MichaelP

Most Aussies are friendly. There is a significant minority, however, who are racist. Some are overtly racist, such as the old git on the bus who yelled at my wife (from China, been in Aussie 20 yrs) to 'go back home'. There are the dumb racists, like the kids who kept running up to my wife and her friend & shouting konnichi-wa! in their face and laughing (because Japanese and Chinese are all the same, right?). There are the middle class racists, like the ones at a dinner party recently who quite openly joked about the meal being dogmeat made by Ching Chong Chinamen (to much laughter). And there's the unconscious racists, like the ones who keep asking my son where he is from and not taking Sydney as an answer. (No where are you REALLY from, with your un-Australian slanty eyes). So it doesn't matter if you tick all Pauline Hanson's boxes and integrate, assimiltate, speak English and be a true blue Aussie. You still get crap like this every week. Straya.

There's a Facebook group called GP Down Under https://www.facebook.com/groups/gpsdownunder/ who could probably help you with that. All RACGP fellows of course, many ex-UK.

I think you'll find Aus is light years behind UK in terms of nurse prescribing. The legislation is there but not will nor the career structure. Some drugs are listed on PBS as eligible for nurse practitioner prescribing but actual numbers are very low. If you want to prescribe it would probably be quicker to re-train as a GP (or pharmacist).

Agree with what northshorepom said. It would be crazy and cruel to move a 16yr old from a settled existence in UK to Sydney. We took our kids back to UK for a year when they were 13/14 and it was a nightmare re-settling back into Sydney schools even though we knew the ropes and they had friends here. And the notion that you can land a house with water views and get your kids into a good school with a rental budget of $800 a week is fantasy. Sorry, but Sydney can be a really tough place to make a new start if you have kids.

Two reasons why this is nonsense. 1. Correlation is not causality. Just because low levels of vitamin D are associated with autism does not mean they CAUSE it. Vitamin D levels may just be a marker of some other problem. As the neurologists said today, there are many and varied mechanisms to explain autism, among which vitamin D deficiency does not figure. 2. Using sunscreen does not inhibit your body's production of vitamin D. You only need a few minutes of daily exposure to UV to be replete with vitamin D. Slip slop slap will not stop this in any meaningful way. But if you want to boost the bank balance of Blackmores shareholders, please keep taking the vitamin D pills

Richmond always struck me as a nice historic town. Has the air force base and West Sydney university so hardly a ghetto. Only thing that would put me off is the inland heat.

Even if you are a UK citizen you are NOT entitled to NHS treatment if you have lived abroad for more than 2 years. I found this out when I sought treatment for a broken finger in Leeds when back in the UK for a year in 2013. Despite having lived back in the UK for 8 months I was told by NHS England (Leeds General Infirmary) that I was not entitled to an operation to fix the broken bone unless I paid for it. They only provide emergency treatment (a splint). I was coming back to Australia anyway and got my finger fixed when I came back. For something as serious as a child cancer I would check your NHS eligibility before returning to UK.

I like Lane Cove. It's got a great library, swimming pool (not that easy to find on north shore), Longueville pub and a posh Woolworths. And that Italian place that does one metre long pizzas.

Well we have a 16 yr old and we're in Roseville - he goes to Turramurra High and has a mixed circle of M/F friends in the area (one of the reasons sent him to a co-ed school, I think it's more balanced). His friends are a mix of Aussie and UK migrant kids. If your daughter wants to meet some people of a similar age in the Roseville-Chatswood area, get in touch (they're a bit teen geeky though).

Doesn't surprise me - Australia has been in denial about its reliance on China consumption of resources for a decade. Now that China is switching away from coal and diversifying its food suppliers, Australia won't have it easy any longer. Government has spent two years crying wolf about a Budget emergency. Now they face a very real one. Australia should be investing in the products and services that countries like China want. I've just been in Guangxi province, China, and every new apartment is installing solar.

I am a UK citizen but was told I would have to pay for treatment (broken finger) at a Leeds hospital when I couldn't prove my residence in UK. It really annoyed me because I was born at that hospital and even worked there as a casual porter when I was a student! They put a splint on for free and I waited a week until I returned to Aus and got it fixed properly here.

Climate change is real. Overwhelming scientific evidence that is already being factored in by insurance company risk estimators. Go ask your local SES group about their long range strategy. Many parts of Australia will be subject to bushfires and floods, even seemingly inocuous outer suburbs of cities - viz Canberra 2003, Victoria 2009, Queensland floods. If you take part in any Natural Disaster Planning events as I have you will learn from very practical experts about the kinds of scenarios Australia faces in coming years. It's going to be a major burden and Australia needs to be prepared.

Australia can expect to have more extreme weather events - bad news for those who have recently lost everything in bushfires and floods. We can also expect to see spread of diseases usually only seen in tropical areas - this is already happening with mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue, whihc is becoming endemic around Cairns.

If you're looking to emigrate to Australia as a tradie better get in quick. The Australia-China FT allows Australian companies to hire Chinese labour at favourable rates and without the same level of skills as local workers. The list of the first 457 visa exemptions for Chinese workers have been posted on Twitter. Here's what the sparkies union have to say about it: 457 visa workers set to flood into power and energy industries The Chinese Government has been on a buying spree of Australia electricity networks and gas infrastructure. Our regulator, the Australian Energy Regulator has guaranteed them a profit on these networks. But China wants to gouge more profit to send back to the Chinese Government, by slashing our jobs and wages. Some of these Chinese Government-owned companies are already advertising for migration agencies to act as employment agencies – and are stating a preference for 457 visa workers. Good luck.

The multiple occupation units in Sydney are not illegal immigrants. Most of them are legal visitors from places like Korea, Japan and India on WHVs or student visas. I saw one of these places when i was trying to find student accomodation for my son. There are loads of them advertised in Gumtree. Most of them are not as bad as the ones portrayed in the media - they're unofficial longer-stay backpacker hostels, similar to the ones occupied by Brits in Bondi. Wouldn't want to live in one myself, but it's just the free market operating in a city where a single room costs $200 a week.