G'day all,
Today's news downunder includes this item and it makes us wonder, how we're personally feeling/
Sydney people the saddest: study
Monday Feb 13 06:14 AEDT The saddest Australians live in the heart of the country's richest and most expensive city, while the happiest voters live in a poor rural electorate in Queensland, a map of the nation's wellbeing shows.
The Deakin University study found the electorate of Wide Bay, one of the most disadvantaged areas in Australia, contains the happiest people, while the saddest citizens are those living in the seat of Sydney, The Australian newspaper reports.
The study examined people's wellbeing by considering standard of living, health, achievement in life, personal relationships, sense of safety, connection to the community and future security.
Eight of the top nine happiest electorates were poor and isolated rural communities, while all of the saddest seats were metropolitan or outer metropolitan seats.
Sydney MP Tanya Plibersek said she was "sad" but not surprised to learn her electorate contained the unhappiest voters in Australia, and believed it was because the seat was "full of extremes".Wide Bay MP Warren Truss said the study's findings proved "you don't need to be rich to be happy".
Overall, Victoria was the happiest state and Western Australia the saddest, the paper reported.
But Fairfax newspapers reported that the inner-western Sydney seat of Grayndler, and not the adjacent electorate of Sydney, was in fact the unhappiest in Australia.
Grayndler MP Anthony Albanese said his constituents' sadness could be explained by their sense of compassion.
"Most of them don't know anyone who voted for John Howard - or so they think - and they're frustrated," he told Fairfax.
"They can't believe there are people in Australia who don't support asylum seekers.
"Combine that with high mortgages, two working parents, a lack of child care, stress and lack of time, and it affects the quality of their life."
The study's author, Professor Robert Cummins, said Grayndler was one of the youngest electorates in the nation and younger people were always less satisfied.
The rating did not mean most people in Grayndler were miserable, simply that they lacked the resources and the resilience to cope with a difficult environment, he said.
©AAP 2006
So how happy are you?
Sydney people the saddest: study
Monday Feb 13 06:14 AEDTThe saddest Australians live in the heart of the country's richest and most expensive city, while the happiest voters live in a poor rural electorate in Queensland, a map of the nation's wellbeing shows.
The Deakin University study found the electorate of Wide Bay, one of the most disadvantaged areas in Australia, contains the happiest people, while the saddest citizens are those living in the seat of Sydney, The Australian newspaper reports.
The study examined people's wellbeing by considering standard of living, health, achievement in life, personal relationships, sense of safety, connection to the community and future security.
Eight of the top nine happiest electorates were poor and isolated rural communities, while all of the saddest seats were metropolitan or outer metropolitan seats.
 |
Wide Bay MP Warren Truss said the study's findings proved "you don't need to be rich to be happy".
Overall, Victoria was the happiest state and Western Australia the saddest, the paper reported.
But Fairfax newspapers reported that the inner-western Sydney seat of Grayndler, and not the adjacent electorate of Sydney, was in fact the unhappiest in Australia.
Grayndler MP Anthony Albanese said his constituents' sadness could be explained by their sense of compassion.
"Most of them don't know anyone who voted for John Howard - or so they think - and they're frustrated," he told Fairfax.
"They can't believe there are people in Australia who don't support asylum seekers.
"Combine that with high mortgages, two working parents, a lack of child care, stress and lack of time, and it affects the quality of their life."
The study's author, Professor Robert Cummins, said Grayndler was one of the youngest electorates in the nation and younger people were always less satisfied.
The rating did not mean most people in Grayndler were miserable, simply that they lacked the resources and the resilience to cope with a difficult environment, he said.
©AAP 2006