Earlier quoted context omitted.
Have to quote this bit for those too lazy to follow the link: Australia is a lucky country run mainly by second rate people who share its luck. It lives on other people's ideas, and, although its ordinary people are adaptable, most of its leaders (in all fields) so lack curiosity about the events that surround them that they are often taken by surprise.
This reminds me of Hannah Arendt's criticism of the Boers - which was sometimes taken out of context. She was just pointing out they had become a tribe of bush-wandering savages living off, but not improving the land, themselves. They had no incentive to improve the land; labor was cheap and their own lives were cheap, and they still have made nothing of the country. When I lived in Australia I was really surprised,…
That being said, when I moved to the bay area I was horrified by how rickety US scaffolding was, surprised every government building (including schools!) had visible armed security and metal detectors, and thought it was ridiculous that shops had signs saying "frozen burritos bought with EBT can't be microwaved" (because that would make it fast food instead of groceries). Culture shock can be like that. You can take a lot for granted about your native culture.