pintpot

I reckon it's about as clear as they could possibly make it - perhaps you ought to be docked half a point in your reading score for asking the question :wink: [TABLE] [TR] [TD] The points test awards points for English language ability as follows: Points [/TD] [TD=width: 44%] Description of English language ability [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD=width: 56%] 20 [/TD] [TD=width: 44%] Superior English (a score of at least 8 in each of the four components of the IELTS test, or equivalent standard in a specified test) [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD=width: 56%] 10 [/TD] [TD=width: 44%] Proficient English (a score of at least 7 in each of the four components of the IELTS test, or equivalent standard in a specified test) [/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] (My emboldening and italics)

Totally agree with that, especially the emboldened bit. It's not just question of "good" schools or "bad" schools, either, different types of schools suit different kids; some need very strict/clear boundaries and routine, some do much better in a much looser environment

I see this sort of thing quoted a lot on here and am unconvinced. Not because I don't think the Aussie system is any good - on the contrary, I think it's pretty good at primary level from what I can see. I have a few more qualms at high school & university levels (not because I think they are rubbish but because I have my doubts about the HSC system - in NSW - in general and its lack of transferability to international Unis in particular). Certainly I see just as much emphasis on HSC ATAR results in press and conversation as there is concentration on A levels at home (if not more), also to my eyes there are more crammers here to boost results, and more people going to private schools, which in Sydney are not cheaper than in the UK unless you go Catholic. A similar level of effort seems to go in to getting into selective high schools. This could just be a "Sydney" thing But I'm not bagging Aussie schools. My son's primary school is well led, well resourced and pretty well run. Not seen enough teachers to know how good they are but they seem OK. I'd rank it much better than the primary school in our village at home, but not as good as the private pre-prep he attended. But then we paid plenty for that, so I'm not knocking the Aussie school. It seems to me the primary sector here is taken more seriously, not in terms of academic curriculum (as posted previously by others, happy kids who want to learn are the main objective), but they definitely want to develop the kids whereas some UK primary schools are less professional, IMO My issue with some of the comparisons drawn between the UK and Australian school systems is the implication that UK education is a 2-dimensional affair purely with the objective of passing tests. I just don't think this is the case, IME either as a pupil (OK that was 25 years ago so we'll set it aside), a guardian to my nephews when their mother was seriously ill, as a parent to my son and as a director of a PPP company providing educational services, this wasn't what schooling in the UK was about at all. It wasn't government policy, it wasn't educational practice and it wasn't what most teachers I ever engaged with were focused towards. If any group was most focused towards it, it was parents, but only in terms of educational outcomes needing a measure. So do they provide a measure here I have my doubts too. It's interesting to me to hear my wife's perspective from the reading groups she helps out with at school - she does reading groups in our son's class and also helps out with the "Multilit" support for the Yr 2 & 3 kids who are struggling with reading. Obviously this is hearsay, but some of the children she helps in the latter group are definitely "struggling" because they have confidence or other social issues. Push the right buttons (she used to be a behavioural psychologist, fwiw) and some of them develop rapidly, they're not thick at all, just not been developed/brought along with the group. Again I'm not bagging Aussie schools here (or even this particular school), this sort of thing happens everywhere. It's good that they have the support system and tons of volunteer helpers, you wouldn't get that in the average UK primary

"Affordable" is subjective. To some people that's $1m, to some it's $350K. It gets cheaper the further you move out towards the north west I think in general Transport I think is pretty good all over. Roads aren't that bad, tons of buses, railway isn't a million miles away and the North West Rail Link will be coming in 6 or 7 years (might seem like ages but the effect on property prices will happen sooner and time flies)

Going to play golf. Course will be dead as all the "under the thumbites" will be at home

^ Good links, thanks I just use the "Stealthy" extension on Firefox and either plug the laptop into the TV, or just watch direct on the Mac (which has a 27" screen). The latter suffers less glitches IME It's not infallible, but it works 95% of the time.

You had half a point until you decided to bag football in such a cliched way. Why does it have to be a competition or comparison? Load of cobblers

Fantastic....that's exactly why I watch NRL, the standard is so high

That's worth emphasising. Tickets are well priced and there's a real family atmosphere, also fans from opposing sides mingle freely without the fear of mass brawls - even between two sides that are deadly rivals, Roosters/Rabbitohs or Dragons/Bulldogs sort of thing OT for this thread but the same goes for musical events (or at least the more trad kind). Even the Sydney Opera House big classical concerts in the Conert Hall (the big one) are accessible in the way such events just aren't at home. The same doesn't seem to apply to pop/rock concerts though, which are (in Sydney) stupidly priced

