Having lived in both Australia and US, here are my personal experiences.
Note: I am a citizen of Australia by naturalization. After living in Australia for 3 years I got fed up and moved to the US. This was 2 years back.
I immigrated to Australia on the General Skilled Migration program and got my Permanent Resident visa in my country of origin before I went there. I work in the IT industry and have lived and worked in 3 different countries before moving to Australia and finally the US.
I lived in metropolitan Melbourne, (both in the CBD and inner suburbs) for all the 3 years I was there.
Here are my personal experiences:
General outlook of Australians towards "outsiders" (outsider = anyone who is not white):
1. Unless you are white, you are looked upon as "another one of those immigrants who is trying to take our jobs and is living on our welfare".
Note: Australia stopped giving out Centrelink (welfare) payments to new immigrants long back, there is a 2 year wait for that now.
In the US - people are more friendly irrespective of my color.
2. The media (both print and radio) makes a hype of anyone who is not an Australian by birth.
It is common to read/hear the news saying "An Italian man was caught while ...." or "A Greek man was found doing ...", but when an Australian is convicted, the news doesnt say "An Australian man was found guilty of ...."
In the US - never heard this bias.
3. Australians love to stereotype people.
It is common to hear the following stereotypes:
All Chinese are considered as working and living in a noodle bar.
All Indians are considered as taxi drivers.
All Americans are considered as fat lazy idiots.
All British are worshipped.
4. Ignorance is rife: I have been told plenty of times "You are not white but you seem to speak English" or "I am surprised you have been in Australia only 3 years and you speak English" or "Do the teachers in your country come from the UK?"
In the US - never experienced this, and everyone seems to understand my accent or at least makes an effort to do so.
5. In all my 3 years in metropolitan Melbourne, I experienced this at least once a month. You walk on the street (even in the daytime) and you see people passing by in cars shouting "AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRGGGGHHH!!!!" at you. I asked one of my local colleagues, he said it is an anti immigrant thing.
I never experienced this imbecile behaviour anywhere else in the other 4 countries I have lived in.
Real Estate:
1. It is a joke. Apartments are owned by individuals in a building and they all charge rent according to what they feel is right. I remember living in an
apartment with 16 units, and we were paying $1100 a month which was $320 more per month than the one exactly below us (exactly same size rooms).
Two of the units got sold within a month of each other, one for $378,000 and one for $435,000 !!! The older a house gets, the more it appreciates. So if you get a brand new house for say $250,000, you may find the house next door which was built 60 years ago selling for $450,000+, even though it is crumbling and looks like the next gust of wind will blow it down.
2. The last place I lived, it cost $1100 a month for a 2 bedroom house (the second bedroom could not even fit in a queen size bed), no central heating or air conditioning, no dishwasher, no kitchen appliances, and all maintenance requests got a reply "the landlord has had a lot of bills this month, they will address your request next month". And guess what, next month never comes.
In the US - I pay the same, but my apartment has central heating and air conditioning, dishwasher, all kitchen appliances, a health club with spa and
swimming pool and landscaped lawns with a lake and fountains.
For maintenance, I make a single phone call, and by the time I get home from work the problem is fixed and a satisfaction survey is lying on my kitchen table.
Medical System:
1. Absolutely the worst of all the places i have been in. If you dont pay for private health insurance, then you have to wait too long as ViralMD posted earlier. Private health insurance costs a lot lot more in Australia than in the US, and they only reimburse a percentage, not all of the expenses, even if you go to the doctors in their network.
2. Australian doctors seem to know the cure for any and all kinds of illnesses. This great wonder is called Panadol (paracetamol tablets).
You fall sick, you have panadol.
Your eyes water, you take panadol.
Your nose itches, you take panadol.
You get a rash on your skin, you take panadol.
You get sun burnt, you take panadol.
And you have to wait 45 minutes to see the doctor who finally tells you to go take a panadol.
3. A supposedly well known Ob/Gyn in Melbourne CBD advised my wife that it is perfectly safe to start having babies after the age of 35 !!
Technology:
Australia is way behind the rest of the world when it comes to technology. Any kind of electronic gadgets are available in Australia about 6 months after they are available in the rest of the world.
It is common to see people still using dial up internet, and wireless internet is almost non-existent.
Infrastructure:
I moved house twice, and the first time it took 12 days
to get a phone and DSL internet connection. The second time it took 58 days
to connect the phone and another 19 days
to get the DSL internet, even though I moved from the suburbs to within 5 km of the CBD. Same national carrier, and both places already had the phone lines and wall jacks, etc. Truly appalling.
Cars:
The average car is about 15 years old. Almost everybody buys a beaten up used car, or they are inherited from family. Used cars that are driven between 200,000 and 250,000 kms are considered as "low kms driven" and sell for only $3,000 to $5,000 less than the price when new. Car insurance costs a lot ($1800 a year for a 2006 Toyota Corolla in Australia compared to $1100 a year for a Chevy Tahoe here in the US - this is what I paid there and what I am paying here now) and goes up each year, regardless of whether you have made a claim or not.
General Living:
It is impossible to go out for dinner on Mondays and Tuesdays because all the restaurants are closed!!
Most of the supermarkets only work till 5 PM even on weekends but are open till 9 PM on Thu-Fri. Even in tourist destination it is hard to find a restaurant open on Mon-Tue.
It is impossible to get pizza in the day time.
Vacations/Motels:
I paid $240 a night in a place near Melbourne in a very poorly maintained motel which didnt have a remote for the TV.
In the US - I have lived in motels and paid as low as $70 a night and they were great value for money.
Hygiene:
Permanent water restrictions are in effect in Melbourne (and possibly the rest of Australia as well) which restricts by law the amount of water you can use. All the Men's public toilets in Melbourne (including the ones in shopping malls, movie theatres, etc) do not flush!!!
They just use a product called propygate or something which I believe is nothing but an odor remover and there are signs posted in toilets saying "Flushing is not required"
Moral of the story:
US gets a thumbs up
and Australia gets two thumbs down.
I dont mind going to Australia for tourism, but I would never think of moving back there.
I welcome objections to what I have written from my personal experiences.
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