We’ve all been watching the news about the flooding in Queensland but do we all feel “it’s OK, Australia can afford to help itself”?

Why do I ask? Well, I’m wanting to do something to raise aid but it relies on others feeling the same way as me, so would you dip your hand in your pocket to help the people of Queensland out?

If you wouldn’t help out Queensland, why not and where would you prefer to put your hard earned?

Ta.

Carl.

definitely not.
500 killed in brasil and a many in the phillipines from flooding why not donate to these countries?
the aussies can sort themselves out.
i doubt they gave a toss about the flooding in this country.

They’re all working in bars in London anyway, there’s only about twenty five Aussies left there at any one time. I’d give my money to Brazil frankly.

The floods in Brazil seem to be far more devastating, yet the Australian floods seem to be getting more coverage.

The death toll in Brazil is 50 times higher, and likely to rise much further. The long-term impact will be felt much harder, by people who have far less resources to help them than people in Australia.

Got to put things into some sort of perspective. I remember getting flack on here a couple of years ago, for daring to suggest people in Bangladesh suffered far more than those in the floods in England.

Australia is a wealthy country with a decent health service, and the resources to help those in need. Brazil and other countries aren’t.

In terms of GDP per capita income – a reasonable metric for national wealth and so ability to “look after” themselves, Australia come in at 8th in the world (IMF) and Brazil 71, Philippines 124.

So where do we draw the line? 23, France?

Unfortunately this method throws up a few anomalies such as Russia at 51, a place below Antigua. Which one would need most help in a natural disaster?

There are quite a few bodies in bags that aren’t being counted yet in Oz

yet the Australian floods seem to be getting more coverage.

That’s yer emotional distance and yer cultural distance innit. It’s how come a ferry capsizes in india and kill hundreds and we don get notice of it. It’s cos they are funny foreigners, whereas Aussies are so much like us, we can imagine what it’s like.

Knowing Queenslanders, they’ll just get on and sort things out.

We’re used to natural disasters anyway.

BTW the height of the floods have been massively over-hyped. Quite a bit less than the 1974 floods and about 4 metres less than the 1851 flood.

It was the suddenness that created the havoc and the body count.

Aussies are so much like us

chalk and cheese

Rich country with extensive mineral resources – solid political structure and well nourished population. They’ve had disasters before (Darwin anyone?) and get through it.

Having lived in Oz I love them dearly but don’t think they need our help anything like as much as the poor countries, with poor political leadership and poor resources and infrastructure.

Anyway – when are we going to see you back at Bedge, Carl?

Aid for Australia? No chance. They are in a much stronger economy than ours at the moment
And +1 mrsmith

I am in Brazil – the state where we live is in a state of emergency in some parts, but not our city. It is terrible watching the news as there are still many many people searching for their relatives, so from what I can see the death toll could be much higher.

Sao Paulo is also in a state of chaos in the poor areas. There has been severe flooding there too, but in a city of 20 million, there is so much concrete that the rain has nowhere to go, and many parts of the city are just one big sewer.

The Brazilian people are all helping out. Many people have no food, water, electricity or electricity, and many places are still cut off. The Brazilian army are helping out, but it is still pretty dire. I know there are terrible things happening in Australia, but it is really heart breaking over in Brazil – and the news is showing nothing else.

I am not too sure how much outside help is needed – it is more a case of getting water and food to the isolated areas that are cut off.

The other thing about Brazil is that many politicians are still in power from the military dictatorship period, and the rich don’t care about the poor. There is still an insane amount of corruption here so you could not be confident that any donations would actually go to the people who need help. But many regular Brazilians are helping out with clothes donations etc.

That’s yer emotional distance and yer cultural distance innit. It’s how come a ferry capsizes in india and kill hundreds and we don get notice of it. It’s cos they are funny foreigners, whereas Aussies are so much like us, we can imagine what it’s like.

Well, not for me as an individual it’s not. In my dad’s country, Bangladesh, countless more people die each year as a result of floods, than in Australia. Hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people are affected by the impact of the floods, which occur every year. Rarely is there a mention in the media here. There are more Bangladeshis than Australians living in the UK. Now I don’t mean to be callous about the plight of folk in Oz, but it seems whenever something disastrous happens in poorer countries, it get’s far less publicity than something what happens in wealthier nations. Almost as though the poor don’t matter. As illustrated by Simonralli.

ISTM they could do with a few decent cricket players right now though.

Well, not for me as an individual it’s not

Well no, but i was talking about a national psyche as reflected by the national press

Absolutely not, I’m in Brisbane – Commercial TV news this morning was thus – Floods in QLD, Floods in rest of australia, Princess Mary (Tasmanian girl who married a danish prince) has twins. No mention of Brazilian floods or the unrest in Tunisia. Parochial to the core. (I’m sure the ABC and SBS will report the international news but they don’t get the audience).

The floods here have been devastating particularly out in the country, with farmers just recovering from around an 8 year drought getting their crops and livestock washed away. I think the current death toll is 16 with 50 missing but bear in mind the riverfront suburbs of Brisbane are generally where the really expensive houses are. Thousands of people here are volunteering to help with the clean up.

However International aid is clearly not necessary in a country this rich.

just watched the BBC news where some small children were having to eat old dried goatskins as the crops have failed (didn’t catch the name of the country but it was sub Saharan Africa).

remind me why Australia needs people to send money?

(didn’t catch the name of the country but it was sub Saharan Africa).

Uganda

Decent troll.

remind me why Australia needs people to send money?

We don’t… our government is about to introduce a levy to raise AUD$3.5billion dollars over the next couple of years, one of the benefits of having a stupidly strong economy 🙂

Apparently Tasmanian Devils are to be released into the wild in mainland Australia, cos a virus or something is wiping them out in Taz.