"They" moan about FIFO up north because "they" are Aussies. If you are flying in international workforce with a lower skilled local base, it doesn't matter where you are Most oil and gas is found in thes holes - mainly because the stuff that wasn't in these holes, like in Pennsylvania, got worked out decades ago. The OGC industry works the world over by flying expat workforce in for the highly skilled roles and trying to upskill the locals. Doesn't matter if you're in Kazakstan, Equatorial Guinea, the Gulf, it all works the same. In some cases (like Sakhalin Island and other places in the Russian Far East) there are no locals at all, so it's all flown in labour. Mongolia would be no different. As for security issues, again Mongolia is no different (in fact it's much less of a risk) than Nigeria, Algeria in the 1990s, Iraq ditto, etc etc etc.......honestly, Mongolia's perceived remoteness or lack of development is no barrier at all to mining exploitation, in fact it makes it easier. Less people to go, no awkward democracy to worry about....

lol....you're in for a treat The Pollies here are the worst I have ever come across, and I've lived in a few places. Worse than those in the UK, USA, Sweden, even Croatia had a better bunch than this shower You'll struggle to find anything in terms of vision, strategy, or agenda for a better country. All parties appear to be completely short-termist in their outlook and interested only in what might win a few votes - hence Gillard's current nauseating appeal to the "Aussie battler" vote at the expense of virtually anything else (policy, integrity, whatever). If you want to really see the depths federal politics plumbs, google up "Craig Thomson" and "Peter Slipper" for the most recent sleaze-ridden scandals. Which, of course, have run on like festering sores because of Gillard's desperate attempt to shore up votes in parliament. Then try googling for anything much in the way of policy from the Liberal opposition (leader Tony Abbott) - though it might be harder to find anything there At state level (at least in NSW) things are marginally better, but only because the state governments are responsible for a lot of day-to-day stuff like transport and education which has to carry on. And in Sydney the chronic underinvestment in infrastructure over many years has got to the point where even an Australian Pollie can see *something* has to be done. And they still allow themselves to become hostages to idiotic concepts like Barry O'Farrell (NSW PM)'s touching belief that using Canberra airport and putting a "high speed rail link" (lol) in to Sydney is a realistic solution to airport congestion...... Honestly, they are appalling. I believe you're coming from Pakistan? Where, if reports are correct (and I hasten to add I have no direct personal experience) it's just possible you may be coming from one of the small handful of countries in the world with worse politicians than Australia Good luck :biglaugh:

Is Billy Slater hated for being too good? Astonishing player

I came to NSW with an open mind as to which winter sport was going to grab me. Since at home I used to play RU to a decent standard (Welsh 4th division in my prime) and liked watching Aussie Rules when it was on telly in blighty in the early 90s (I think), I thought it would be one of them. But it isn't. Living in Sydney, both of those competitions feel a bit "remote" - AFL feels to me like you're on the outside looking in to a Victorian game, Super XV feels like you're on the outside looking in to a Kiwi competition (with a few nods to the two good SA sides). NRL is the one that has grabbed me, because the competition is super-intense with really high skills, lots of close games and, mostly if I'm honest, because there's tons of local interest and lots of intense local derbies, with about half the teams coming from the Sydney metro area. I also love the way lots of the teams still play in small stadia in their local area rather than in anonymous massive corporate stadia that are used by lots of teams - it's more akin to football in the UK in that way That's a very personal viewpoint though - I reckon you have to try them all and see what you like As for summer sports, cricket is always my number 1 anyway and it's great for me to be in a country where it is treated as a proper, serious sport with cricket stars being big national heros (at home it's very much a minority thing). Unfortunately the domestic 1st class competition here is absolutely dire*......it's either Test matches or the 20/20 Big Bash. Felt a bit of a let down tbh *OK,the English county championship isn't all that, but at least the introduction of all 4-day games and the two divisions has brought a much-needed increase in the level of competition into it

You have a PR visa so your immigration status is not at risk The employment issue is separate and unlinked. I don't know how your industry or employment claims here work in terms of whether it's worth your while arguing the toss. In most places in the world as a professional, if fired for a question of your professionalism and you strongly disagree and have evidence to show it (or management has no evidence) then it's usually worth it as you'll be asked for a reference and if you can't produce one you might struggle

