Anyone idiot enough to pay $12 Australian dollars for a meal
the quality of a Big Mac is a few stubbies short of a six-pack (to use
a colloquialism). And yet that's what they pay over there because they
earn a comparable amount.

Yep. IIRC the real comparison used by some economists is
'how long do you need to work for a Big Mac'. Others only look at
the exchange rate compared to 'Big Mac exchange' to see if currencies
seem to be over- or undervalued compared to each other (based on the
fact that a Big Mac is pretty much identical around the world).

Post-taxes, I take home about 14kSEK / month, using 22 workdays per
month and 8 hours per day, include one month vacation, that gives:
14000*12/(11*22*8)=~86.8 SEK per hour. That means I have to work for
39/86.8*60=~ 27minutes for a Big Mac, fries and drink.

/Michael