InnerVoice

Basically yes, and unless you're advised otherwise by an RMA I wouldn't mention anything about the suicide attempt - it's not a medical condition anyway.

As Marisa said, property over here has skyrocketed, but apart from that I don't think too much has changed. It's not like the UK where they seem to change things just for the sake of it. What's wrong with Cornwall then? I've always loved it down there - probably the only place in the UK I would ever consider living.

All the more reason not to live in any of those places - life is good 'up north'

Most of our parking spaces are definitely a bit bigger than UK parking spaces, and due to the fact that are a lot more of them than people (at least here in QLD) I can nearly always find a space that isn't next to another vehicle, so I can throw open my door with wild abandon! Not to mention that I can't remember last time I had to pay for parking - what's not to love about Australian parking spaces?

I think you've answered your own question in a roundabout way. Millions of ordinary people travel to 'dodgy places' every year for family and work reasons, and have no connection with any terrorist organisation. The real terrorists use fake documents or enter countries illegally so they can't be traced, like those who went to support ISIS entered Syria via Turkey. They just climbed through holes in the fence. I don't see why any government needs to ask about dual citizenship unless they don't permit it, which is neither the case with Australia or the UK. What will they start asking next. Whether we have beards and work on Fridays? At one time I took the view that 'if you've done nothing wrong then you've nothing to fear', but I have a healthy mistrust of governments these days. I don't support their snoopers' charter, which can lead to wrongful accusations and assumed guilt by association.

If I was you I'd head straight to Brisbane, and if you find it too hot then work your way south. Brisbane has a great city vibe and has really come on in the last few years, and in my opinion only Sydney and Melbourne are superior in that respect. You'll find the cost of accommodation a lot cheaper than in Melbourne too. As others have said, Melbourne has a perfectly acceptable climate which is far more pleasant than anywhere in the UK, but if your idea of Australian weather is 'Home & Away' then you'll be a bit disappointed. I'm a real weather nerd so my apologies for the following moment of self-indulgence, but here are some comparisons between Southampton and Melbourne, and Melbourne and Porto, Portugal - the latter being the closest I could find in Europe to Melbourne's climate. However, Porto has approximately 2,500hrs sunshine per year compared with Melbourne's 2,200hrs, and Southampton's 1,700hrs. Weatherspark shows a lot more comparisons too, so if you're interested then I've included the links. https://weatherspark.com/compare/y/41541~144227/Comparison-of-the-Average-Weather-in-Southampton-and-Melbourne https://weatherspark.com/compare/y/144227~32397/Comparison-of-the-Average-Weather-in-Melbourne-and-Porto

If they don't give a toss then why do they ask that question when you renew your British passport? I agree with Nemesis - it's none of their business.

Life isn't about the destination, it's about the journey... and there's sure to be a few roundabouts on the way!

I was in the same boat. I wanted to return to the UK but hadn't got around to applying for citizenship, even though I'd been here almost a decade by then. I remember thinking it was a bit of a faff at the time, but I'm so glad I did it as I always had that piece of mind when I was back in the UK and it made returning here a doddle.

You don't even need to have another citizenship. According to the following press release from 2018 there had been 9 people stripped off their Australian citizenship at the time for their involvement with terrorist organisations, and 6 of those were currently overseas. It's a contravention of human rights for a government to make you stateless, but if you're eligible to apply for citizenship of another country then it seems a government can still deprive you of your citizenship. The case of British-born Shamima Begum springs to mind. The UK stripped her of her British citizenship because they said she was eligible to apply for Bangladeshi citizenship, so technically they weren't making her stateless. The government's decision was legally-challenged on a number of occasions but was eventually upheld by the Supreme Court. Legally it seems to be something of a grey area, but public support is so overwhelmingly in favour of keeping these people out it will no doubt continue. https://minister.homeaffairs.gov.au/peterdutton/Pages/Combatting-Australian-terrorists.aspx

When I mentioned exceptional circumstances that's what I was implying, but I appreciate that getting into trouble with the law probably isn't so uncommon these days. I agree that it seems unwise not to become a citizen when you have the opportunity given the privileges and benefits of being one. However, there are quite a few countries that do not allow dual citizenship. By renouncing citizenship in one's birth country, I assume you would lose any entitlement to those benefits in future like their state pension.

That's not exactly true. Many people stay permanent residents for decades without becoming citizens. In some cases it's because they come from a country where they can't hold dual citizenship, but in other cases they just never get around to it. Immigration would only cancel your permanent resident's visa in exceptional circumstances, so as long as you're living in Australia and you have an RRV if you intend to travel overseas, you have little to worry about. Having said that, I applied for citizenship as soon as I became eligible because it makes life a lot easier if you wish to reside overseas for a period of time. Also, you no longer need to worry about obtaining an RRV which are now quite expensive. I've heard that too. It's very competitive by all accounts.

