As an Aussie, a very confronting read. You're kind of aware of various problems brewing on the horizon, that China's demand for iron ore is low, that our housing costs are too high, and therefore mortgages / household debt are too high, all of this. But then when you weigh it all up the feeling of being in trouble is very real, and we've had 6 years of flaky leadership that's too worried about political maneuvers to worry about these structural problems.

There are some things that give me hope though. We've built a number of great marketplace startups, including Freelancer (where the author works), Envato, 99 designs etc. So that's a strength, and the tech scene in general has grown massively in the last 5 years. Our mining industry might be in the slumps but we pioneered some pretty great drone tech, self-driving tech, and remote operations stuff. And if you get creative with remote work and global teams, the timezones we're in can be seen as strategic assets.

There are smart people here. But like most other liberal democracies, we're really divided and have a large voting block that just wants to keep the status quo and isn't being honest about the challenges. But hey, we just voted yes to marriage equality so the electorate has some hope left.