Cerberus1

As above, 2 bores, lack of insulation in house, inefficient hot water system etc.  Things which can be improved, if/when funds allow

Massive growth in Australia's ballooning temporary migration is dwarfing the Government's cuts to the permanent intake.

The number of people who hold bridging visas — the same kind of visa given to the Commonwealth Games athletes who are seeking asylum — has hit a historic high.

At the end of March, 195,000 people with bridging visas were in Australia, including more than 37,000 whose nationality was not specified.

That is up more than 40,000 on a year ago, and close to 90,000 since 2014, according to official Department of Home Affairs figures.

It has pushed the number of people in Australia on temporary visas to more than 2.2 million — again, a record high.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has said the Government was planning on cutting the permanent migration intake from its traditional level of 190,000 per year, down to approximately 170,000 this year.

But that number is dwarfed by the scale of the temporary visa program.

In the past year an additional 150,000 visitors are in Australia on temporary visas, including 33,000 more foreign students.

The Government has rolled out an overhaul of both temporary and permanent migration programs in the past year.

Jonathan Granger, director of Granger Australia and a former national president of the Migration Institute of Australia, described the migration program as "chaotic", saying processing times in major visa streams including the temporary skill shortage (formerly code 457), employer-nominated scheme and skilled independent visas had all grown in recent years.

A Department of Home Affairs spokesperson said processing times were driven by a range of factors including:

• the volume of applications received,
• completeness of the application,
• how promptly applicants respond to any requests from the department, and
• the complexity of assessments in relation to health, character and national security requirements.

The boom in bridging visas has been driven by a mysterious component of 37,000 visa holders for whom the Department of Home Affairs will not reveal their nationality. The Department of Home Affairs declined to provide more explanation about this group.

Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-22/bridging-visa-surge-overwhelms-permanent-migration-cuts/9785946

If, like me,  you live in Regional Queensland, then you're in for a brucie bonus.

Wait for it..

The Queensland Competion Authority has determined that power prices will drop..

saving the average consumer..

a whopping..

5.5c per day

Well this is pretty disappointing given the Australian offering is pretty poor in comparsion to Amazon's US or UK sites.

Online retail giant Amazon will block Australian consumers from its global sites to counter new laws to force it to collect the good and services tax on transactions.

From July 1 when the new GST regulations begin, Australian consumers shopping on Amazon international sites will be redirected to the local Australian site.

In a statement issued to the ABC, Amazon said it regretted the move and the inconvenience to customers accustomed to visiting Amazon's global online stores.

"We have had to assess the workability of the legislation as a global business with multiple international sites," a spokeswoman said.

A plan to make migrants wait four years before accessing welfare benefits would affect 66,000 families.

Tens of thousands of families would be hit by a proposal to make migrants wait four years before accessing a range of welfare benefits.

Legislation already before parliament seeks to push the welfare waiting period for newly-arrived migrants from two to three years, in a measure expected to save $1.3 billion.

The federal government is now proposing to stretch the wait times for migrants out to four years from July 1.

The extra squeeze on migrants is expected to save an additional $200 million.

The government predicts 66,000 migrant families will be forced to wait longer for tax benefits, and 47,000 people will be impacted by the freeze on access to Newstart, Youth Allowance and other payments.

Social Services Department officials say the two cohorts are not mutually exclusive, with some migrant families tapping into other welfare payments.

Department officer Shane Bennett played down concerns the proposal would prove a disincentive to migration.

"There is evidence from the OECD that reflects access to social security systems is not necessarily high on the factors people consider," Mr Bennett told a Senate estimates hearing on Thursday.

"There is also a Productivity Commission report from 2016 that shows non-humanitarian permanent migrants had effectively lower take-up rates of income support to the general population."

Migrant and community groups have pushed back hard against moves to extend welfare wait times, fearing it could force some new arrivals into destitution and poverty.

Exemptions will continue to apply for vulnerable groups and humanitarian entrants, while hardship provisions also will also remain in place.

Source: https://www.sbs.com.au/news/longer-welfare-wait-times-for-migrants-would-affect-66-000-families

Interesting article on th ABC about catchment area fraud for Brisbane State High school and the steps some parents take - buying investment properties in the area and pretending to live there.

Brisbane State High School has become so pressured by rising enrolments it is employing an investigator to weed out families who are rorting the catchment system so their children can attend the school.

The high school has just called on the Queensland Government to introduce a cap on enrolments to tackle overcrowding.

School council chairman David Gillespie said rorting resulted in an extra 200 students attending per year.

"The big problem is what I would call catchment fraud," Mr Gillespie said.

"It's a combination of people lying about living in the catchment, which is part of it, and probably an even bigger problem is people who do live in the catchment on the day they enrol and they didn't live there the day before.

"They have no intention of staying there any longer than they have to."

West End resident Lainie Diacos said she had enrolled her daughter at the school.