I agree in part with the above, the cost base of many industries here is very high and it makes them uncompetitive. Some of this is exchange rate based but not all, a fair chunk is inefficiency or debt related There is a hidden weakness in many sectors of the economy that shouldn't be ignored. There was a leading article in the Fairfax press last week that chimed with me in my admittedly short time here: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/mediocrity-is-leaving-us-without-even-a-sporting-chance-20120501-1xx2o.html As mentioned, I haven't been here long but it's part of my job to analyse business efficiency and develop strategy and I have been genuinely surprised by some of what I have observed. The industry I know best is my own - construction - and the efficiency in it is really poor by 1st world standards. Maybe 10 or 15 years behind in terms of working practices, plant use, standards of planning and so on. You only have to look at the number of people on Stop-Go boards at the typical site, at a cost to employ of $350 a day or so, all day every day for months on end to work that one out. How much do you think a set of automatic traffic lights - as used everywhere else in the modern world - costs to buy? That's one of the most obvious examples, but there are dozens of others; plant hire rates are astronomical, staffing is top heavy (typical large construction project here works off 15% on cost for staff and another 10% for other prelims - insurance, site set up, temporary works and so on - whereas in the UK or US 15% will cover all prelims, with staff coming in around 11-12%), contracting models and disputes are managed clunkily, etc etc - I could go on. Our clients are no better. RailCorp (the nationalised NSW government rail company that owns the railways and runs the trains) operating costs per passenger km travelled are 3 times international comparators. In the past 15 years they have increased pasenger kilometres by about 2% - and costs by 50%. That sort of thing just isn't sustainable. Then there's retail. Its recent travails have been well documented, and they have mostly been brought about by a culture of complacency (in failing to develop online selling models and modernise their back-office practices) and greed (trying to keep the Forex upside to themselves) as much as they have been hit by consumers cutting back. My S-i-L works in it and she's very surprised at many of the practices - again business overheads are a good 25%+ higher in percentage terms than international norms I don't think the Australian economy has dire risks nor am I saying all business are run poorly - as posted previously by me when I stuck some data up, the fundamentals are still very strong; low government debt, low unemployment, a young, skilled workforce, strong performance in resource and resource-related sectors, a financial sector without a lot of the baggage elsewhere, etc etc etc - but the strong fundamentals mask some hidden weaknesses IMO that ought to be addressed whilst the going's good, rather than swept under the carpet; otherwise they might turn out to be really big problems when commodities take a downturn

Most SE Asian airlines seem to be the minimum 20Kg IME, pretty stingy but there you go Personally for that level of saving I wouldn't really give a monkey's about meals; a 22 Hr flight is a 22 Hr flight. Although in fairness the idea to me of a whole 22 hours to myself without having to look after kids seems like heaven, so I'm the wrong person to ask. I'd do it in a rattly old Tupolev and still be happy :-)

It's always a risk TBH I've moved around a lot (within the UK and to various other countries) and I learnt long ago that to try and go "back" never works - the times you remember fondly are just that, the times, and they aren't just about where you were living but the people who were in your life; and something in that combination will always be different. It also depends on the bits you did or didn't like about the place you're considering going back to. Economic or social issues (like not having enough money or being worried about crime) are more within your control, physical or systemic issues (like liking/disliking the weather, landscape or culture) are not.

Lemons, bananas, sausages. And paint

Thanks all. I'm not expecting the world's most thrilling skiing, but that's not the point. Quite apart from us being well rusty, we're looking for somewhere we can easily go for a couple of weekends this winter, and maybe get the boy started. If he takes to it well, then maybe we'll look for a week's skiiing next year and go to NZ or something. We were looking at mid July onwards so it looks like that's feasible Cheers :-)

I thought you were preggers? I should hope you're spending a shedload less on booze! Remember your OH can't drink either once you're at 6 or 7 months - he might have to take you to hospital at the drop of a hat. Anyway, it's good practise for the next 3 years when you'll both be too knackered to drink :wink:

A fair bit better off in terms of take-home pay, but most of that is eaten up by higher costs, especially groceries, utilities, costs of running a car and especially housing where we are paying 4x more than we were at home Slightly disingenuous I guess as most of what we paid on housing in the UK was offset by a big chunk of equity, and I haven't brought any of that (nor other) capital over, not at current rates. But if/when we buy a house here I reckon with the cost of housing in Sydney we'll still be shelling out what we do now on a monthly basis, pretty much We save every month on a long-term and short-term basis, but then we always did. You never have enough though

Yeah, that. I don't think you need to have speeches and over-organise it I loved our last 2 months in the UK - we took the time to travel round, go to some places we had missed (like took our 4 year old to London as he'd never been) and stay with a variety of people we knew we wouldn't be seeing for ages and had 2 leaving dos - both very informal. Probably cost us about 1500 quid all in (hotel in London for 2 nights + food & tickets, about 300 quid each for 2 parties where we provided food but not booze, petrol and stuff when we were seeing people), for 8 weeks of lovely times. Total bargain

^Thanks for that, really good to hear. I was beginning to feel vaguely uncomfortable with the number of white people queuing up to say racism wasn't a big problem, but we wouldn't really know in the main. Excellent to get such a positive experience from someone who's in a better position to judge

Speak to the agent and at least get someone round to have a look and see what can be done. We have similar issues but not so bad, no one should be expected to live in a damp house Most of the damp problems in our place are due to wet ground underneath the house - with no vapour barrier and minimal insulation between the air under the house and the floorboards, the moisture tends to rise. I suspect it's a problem that's particularly apparent at the moment because it has been so wet over the past few months. When we build it will be on a properly insulated and damp-proofed concrete slab!

Not trying to put the boot in, but I think it's unreasonable to expect a muslim to provide something that is prohibited by their religion to people of other (or no) faiths. And I'm surprised you can't see that. You wouldn't expect to go to a Bar Mitzvah and have a bacon sandwich would you?