CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
A recent report by the Economist’s Global Liveability Index has found that South Australia, outside of Adelaide, does not appear to have a middle class.
The state’s rural and regional communities can only be split into two groups, the polo-playing landed gentry elite – and the murderous poverty-stricken underclass.
The Global Liveability Index quantifies the challenges presented to an individual’s lifestyle and quality of life in 173 cities. In 2022, relaxed covid-19 restrictions in some parts of the world led to big shifts across liveability scores, with one city claiming top place again as the most liveable city in the world.
While the state capital of Adelaide often rates highly on this list, the most recent report cannot identify any standard of livability in the South Australian bush.
The two standards of living could not be further apart, with a small minority of the population living like Jane Austen characters in billowing shirts and regency period ballwear – and the rest of them living like Snowtown characters.
While unbridled violence is not universal amongst the ‘other half’ – it seems the harrowing hard rock lyricism of Jimmy Barnes might actually be an accurate portrayal of the lives lead by rural South Australians who are not members of the McLachlan family.
The annual liveability survey reviews stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure factors to determine liveability rankings for cities worldwide. The most recent findings suggest that outside of the high society gossip and aristocratic feuds of the blue blooded free settler descendants, life is pretty damn good at all times. Whereas this may not be the case for the vast majority of rural South Australian families who rely on asphalt playgrounds for childcare, as opposed to French au-pairs.
MORE TO COME.
