We're mostly not, anyway. People like to whine about America, but in almost every sense, we are completely ass-backwards. Politically, technologically, financially...
We invented wi-fi, but we can't even make good use of it, so whatever.
Well, I've lived in both countries, and frankly, I couldn't move back here (Melbourne) fast enough. I'm not anti-American; my husband is from Boston by way of Hawaii, and many--hell, most--Americans are generous and terrific people. Also, Star Wars. But when you need to put metal detectors in your schools, and you can buy a semi-automatic weapon but not a celebratory beer when you turn old enough to vote, that there is some serious ass-backwardsness.
And Americans seem far too willing to accept anyone who says they are an authority at their word. Australians are more likely to go "you're not the boss of me, and you can't make me." A double edged sword, to be sure, but it can be useful when a smooth talking stranger says they have the answer to all your problems.
The current political situation in Australia is ghastly, of course. I thought it was bad when the last Liberal PM, Eyebrows McShortass, wanted us all back in the 50s. But at least he was going for the 1950s, rather than the 1850s, which is where the current lot of cigar-chomping plutocrats seem determined to send us. And the situation with the NBN is right out of Gilbert and Sullivan.