Australia in Decline: Here are Some Things That are Still Great

It’s common amongst us expats to speak ill of our home countries as if they have no redeeming qualities.

For us Australians it’s easy to forget that there are many great things about our homeland. Even if we choose to live abroad.

Passport strength

This is huge. Until you meet a few people from less fortunate countries it’s hard to grasp how much of a privilege our passport’s strength really is.

Our passport is ranked 7th in the world, with visa-free access to 185 destinations. This means that us Aussies have unfettered access to over 80% of the world.

This freedom of movement gives us flexible travel across the globe not only for tourism, but for business, relationships, and more.

Strength of financial system

Despite some people’s concern about the long term health of our economy, our financial institutions remain stable.

Sound regulation, standardised reporting practices, a robust judicial system, and advanced investment markets mean that Australia is still a fantastic place to domicile your investments.

Further, taxation of non-residents can be quite minimal with the appropriate portfolio construction.

Investing aside, Australian banks are very stable and still considered very safe places to hold money.

The Financial Claims Scheme is just one of the examples of where Australia’s financial system provides favourable treatment to individuals.

International reputation

No country has a perfect reputation, but Australia’s is quite good in many ways.

Although inherently aligned with the rest of the West, Australia, its Government, and its people are not overly inflammatory or controversial on the net balance.

Our country is first associated with our scenery, wildlife, quality of life, and higher education. Therefore, other people’s general view of us abroad is a positive one; this is inherently important to us as expats.

Australian qualifications and education is highly regarded globally. If you have an Australian qualification in your field it is highly likely to be acknowledged and transferred abroad.

Remote work opportunities

Australia has one of highest median wages on earth. This means that we can live a very comfortable life if we can work a “normal” job in Australia while living in most other countries in the world.

Further, Australia has quite a few opportunities for remote work and it is more open to it than many countries with more traditional workplace cultures.

Extensive tax treaties

Australia has extensive tax treaties (otherwise known as double taxation agreements), particularly with Western partners and Southeast Asian nations.

As many of us in the Offshore in Asia community reside is Asia, here are just some of Australia’s Double Taxation Agreements of note:

• Indonesia

• Malaysia

• Philippines

• Singapore

• Thailand

• Vietnam

These tax treaties make managing your tax liabilities significantly simpler and provide clarity as they override any local laws that either country impose.

It’s safe to say that not being taxed twice is a pretty big benefit.

Medicare and Social Safety Net

Although we lose many of these privileges as non-tax residents, Medicare and many other social security schemes offer us a safety net if we are to return.

This should provide us a level of comfort and is a privilege that many people do not have.

Further, we generally have little difficulty in returning to Australia and reconnecting with Government services and the likes.

In short,

Australia isn’t perfect. But it has many redeeming qualities that we as expats should consider.

For instance, we might choose to live abroad, but if Australia still offers the best domicile for our investments why not keep them?

Moving abroad doesn’t mean burning the boats, it means looking at all of the options, new and old, that are available to us and choosing the ones that suit us best.