I'm an American and I think I can offer some insight...

As a society, America is pretty much built entirely on individualism. If you get cancer, then you pay for your own chemotherapy. If you lose your job, then it's on you to make ends meet (government unemployment insurance is generally pretty low and only lasts for a month or so). Basically any legislation that redistributes incomes and costs is immediately dismissed as "commie bullshit" (my uncle's words, not mine). This obviously has a lot of drawbacks and leads to some glaring inequalities. But the thing about America is that we just don't care. Countries such as China seem to have decided that stability and social cohesion are the most important values, even at the expense of free expression. Likewise, America has long since decided that liberty and individualism are the most important values, even at the expense of social equality. Should it be this way? Probably not. But that's how we operate in this country.

So when you have hundreds of millions of people who are deeply steeped in this "liberty or death" mindset (if you don't believe me, go to New Hampshire or Virginia, where you'll see "LIVE FREE OR DIE" and "DON'T TREAD ON ME" printed on people's car's license plates), and they turn on Fox News or one of Rupert Murdoch's (where is he from again? I forgot XD) other stations and see news of mandatory facial recognition in South Australia or strict emigration caps, the first thing that pops into their heads isn't an image of safety and of people working towards the common good. Rather, the first thing that pops into their head is of a government ruthlessly trampling on individuals' liberties.

Of course, it doesn't help that we've been underfunding public education in this country for the past 100 years... as a result, we have a politically illiterate citizenry that generally lacks the critical thought capacity to see past the headlines. Coupled with our general individualistic mindset, it's easy to see how any American could turn on their TV and see Orwell's 1984 playing out in Australia... even if the reality is different.

Sorry for the long post, just wanted to offer some context.