NickyNook

Are you allowed to work in Brisbane if you have a regional visa?

Yes. That's what Marisa said. You can't enrol if you've merely applied for an 804 vsa. However, once you have received your 804 visa you are a permanent resident and automatically qualify. You stated in your earlier post that "medicare site says 804 holders are not entitled". That is not true. 804 holders are entitled. It's 804 applicants that aren't. They are not the same thing.

Where does it say on the Medicare site that 804 holders are not entitled? Can you provide a link? According to this: https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/individuals/subjects/how-enrol-and-get-started-medicare/enrolling-medicare/how-enrol-medicare-if-youre-australian-permanent-resident It says exactly what Marisa states above - 804 applicants cannot get Medicare (but they might get it under the reciprocal agreement). Once you are an 804 holder you are a permanent resident and all permanent residents qualify for Medicare. It's not conflicting. You just have to read it properly.

But don't forget that there are two types of Home buying concession with different eligibility rules depending on state. First Home Owners grants are separate to and different from Stamp Duty concessions. In some states it was possible to get the Stamp Duty concession but not a FHO Grant and probably the opposite applied too.

A friend had to get tested last Thursday, just outside of Sydney. He'd been in a supermarket where a staff member had a positive result. He got the results back within 48 hours so it's not a given that it takes a week.

Yes, that is the correct option. You can use Medicare, therefore you don't qualify for the Medicare Levy exemption.

I topped up my contributions too. I only had 8 years on my record but under the new (current) rules that meant I would get nothing when I hit retirement age. I paid the full rate for two year's contributions to bring them up to the minimum 10 years. For me, it meant the difference between getting nothing and getting something. I calculated that I will be in front after about 27 weeks.

Hate them too. Flicking their sweat at you as they pass by. Yuk..

When I’m walking on one side of a narrow footpath and come face to face with a pair of walkers coming the other way who show no signs of walking single file - happens a lot, sadly - I just stop. People won’t walk into you if you’re stationary and it does make them move over. I will never step off the footpath onto a verge/road/mud to let a pair of selfish people get past. Different if it’s a wide path with room for everyone. Same with the people who walk straight at you with their eyes on their phones. Just stop in front of them if they’re getting too close. They soon look up!

Totally agree. Just because UK ministers are 'examining' the possibility of an air-bridge to Australia does not mean that their counterparts in Australia are going to agree to one. Well not until the UK's infection rate is either on a par with - or less than - Australia's, anyway. Might take years! It's like those periodic announcements that UK politicians make that UK/Australia should have some sort of reciprocal work rights arrangement. That will never happen either - it's the last thing Australia wants or needs.

I've lived in Sydney for over 40 years now. My kids were born and went to school here. I can probably count on one hand the number of times it has been too hot to go out in the summer. I'm not denying that it can get hot but it's never too bad close to the coast. You get used to warm weather and do your energetic stuff early or late in the day. We had no air-conditioning for the first 30 years and managed just fine with fans. Kids are on school holidays for the hottest months of summer. I can't remember my children ever complaining it was too hot at school, you certainly see kids running around in school playgrounds whatever the weather.

Never in the history of the Australian dollar has 1 dollar bought more than 1 pound. You probably mean that in 2011 the rate was 1.55 AUD -> GBP and in 2002 it was 2.8 AUD-> GBP.

You've got it the wrong way round - it's the value of the pound that is falling in those graphs.

You seem to be confused about the status of the Australian dollar. In multiple posts you keep referring to the dollar falling - but it's sterling that is falling. You've got it the wrong way round. When you get fewer dollars to the pound than before, it means the value of the dollar is increasing - not falling.

She needs to apply for a new visa. The requirements are pretty clear on the Home Affairs website. https://covid19.homeaffairs.gov.au/staying-australia#4