The US and Oz have two different cultures and government. If you are comparing Sydney with LA, your world view is somewhat myopic but understandable.LA is left leaning politicly, as is Sydney. LA and Sydney has high taxes and high real estate prices. Both cities seem to embrace a socialist self entitlement. Both cities have non-stop direct flights each way so some blending is occurring. The truth is that just as LA is only a small part of the US and doesn't represent a large portion of the population neither does Sydney represent all of Australia. By the way, if I was able to be a dual citizen with OZ, Canada, NZ or Europe, without giving up US citizenship, I would do it.
I was speaking in the broadest of terms, of course, but more specifically was referring to certain religious/political ideologies. A conservative Christian in the US and a conservative Christian in Oz are wonderfully similar, and just as there are a good many of us operating underrepresented in Los Angeles so I found many doing the same in Sydney.
I'm an unapologetic supporter of President 45, and if I had my Aussie citizenship already I'd be just as much a supporter of Prime Minister Morrison.
On the more secular side of things, I found the vintage auto and moto cultures of Oz (and UnZud, too, actually) to be almost completely parallel with those here in the USA. Whether it's blokes that like the 1970s chopper thing or the 1980s superbike thing or the 1940s hot rod thing or the wacky world of small displacement and minibike racing or the restomod vintage 4x4 thing all of it is represented in kind between Up Here and Down There. A similar middle class economic structure shared between the two nations is what I think makes this a continually viable market to plant one's hobby flag in.
Paradoxical to what most people would think, living in Downtown Los Angeles gives me easy access to both paved twisty sportbike roads and dusty mountain dirtbike trails in 30 minutes or less, and with legal lane filtering in California state and the SoCal region's 10-12 months per year of moto friendly weather LA is an urban motorcyclist's paradise. Wacky leftists and astronomical costs of living aside, obviously.
I found Sydney City Centre to be quite similar to Downtown LA (except for the fact there aren't astonishing homeless encampments all over the place, sigh), and the part of New South Wales in which Syd is located has 10-12 months per year of moto friendly weather, plus legal lane filtering. Getting to some run paved rural roads takes only 30 minutes or less, although currently almost all the dual sport trails have been closed off by the govt. Basically, by having dual citizenship between Murica and Straya and residence in LA and Syd I'd essentially be able to live in year 'round summertime, riding and racing motorbikes almost every day I want.
There's definitely no shortage of
outrageously high taxation in both countries, so I've got that to look forward to as well.