Quality of Life in Brisbane, Australia

Brisbane used to be good. Then 1995 happened and it changed. Lots of local bogans started to think that their suburb actually mattered even though they are full of derelict houses and spiders, snakes, cockroaches, ants which are in all Brisbane houses. Brisbane is full of deros (Aussie word for losers) who drink their welfare and disability checks. Brisbane is full of welfare people. Maybe 70% are in jobs welfare programs or taking welfare. Alcoholism is out of control. The public transit is the worst in Australia, because of the geography of the Brisbane downtown area which is cut off by a river on three sides and by steep hills on the fourth side. Brisbane people travel to NYC and remark on how NY feels far safer than anywhere in Brisbane. Brisbane people love to hate other cities in the region, like Ipswich, Gold Coast and Redcliffe, because deep down they are insecure about their own poorly planned and unlivable city. Brisbane is unlivable and in fact, the only people who think it is livable are people who could never get a job anywhere else because Brisbane education is designed to keep people there. UQ is their university, and is famous for bullying an outspoken student and for having riots between different factions from HK and other parts of China. Brisbane is a shithole.

I have lived in Brisbane most of my life as well in Central America and Europe. Toms comment is completely inaccurate. I don't believe that person lived in Brisbane. Extreme right, that is insane. My wife and I are European and have neve experienced anti-european sentiment. I don't know where you lived or where you were in Brisbane but it is the most absurd thing I have ever read about the city. Brisbane is certainly not mainly working class. Unless you mean people who work? Brisbane is the centre of the large SEQ regional area and as such more working class jobs are outside of Brisbane.

Homeless is insane and reading that makes me think you have the wrong city. Apart from Ziggy the bag man in Toowong I almost never see any homeless people. There are so few we name the only one here.

My take on Brisbane is that it has good cost of living. Probably, not as hipster as other metropolitans (maybe that's why Tom thinks it is "working class"?). Nice outdoor activities there are national parks on its door step and even within the city. I walk out my door and up Mt Cootha. People tend to be laid back and joke a lot. The weather is great.

The bad things: not the best drivers, if you arent used to heat it gets hot. If you like the winter it doesn't get too cold. Better shopping and restaurants in Sydney and Melbourne. I would say it isn't as "urban". A lot more trees and parks and less alleys and graffiti.

Property is cheaper than those cities for a similar wage.

Overall its a good place to live. Maybe not as energetic as world cities like London and Melbourne. But if you are a quiet stay at home person who likes nature it will be good.

The salary/cost balance in Brisbane is reasonable compared to Sydney/Melbourne and the public transport is OK as long as you commute to and from the city and live somewhere near the express bus line or train.

Also, if you are coming from some developing South-East Asian country you probably enjoy the so called "Australian/Western" culture for a while and there will be lots of things here that will make you feel home, there are reasonable migrant communities in certain suburbs and those normally have a pleasant atmosphere (if not the best actually). Also, the climate will not be too different that you experienced at home, the city is convenient and public transport is OK to commute to/from the city. Reasonable safe place and you can find a decent and stable job easily.

However, if you happened to come here from UK or some other Western European countries and you are not only backpacking then your situation might be a bit different. The culture is really extremist, ultra-right and ultra-left behavior are widespread, there is a state governed and sponsored anti-European sentiment at every step (whilst going to the opposite with regards to US), hugely intrusive laws and moronic regulations, oversold products and services on a lowest possible quality and the housing quality is well below any developed Asian country's standard (tiny land parcels, virtually no noise/heat insulation in any new buildings, sub-standard constructions and lego-land like box houses everywhere, everything made of wood and rots away in the humidity or the ants chew it day and night - my apartment in Tokyo had higher ceiling height than in an average Brisbane apartment).

The society - well, high proportion of the locals are barely working class. Cultural events are all highly regulated and censored in order to accurately reflect the governing political party's views (and that includes even the classical music channel on the local radio) in contrast of that there is also a high prevalence of Australian Defence Force funded organizations all around.

There are huge number of drug addict homeless everywhere, whom are often aggressive and abusive if you don't donate - the local police does not seem to care about these issues unless they really have to. The Queensland state library is also full of homeless - they often sleep and snore aloud in the sitting areas during the summer. Crime rate is average, though there are plenty of petty criminals everywhere (whom often even advertise jobs to drive cars around the city with stolen goods on Gumtree - this actually happened to me when I moved here) and house break ins are very common, but these criminals are never to be caught. The speed limit on the roads are always changing and mobile speed cameras everywhere. The summer is long and very humid. Gold Coast is not far, which has nice beaches and plenty of cheap English schools and the rest - but that's about it.

Generally speaking - Brisbane can be a good place for work, the business district is advanced, there are some nice-ish things that you can enjoy once or twice, there are also some special natural features around that is rather unique. I have met a few really nice locals too, but they all seemed to live in their very closed bubble - the society as a whole is rather deprived with lots of insecurities, aggressiveness and often complete lack of empathy with a full misunderstanding of the whole problem they are struggling with.

Bullying is very common in any workplace (funnily enough HR seemed to be the best in this field) and the bullies are often hide themselves behind anti-bullying, gender-sensitivity and racial equalness agenda - but these folks are pretty easy to deal with as they get spooked very easily.

As a summary - I would say if you are single and get a good job offer or you are struggling with career matters somewhere else Brisbane might be a good place for you. But I would feel very uncomfortable to see my kids growing up here and being exposed to such environment or seeing myself paying half million dollar for an air conditioned wooden shack on a 400 square meter plot.