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SBS News recently interviewed a group of Americans residing in Australia to explore their experiences living abroad, particularly during a period when former President Donald Trump’s second term significantly influences global discussions. The United States’ current international reputation, especially among Australians, has become increasingly negative compared to previous years.
“There are times when I’m hesitant to speak or feel tempted to adopt an Australian accent just to avoid awkward moments,” shares Melissa Vincenty, an immigration lawyer with dual citizenship who divides her time between Sydney and Hawaii. “Sometimes, you just want to get a haircut without the extra attention.”
Mallory Fish, along with her husband Rob, both Americans now settled in Australia, finds themselves frequently torn. They struggle with the guilt and anxiety of having elderly parents back in the U.S. amidst the nation’s current instability and challenges.
Originally from Connecticut and now a Melbourne resident, Mallory Fish admits that political discussions can be particularly stressful. “Whenever politics come up, I can physically feel my blood pressure rising,” she confides.
Jack Cutler was born in New York, but lived in Australia for part of his childhood before returning to the US for university. Now a Sydney resident, he says it’s “incredibly distressing” seeing how unstable things have become in the US. Source: Supplied
“It’s very draining,” says Jack Cutler, a Sydney-based dual national born in New York.
“I feel like I always have to answer for everything that’s going on over there.”
Interactions ‘quite telling’
Australia and Türkiye jointly ranked second at 71 per cent.
According to a recent survey by the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney, only 16 per cent of Australians think Trump’s second term has been good for Australia so far, while almost 75 per cent are concerned about the future of US democracy.
Source: SBS News / Pew Research Center
Cory Alpert is a PhD researcher at the University of Melbourne. He moved to Australia last year after serving the Biden administration for several years as part of the advance team, primarily coordinating travel for then-vice president Kamala Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff.
Sometimes people will talk to me as if I come from like, a war-torn country that deserves their pity.
“I think it’s quite telling for how we broadly think about what’s happening in the United States.”
Cory Alpert worked for the Executive Office of the President as an advance associate, travelling ahead of politicians to ensure their trips run smoothly. Source: Supplied
It’s not hard to see how people feel that way, Alpert says, pointing to immigration raids in which people have been swept off the street and deported, reports of visitors being denied entry over their political views, and what he describes as a rapid slide toward “very scary authoritarian politics”.
“I think there’s something in there of: ‘Okay, you’re a person with lived experience of this place that is both fascinating and terrifying and all encompassing of everything that’s in my news world’.”
Cory Alpert has been in Australia on and off throughout his life. He first moved when he was 14. His most recent stint here began last year, to work on a PhD in Melbourne. Source: Supplied
There are around 118,000 US-born people living in Australia, according to 2024 data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics — a comparatively small migrant cohort. It falls outside the top 10 overseas-born groups, which are led by England (963,560), India (916,330) and China (700,120).
‘Everybody is paying attention’
Australians feel investment in US politics because “when Donald Trump says something, that can and does have impacts and implications in Australia”, Cory Alpert suggests. Source: Supplied
Major US flashpoints — including the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, the protracted government shutdown and other rolling crises in Washington — have all received prominent attention in Australia.
“And I’m like, ‘What are you talking [about]?”
“But then I have people who … start talking to me about the House of Representatives and the Senate and elections and protests, the Supreme Court, Ninth Circuit judges in the US.”
“What’s going on in the US upsets me tremendously, and it’s certainly not where I would like the conversation to go when I might just be trying to unwind at a social event,” Jack Cutler says. Source: Supplied
Bruce Wolpe is an author and commentator on US politics in Australia, and a senior non-resident fellow at the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney.
Whether people love or hate Trump, Wolpe says, “everybody is paying attention”.
Evolving views under Trump v Obama
Interest doesn’t equate to endorsement, however. The perception that former Liberal leader Peter Dutton was modelling his leadership on Trump’s was a political drag in this year’s Australian federal election, Wolpe notes, pointing to the Liberals’ resounding loss.
Comparatively, 64 per cent expressed confidence in Obama in the final years of his presidency.
“It’s been a wild experience seeing how differently people view Americans and the US over the past decade. It’s a total fall from grace.”
I felt proud to say I was American, and now it’s almost embarrassing to say that I am an American.
