8Brits always blame the Australians (and vice versa). It's a national sport. – Mick – 2017-01-19T10:23:58.067

3

It's a joke, Andrew (an American) posted a question on meta asking why there were no Australian users on the site How come I never see any Aussies on here?.

15I really hope this question stays on the main site, and doesn't get migrated over to meta. It is a perfect example of how learners can misinterpret tone and the English/American sense of humour. I think this is a good question, why indeed blame the Aussies? What have they ever done? ;) – Mari-Lou A – 2017-01-19T10:35:49.033

@Rompey You mean natives are often blamed for no reason in Australia? Then what about other countries, say, America? I live in China, where nearly all people are "native", so blaming natives seems a little weird to me... – nalzok – 2017-01-19T11:13:25.377

8@SunQingyao It's probably referring not specifically to natives in terms of indigenous people, but to people with Australian citizenship in general (mostly being people of British heritage). Where there isn't a huge history of racism between two groups of people (or where it's so far in the past that nobody cares any more) it can often be seen as humorous to make good-natured jokes at their expense, as long as they don't get too mean or cruel. It all depends on context, of course, and one person's joke can be another's insult in these circumstances, so it's usually best to tread lightly. – Muzer – 2017-01-19T14:17:05.023

What @Muzer said. Actually, we Brits used to blame everything on the French, but since them damned Yankees beat us at our own national game with the coinage cheese-eating surrender monkeys we've had to cast about for new victims. Though I will say that whereas I've never heard an Aussie take offence at anything we've thrown at them, I have come across people who object to them damned Yankees. Plus there's sometimes more "hypersensitivity" around issues of religion in the US than UK/OZ, and race is often off-limits.

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Also, drop-bear is a clue that the exchange was good natured and not serious.

2"Though I will say that whereas I've never heard an Aussie take offence at anything we've thrown at them" They certainly don't take offence when we throw cricket balls at them - they just whack them over the boundary rope. A nice cricketing example of Aussie humour: in an England-Aussie test match, an English fielder standing near the boundary was attacked by a wasp, and was trying to kill it. A voice from the crowd shouted. "Hey, Pommie, stop trying to kill that wasp. Don't you know it's the only friend you have in this country?". – alephzero – 2017-01-19T19:17:06.427

A site question, that refers to a meta question, that refers to another meta question... Only on SE. – jpmc26 – 2017-01-19T21:51:06.773

Australians have also been known to blame the Brits just occasionally. Strewth! – Sydney – 2017-01-19T21:59:59.077

Thing is, as an Aussie it really doesn't bother us what is said. We do this thing called "Shit Hanging" where will call our best mates the most derogatory names because we love them. For us the more that get in on and enjoy the fun the better. The Kiwi above me will 90% understand but that all depends..... – Justin William Stanley Bryant – 2017-01-20T10:27:30.907