She said she had heard horror stories about the lengths some parents went to so their children could attend Brisbane State High, including buying investment properties in the area and pretending to live there.

"The kids go there [to the properties] after school and turn taps on and run electricity so they look like they're living there," she said.

Ms Diacos said the school already went to extensive lengths to prove prospective students lived in the catchment.

"The hoops that we had to go through to prove that we were legitimate catchment dwellers was tough," she said.

Mr Gillespie admitted the problem was serious enough to prompt the school to hire an investigator and liaise with police to stamp out fraudsters.

He said it was not an ideal situation.

"The end of that process is ripping a kid out of that school and no matter what you think of their parents and what they did to get them there, this is still a kid we're talking about," he said.

He called on the State Government to cap enrolments.

"Make sure that cap is generous, make sure it allows for everyone we know who lives in the catchment — and a lot more — but when that cap is hit you can't enrol in the catchment anymore."

Full article at: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-30/brisbane-state-high-catchment-fraud-rort-locals/9817190

5 minutes ago, kevsan said:

Makes me hungry for a packet of Skips, or even some scampi fries, do they even make them anymore?!!?

It's a go on the Skips

Unfortunately, there's a bit of a crisis on the Skampi Fries front 

https://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/whats-on/food-drink/scampi-fries-disappear-from-pubs-1302117

https://www.go-walkabout.co.uk/quote_oneway.php

One way insurance of up to 3 or 6 months depending on tier chosen.

A bit dissapointing - NBN boss dumps top speed of 100mbps for hundreds of thousands of fixed wireless customers

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-25/nbn-boss-dumps-top-speed-for-fixed-wireless-customers/9797772

I beleive @zk2102 arrived with their dogs ashes - 

Also several members on this thread:

Go Walkabout offer one way insurance - https://www.go-walkabout.co.uk/one_way_travel_insurance.php

There are many good registered migration agents who post on the forum who I wouldn't hesitate to recommend.

@Alan Collett https://www.gmvisas.com/ 

@wrussell   http://www.pinoyau.com/  

@Raul Senise http://www.ozimmigration.com 

@Richard Gregan http://www.overseas-emigration.co.uk/ 

All MARA registered, many years experience as agents, all have contributed on the forum for around a decade or more.

Fantastic Autumn morning, around 12c at 07:00, not a cloud in the sky. Top of around 23 today. Favourite time of year. 

We secured a housesit for 5 weeks (the family were off touring round Europe), 

$20 for federal elections,. State elections differ, QLD is $126, not sure for other states.

2 minutes ago, Peter2 said:

I just received this message. Did they send it by mistake?

 

 

No, it's been reported on SBS - https://www.sbs.com.au/news/exclusive-coalition-backflips-on-parent-visa-crackdown

Letton Percival insure for moves in both directions (UK->Aus, Aus->UK)

Sunset this evening

5 minutes ago, Agam said:

How to do that plz

https://www.pomsinoz.com/settings/signature/

A new report has singled out Tasmania as one of two regions in the country where soaring tourism has led to a "rapid decline" in affordable rental properties.

The 2018 Anglicare Rental Affordability Snapshot, released today, singled out Tasmania's tourism boom and expansion of holiday rental provider Airbnb in Hobart as key contributors to a housing shortage.

The authors said a record 1.3 million tourists to the state in 2017 created "unprecedented" demand for accommodation, resulting in Airbnb listings jumping from 2,874 to 4,459 in the 12 months to February 2018.

Three quarters of those listings are full homes and 61 per cent are in Tasmania's south.

Anglicare concluded this growth, alongside rising housing prices, have taken rental affordability "from bad to worse".

The snapshot of 1,285 Tasmanian properties is taken from websites and the three major newspapers on one weekend in March.

Properties are deemed affordable if the weekly rent is less than 30 per cent of household income.

Of those properties, less than half were considered affordable for Tasmanians on a minimum wage.

Only 21 per cent of properties were affordable for households on income support payments.

Anglicare social action and research manager, Meg Webb, told ABC Radio Hobart there were a combination of factors at play.

"Let's talk about it as two things, because one of the things we notice with this snapshot each year over the last five years is that the number of properties advertised is dropping, and the second part is what proportion of that pool is affordable," she said.

None of the properties in the sample were affordable for a young person on Newstart, which has been the case in consecutive reports.

The authors note Tasmania's wages remain the lowest in the country, potentially inhibiting the ability of people to access housing.

"While the state's housing market and cost-of-living pressures surge, Tasmanian wages continue to be the lowest in the nation," the report said.

"If wage growth continuously fails to keep up with property prices and living costs, Tasmanians will continue to be locked out of their own housing market."

These results come off the back of Commsec's State of the State report, which revealed Tasmania has recorded the strongest population growth in the country.

Tasmania ranked fourth overall in economic performance — finishing behind New South Wales, Victoria and the ACT.

Commsec senior economist Ryan Felsman told ABC Radio Hobart the economic data supports the idea of a tightening housing market.

