in Australia?
Who cares? Just so long as they’re unhappy. Horin is talking about a new survey that compares the relative joy levels of people in all 150 Australian federal electorates. Not surprisingly, lefties turned out to be the saddest of us all:
The academics, journalists, public servants and other “culture workers” who inhabit Sydney’s inner west rated lower than average satisfaction on all questions ...
[Grayndler] MP, Anthony Albanese, said the malaise of his constituents could be explained partly by their sense of compassion.
Academic Robert Cummins, who compiled the scorecard, has a different explanation: “I think it’s the housing prices.” Hey, isn’t the gap between rich and poor meant to make all the poor folks miserable? Apparently not:
The saddest federal electorate is in the heart of Sydney, the richest and most expensive city in the country, while the happiest voters live in one of the nation’s poorest rural electorates.
In a survey that turns the accepted wisdom on its head, one of the most disadvantaged electorates in Australia, the Queensland seat of Wide Bay, has emerged as the one where people are at their most content.
Let’s check out the happiest and saddest electorates, and their federal representatives:
HAPPY HAPPY, JOY JOY
* Wide Bay, Queensland Warren Truss, National Party
* Eden-Monaro, NSW Gary Nairn, Liberal
* Ryan, Queensland Michael Johnson, Liberal
* Higgins, Victoria Peter Costello, Liberal
* Murray, Victoria Sharman Stone, Liberal
* Riverina, NSW Kay Hull, National Party
* Mayo, South Australia Alexander Downer, Liberal
SO SAD, WANT TO CRY
* Sydney, NSW Tanya Plibersek, ALP
* Perth, Western Australia Stephen Smith, ALP
* Gorton, Victoria Brendan O’Connor, ALP
* Hasluck, Western Australia Stuart Henry, Liberal (note: the seat was previously held for three years by the ALP. It’s taking a while for the toxins to work through)
* Werriwa, NSW Chris Hayes, ALP (note: previously held by notoriously happy Mark Latham)
* Reid, NSW Laurie Ferguson, ALP
* Rankin, Queensland Craig Emerson, ALP
* Grayndler, NSW Anthony Albanese, ALP
Seems to be some sort of pattern emerging. (Confusingly, the SMH and The Australian read this survey differently; in the SMH, Grayndler is the saddest zone, while The Australian scores Sydney as saddest. Someone is wrong; most likely The Australian, which in copy counts seven happy electorates as nine and places Wide Bay in NSW.)
More on this at the House of Wheels.