Cerberus1

After years in the doldrums, Queensland's economic tide has finally turned as more people flee high interstate property prices, the latest Deloitte Access Economics quarterly business outlook has concluded. The report noted that in the past year Queensland had overtaken Victoria as the state receiving the highest number of interstate migrants. "The rate of population growth is still faster in Victoria than Queensland, but the trends have turned," Deloitte partner Chris Richardson said. "Sydney house prices are begging people to sell up and move to Brisbane." The number of overseas migrants also has risen, but the report found the Queensland economy was "still running well below full speed". It concluded "many of the interstate migrants to Queensland may be mainly fleeing the mind-blowing cost of housing in Sydney — that is, the key is the push factors rather than the pull factors". LNG projects boosting export income Exports had risen thanks to new LNG capacity that, while it lagged, was still an "800-pound gorilla", Mr Richardson said. "Finally, the big spend on building these mega gas projects is turning into export earnings." The report found Queensland was through the worst of the economic slowdown with a "surging" jobs market that had created nearly 130,000 net new jobs in the past year alone. "The bottom line? There's good job growth, but the economy needs a lot more of it, because to date it hasn't put much of a dent in unemployment," the report said. The report also found retail spending was "pitifully weak" but on the improve, while the Brisbane housing market remained soft. The winding down of $66 billion in LNG construction developments was now "safely in the rear-view mirror" with new works projected on Adani's proposed Carmichael coal mine, as well as the Brisbane Cross River Rail scheme. "All up, there are $28 billion worth of projects under construction in Queensland," the report said. Acting Queensland Treasurer Steven Miles said he was not surprised by the report's buoyant predictions. "This report projects that Queensland will be at the top of the growth rate in gross state product as well as the upper end of the population growth rate," he said. "I think people in other states are seeing that Queensland is a great place to live, that there are jobs being created here and people are moving here for that reason." Queensland's Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCIQ) said that while the headline was positive, there were still several key imposts holding small and medium businesses back. "High energy prices, payroll tax and of course punitive levies which we've seen in the last four months," CCIQ spokesman Dan Petrie said. He said it was crucial for regional and rural Queenslanders to have more support for continued economic growth. "Regional Queensland needs to come up … to have a robust Queensland economy. "Without the regions there's no point even having a good discussion about Queensland."

Hi Ben. There are many good registered migration agents who post on the forum who I wouldn't hesitate to recommend. @Richard Gregan http://www.overseas-emigration.co.uk/ @Alan Collett https://www.gmvisas.com/ @wrussell http://www.pinoyau.com/ @Raul Senise http://www.ozimmigration.com All MARA registered, many years experience as agents, all have contributed on the forum for around a decade or more.

Clear moon this evening.

A snippet from last night

Brisbane this evening

As previously mentioned, if it were me, I'd be questioning the lack of available company information, especially if I was going to be handing over thousands of pounds potentially.

I did read this on our sister site: https://www.perthpoms.com/topic/17466-lets-go-global/?do=findComment&comment=136653

Never heard on 'Lets Go' or seen them mentioned on the forum before. Looking at the website it seems hard to work out who they are / where they are? Couldn't see a business/company registration number anywhere, no contact address, the domain registation details are hidden etc. Says "We work with a select number of MARA Consultants in Australia matching the right agents & lawyers to your unique circumstances on a case by case basis. We don not work with any affiliated third parties" but doesn't tell you which agents they use etc (Alexander James is presumably not the MARA agent as there doesn't appear to a MARA registered agent by that name - https://www.mara.gov.au/search-the-register-of-migration-agents/?location=&keyword=)

The Australian government will create a new visa to compete with other countries for “high-tech skills and talent”, with companies allowed to sponsor migrants for jobs paid more than $180,000. There will also be a new visa for start-up companies seeking talent in STEM fields like biomedicine and agricultural technology. Both visas will require the migrant to have three years of relevant experience, while the sponsor companies will need to demonstrate they tried to hire Australians first. “The Government recognises there is fierce competition globally for high-tech skills and talent, and that attracting these people helps to transfer skills to Australian workers and grow Australian-based businesses,” a Turnbull government media release reads. There will not be a cap on the overall number of visas, but individual companies will have a limit on how many migrants they can employ. Businesses will be able to take up to 20 skilled migrants under the new stream per year, while start-ups will be able to take up to five. The visas for jobs paid more than $180,000 will only be available to businesses with a turnover of more than $4 million. The start-up visas will be available to any that is authorised by an industry body, yet to be chosen by the government. The migrants will have the option of a "transitional pathway" to permanent residence after three years in the country. The details of the scheme will be ironed out over the next few months before a 12-month pilot begins on July 1. The need for visa changes to attract high-value employees from overseas has been the “number one priority” in the emerging startup sector, according to an industry group. StartupAUS chief executive Alex McCauley said the government’s changes to 457 temporary work visas last year, which restricted the list of occupations and cut off the path to permanent residency for many jobs, had made it harder for start-ups to compete. “The single biggest challenge for Australian start-ups is getting access to the best talent in the world,” “It got more difficult when the 457 visa announcements were made last year and start-ups in this country are really crying out for a way to get access to talent.” “Everybody’s looking to hire product managers, software engineers, digital growth specialists, data scientists.”

Chinese state media has issued a "red alert" advising students not to enrol in Australian universities after a series of public accusations that Canberra was delaying visas for politically motivated reasons. Many Chinese students and scholars have said that their Australian visa applications have been taking "oddly long" since 2015, with most of those affected from an engineering or technology background. "Australia thinks we are academic spies, or that there is some kind of grand conspiracy behind us," one student said. "Isn't that ridiculous? We just want to go there to study. It's not that complicated at all." Earlier this month, the China Scholarship Council under the Chinese Education Ministry also alerted students that "in order to avoid unnecessary losses caused by Australian visa applications, we'd like to remind students going to Australia to make plans in advance". "Research Australian visa policies, and carefully choose the country and institution you want to study in," it added. The accusation of delays in processing visa applications follows an increase in tensions between the two nations. Last October, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop issued a blunt warning to Chinese university students affiliated with the Communist Party, urging them to respect freedom of speech in Australia. China also reacted furiously to proposed foreign interference laws, accusing the Australian Government of making "irresponsible" comments which have hurt "political mutual trust", after Australia unveiled the biggest overhaul of espionage and intelligence laws in decades amid growing concerns over international interference in Australia. The Global Times, a state-owned Chinese newspaper, recently blamed the "anti-China rhetoric" in Australia for the prolonged visa processing time for Chinese students. The newspaper also told students "do not go to Australia" for the time being: "It's not worth it to let the narrow-minded Australian Government sabotage your future!" Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-22/chinese-students-angered-by-visa-processing-delays/9574838?section=politics

Thanks everyone

Cheers Bob You're more on the ball than I am. I looked at my phone, half asleep in bed this morning and saw this thread title..I thought, what the hell, fake news, couldn't even remember what month it was, had to check my phone - 23.03 , Bobs right !

Just remembered another one. Early teens I'm guessing, I was trying to fix my desktop lamp, forgetting it was still plugged in. The electric shock sent me over the back of the standchair onto the floor