2 March

When I use the word ‘kidult’, it’s not meant to be just some cheap insult. It’s an analytical term invented by people who study societies, to describe a type of culture, where adult life is replaced by an extended adolescence. Bathurst’s ongoing war against increased rates is a good place to see it, I think. You can see here both the existing and projected average rates for residents. And then underneath the data showing what people living there currently spend their weekly budgets on. Notice that even if the rate increase is approved, Bathurst residents on average spend between 4-5 times as much per year on recreation and culture, about twice as much on alcohol, and between 3-4 times as much on hotels, cafes and restaurants, as they do paying their rates. What type of culture spends 25% of its income on booze, entertainment and dining out, and less than 2% of its income on the upkeep of its civic infrastructure? Easy - an adolescent culture. Those are the priorities of kidults.