Oh my you have a lot to learn if you think that they are not useful. They are in fact very useful from what I have experienced, as having them on the farm was invaluable :) I guess you just have to live with one to understand what I mean. They are particularly useful for tradesmen, especially in the city where they tend to be only a part of a small business.
In a way they (utes) can be considered a practical sports vehicle that can also be used to take the motorbikes to the track (which you can do easily & in comfort). They have many other practical and fun (;)) uses as well.. They're not there to just look/pose. Plus they will last forever (like 400,000km)
And whats with people calling Australia a backwards country? Australia is 2nd in the world on the HDI (human development index - a UN study [http://hdr.undp.org/en/statistics/]), ahead of both many major European nations, as well as the US. So stop incorrectly referring to Australia as a backward country.