The Dumbest Nation On Earth " Australia ", page-69

The original quote was,
"Australia is a lucky country, run by second-rate people who share its luck"
an observation from 1960's Australia when we were an outpost of Mother England.
The author observed that our country was deficient in enterprise.

Quote the author:
When I invented the phrase in 1964 to describe Australia, I said: 'Australia is a lucky country run by second rate people who share its luck.' I didn't mean that it had a lot of material resources … I had in mind the idea of Australia as a [British] derived society whose prosperity in the great age of manufacturing came from the luck of its historical origins … In the lucky style we have never 'earned' our democracy. We simply went along with some British habits.