"Certainly, if you look at house price growth in Hobart at the moment it leads the nation at 13 per cent on an annualised basis, and at the same time, rents are up by 3.7 per cent," he said.

If you're moving to Australia and haven't decided where to want to live yet, it may be worthwhile keeping an eye on CommSec's  'State of the States' reports. 

The quarterly report attempts to find out how Australia’s states and territories performing by analysing eight key indicators:

• economic growth
• retail spending
• equipment investment
• unemployment
• construction work done
• population growth
• housing finance
• dwelling commencements.

Just as the Reserve Bank uses long-term averages to determine the level of “normal” interest rates; CommSec do the same with the economic indicators.

For each state and territory, latest readings for the key indicators were compared with decade averages – that is, against the “normal” performance.

The latest State of the States report also includes a section comparing annual growth rates for the eight key indicators across the states and territories as well as Australia as a whole. This enables another point of comparison – in terms of economic momentum.  

FIRST - New South Wales

SECOND - Victoria

THIRD - Australian Capital Territory

FOURTH - Tasmania

FIFTH - South Australia

SIXTH - Queensland

SEVENTH - Northern Territory

EIGHTH - Western Australia

NSW has retained top rankings on five of the eight economic indicators: retail trade, dwelling starts, equipment investment, construction work and unemployment. NSW is in third spot on economic growth, population growth and housing finance.

Victoria is second on the economic performance rankings for five of the eight indicators and in third spot on the other three indicators. The biggest improvement has been the job market with unemployment now almost 3% below the decade average.

The ACT has held on to third spot on the rankings. The ACT is top-ranked on housing finance, in second spot on the job market and in third position on dwelling starts and retail trade.

Tasmania has held fourth position on the economic performance rankings and it can be broadly grouped with the ACT. Tasmania is top-ranked on relative population growth and is second placed on equipment investment. Population growth is the strongest in 7 years.

South Australia remains in fifth position on the performance rankings and it can be broadly grouped with Queensland. South Australia is ranked fourth on dwelling starts and fifth on three other indictors. Construction work done is at record highs.

Queensland remains in sixth position on the performance rankings. But annual employment growth is the fastest in the nation. Population growth is at 4-year highs. And the annual total of export receipts is up more than 26% over the year.

The Northern Territory retains its seventh position on the economic performance rankings and can be broadly grouped with Western Australia. The NT is top ranked on economic growth and second-ranked on construction work done. But it lags all other states and territories on five of the indicators. The good news is that exports are growing strongly, up 22% on a year ago.

Western Australia is seventh on five indicators and lags other economies on the other three indicators. But equipment spending and exports are posting firm annual growth.

Housing investments, not flashy infrastructure projects, are needed if Australia is to successfully manage a migration program supercharged by international students, according to experts.

The call follows news last week that Australia has taken in 525,000 international students this year, a 12% increase compared to last year, itself a record.

Glen Searle, honorary associate professor in planning at Sydney University, said the Federal Government's response to immigration so far has been "totally inadequate" and it now has a "moral responsibility" to deliver investment required by Australia's immigration program.

In the case of international students, he argues that means more affordable housing.

"There's been quite a build-up of student accommodation, but it's nowhere near enough," he said.

"Universities, perhaps with some Federal Government funding, should be directing some of their fees into providing their own accommodation."

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data released this week revealed how the highest concentrations of Australia's newest migrants can be found around university campuses and the inner suburbs in Melbourne and Sydney.

Only Melbourne and Parramatta centres attracted more migrants in 2016-17 than the suburb of Clayton in south-east Melbourne, site of Monash University.

Mayor of Monash Council, Paul Klisaris, said he didn't want international students to be made "scapegoats" for Australians' frustrations with congestion and the cost of living.

But he said there had been major impacts for his council area "as a result of this mass movement".

International students driving migration

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the rise in foreign students has been the biggest driving factor of immigration growth.

"There are around 200,000 more foreign students in Australia today than there were a few years ago," he said earlier this month.

"That is the single biggest driving factor (of immigration growth).

"So if you feel there are more foreigners on the tram and you can't get a seat on the tram, that is because of that, if that's your perception."

The new ABS figures are the first to provide local migration breakdowns, providing an insight into how fast some neighbourhoods are changing.

Liz Allen, a demographer at the ANU Centre for Social Research & Methods, said infrastructure development had not kept pace with the migration program in the past 20 years, and the blame fell on politicians.

"I would be strongly urging people to be considered when they look at these figures," she said, "and not blame migrants, but rather hold politicians to account".

A spokesperson for Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack, who has responsibility for population issues, said the Federal Government was working with its state counterparts to address competing challenges prompted by population growth.

"Future population growth, busting congestion and investing in projects to ensure people can get to home, university and work and back again sooner and safer is a key focus of the Government," they said.

Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-04-27/international-students-infrastructure-migration-housing/9693256?section=politics

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."