@hacks4pancakes As a recent immigrant you might not be fully conversant with Oz history.

Australia is basically a vassal state to the US, and the pattern of pay us money or bad things will happen is par for the course in the relationship.

The one time a Oz prime minister even mildly stood up for Oz interests to the US, the CIA destabilized his govt, causing his removal (Gough Whitlam).

General population knows this, and so Oz slang for an USAian is "seppo" derived from "Septic Tank" (sorry).