ANTI-SOUTHERN SENTIMENT IS GETTING SCARY
Locals only is the war cry echoing across the Coast as the city struggles beneath the pressure of being loved to death
LOCALS only!
It’s the war cry echoing across the Coast, as the city struggles beneath the pressure of being loved to death.
Now there are calls for population caps, a pause on further development and a reversal of growth expectations as residents feel the squeeze of some southern discomfort.
The anguish is understandable, the strength of demand coming from interstate means that it’s become all but impossible for average locals to buy or rent in their hometown.
Of course, “hometown” is a term to be used lightly. The vast majority of locals were once Mexicans themselves, moving north from southern cities for a better life and lower living costs. This is the city built on the back of interstate migration. Which is why the “locals only” war cry slightly smacks of hypocrisy.
Just what is a local, exactly? And why does living on the Gold Coast for more than five minutes seem to make us so anti-southerner?
After living here for more than 30 years, I consider myself a local – even if my accent says otherwise. But hey, I came from the north(ern hemisphere) so I’m giving myself a pass.
Throughout my three
This is the city built on the back of interstate migration. Which is why the ‘locals only’ war cry slightly smacks of hypocrisy
decades on the Coast, hating on people from NSW and Victoria has been the one constant.
But it’s evolved from the anti-cockroach rivalry of the annual State of Origin. Now it seems the battle lines have moved from the footy field to the pages of Reddit … but no one’s playing games anymore.
“I’ve been hearing a lot about people slashing car tyres with NSW and Vic plates, can’t say I hate the idea,” said one user on the Gold Coast subreddit.
“I suppose when you’re forced to live in your car the sight of all those interstate plates must really hurt,” was the reply.
One ex-southerner says his former state essentially deserves any abuse since Queensland-bashing has long been a national past-time.
“Southern states have been sh***ing on QLD for the past 20 years calling us all sorts of names … uneducated, racist, bogan, uncultured. All the usual elitist slurs.
“Now they want to move here all of a sudden, and they think people who live here have magically forgotten 20 years of sh** talking?”
Look, there’s something
about this online rage that speaks to the passion we have for our city – even if it wasn’t “our” city originally. Possibly my favourite post on the Gold Coast subreddit was from the person defending our penchant for fillers and Botox.
“I remember seeing some guy post on here talking about how he just moved from down south and doesn’t like how girls use filler and how he doesn’t think this place was a good environment for his daughters,” they wrote.
“Like bro, it’s the Gold Coast. This is our way of life and we’re not changing just cause you moved here.”
I’d say that sentiment made me raise my eyebrows, but #botox.
However, the following comment certainly added to
my laugh lines: “One thousand years from now they will dig up graves finding just lips and arses.”
It’s a moment of levity in what is hardly a laughing matter anymore.
The us versus them vibe is undoing the community spirit we’ve worked decades building.
Look, I totally understand – or maybe I can’t, but I certainly try – how awful it must feel to be priced out of the property market, whether buying or renting.
And while interstate migration has certainly added to the pressure of excess demand, it’s unfair to blame southern families personally.
We don’t know what they have been through in the past few years … and it is, still, a free country. (Regardless of those Covid border barriers.)
Besides, while we may well be feeling the growing pains right now, this population boom only makes our city more powerful in terms of the scale of our economy and our ability to fight for more and better infrastructure.
But, above all, as we’ve discovered through every major crisis we’ve experienced in the last decade/year/ month/week … getting angry doesn’t fix anything. Covid will still spread, floodwaters will still rise, high-rises will still be built and homes will still sell (for ridiculous amounts).
All we can do is stop judging our neighbours and try to be kind. That’s the ultimate local knowledge.