while i would like to comment at length on a subject matter with...

while i would like to comment at length on a subject matter with which i am particularly familiar(lived and conducted construction investment business perth australia 2000-2007, then berlin Germany same for 2007-2013, and having just (very happily) returned to Australia) i would like to comment of a few points mentioned, first off, Germany, by and large, is a socialist country, governed today by its horrific history to make every effort to ensure such an environment cannot again as it was the general conditions that prevailed that let to the fascist uprising bla bla bla....you all know the story. but the first point i'm making generally is that Australia has never done anything terribly wrong(apart from the treatment of the natives) and is therefore still a pretty innocent country/culture that doesn't require such harsh rules and measures to ensure we don't do what the krauts did. cos of course if you did it once you'd probably do it again.....
housing is not cheap. take a look at any decent 'vacant' 100sqm apartment in Berlin (cheapest large city) and it'll be 3-4k a sqm in euros and put that in aussies and there ain't that much in it. and of course this is not factoring in the excessive costs of owning an apartment in Germany.....and yes you can find a cheap apartment but it also has a cheap rental contract attached to it which may go on for another 27 years at some 127euros a month sort of rent cos the tenant has remained there for so long and has dedicated their whole life to ensuring their cheap rents stays and no one else probably wants to live there anyhow....free education??? ha ha...ask any young German how free there education is and they'll tell you how it works....in fact that goes for germany as a whole, everything costs, the whole society thing, and as a tourist you mightn't notice(fair enough) but the 'cost' of Germany is certainly there.....as far as tradies and construction goes, Aussies would beat the Krauts any day of the week, in any trade, for cost and quality. The best workers in Germany are non Germans for that matter. 'cheap' Food is cheap. Beer is cheap. the beer is good. yipee. the Krauts are the biggest funbusters i've ever experienced. They don't like each other very much. Not like the Aussie, everyone gets a fair go.....and housing aint that expensive here for crying out loud, not when you get paid so much!!!