@Homesick1 sorry to learn you're in such an awful situation. You mentioned that the NHS had failed your husband but you didn't say in what way. Is the treatment he needs just not available, or are the wait times too long? As others have mentioned, you may experience similar wait times here in Australia. People often get shot down for being too forthright on forums or accused of being insensitive, but I think everyone who has commented above really have your best interests at heart. You come across as being in a reactionary mindset, which is never a good place to be when it comes to making life-changing decisions. As Marisa has suggested, I'd focus on getting your husband the medical treatment he needs first before you think about anything else. I would just add that if it's a case of going private, I'd also consider other countries too. Malaysia and Thailand have excellent healthcare facilities at a fraction of the cost. I can vouch for the latter as I needed urgent medical treatment when I lived in Thailand, and it was second to none. Here are a few other countries to consider - some closer to home. https://nomadcapitalist.com/global-citizen/freedom/top-5-best-countries-medical-tourism/

I clearly remember seeing an elderly couple driving a Citroen 2CV with French number plates the wrong way around one of the biggest roundabouts in Birmingham. Everyone was honking their horns, flashing their lights, and waving their arms to forewarn them of their impending doom, but they just powered on through at about 5mph until they finally reached safety. Apart from this extreme example I can't think of a scenario where you'd be concerned about traffic to your left, unless you entered the roundabout at such a ridiculous speed that you ran into someone already on it.

Indeed they do. And your point is?

Then I'd continue to trust your instincts rather than your knowledge of the law. It's kept you alive so far. The law states that you must give way to any vehicle already on the roundabout before you enter, and as vehicles only ever approach from your right you're effectively giving way to traffic on the right.

Well it's good to finally get an explanation. Given the volume of traffic in the UK, if drivers took as long to negotiate roundabouts and other junctions as Australians do, by the time you arrived home it'd be time to set off for work again!

They seem to have no anticipation of the road conditions ahead and as they're approaching a roundabout they're never looking at what's entering from the right. They drive up to the junction, completely stop, and then look right - by which time something is already coming so they (and the rest of us) have to wait. Mini-roundabouts are the worse though. I have actually seen them stop halfway around the roundabout to give way to incoming traffic!

Your plan sounds fine by me - it's what I would do. Although even if you checked in with your Australian passport and showed your UK one at the same time, that should be fine too as it proves you don't require a visa prior to arrival in Vietnam. The only hitch I can think of is if immigration has access to the airline's manifest so they have a record of people passing through the airport, it might throw up a wobbler when you pass through immigration. I would check directly with the airline to be on the safe side, before you go throwing your hard-earned brass at visas you don't need.

The slower-moving traffic has to merge into the faster moving lane which clearly isn't safe or easy to do, so as you say, everyone just sits in the right lane and you have a traffic jam for no real reason. I've had this conversation with a number of Australians and they don't see what the big deal is, but then by and large their driving is appalling. Roundabouts usually improve traffic flow... but not over here!

I can't speak for WA, but QLD schools develop their own emergency procedures based on government guidelines and I believe there's a requirement for a rehearsal every 3 months. Our school has either a lockdown or evacuation practice each term, and they run alternately. I read recently that lockdowns were introduced here due to American high school shootings and there's been some debate about how relevant that is to Australia. Apparently, some kids in primary get quite traumatised by the whole experience.

3rd break - those were the days! My previous school got rid of it about 10 years ago because that's when most of the misbehaviour and fights used to occur. One of my friends works at a particularly rough school and they've recently got rid of 2nd break too. It's two lessons, an early lunch, two lessons and home, which needless to say is popular with both students and staff as the school day ends just after 2pm. There's always a decent queue outside our tuckshop as the food is pretty good. I'd say about a third of our students buy something from there everyday and the rest bring a packed lunch. Those numbers double on 'red food days', when basically the entire menu is junk food of one form or another. There's now an app called Qkr! for pre-ordering food, although you can still pay with debit/credit card or cash (not many do). Phones are banned between 8.30am and 3pm so they're not allowed to use them as a payment method. Our tuckshop is also open for breakfast as kids start getting dropped off from 7am. I was rather partial to their egg and bacon wrap, although that's gone by the wayside since my last cholesterol test.

Not in any state school I've worked at in QLD. There's usually a tuckshop (sandwiches, burgers, etc) which vary dramatically in quality (as mentioned above, a lot of kids bring pack lunches) and there are covered outside seating areas, which never seem very popular unless it's raining. Most of the younger girls do indeed sit on the floor with their friends and the boys tend to eat whilst doing some sporting activity. There's no inside school dinner hall or canteen serving hot foods like in the UK, although I can't comment on schools in the southern states where the climate is cooler. One significant difference here is that you can walk around the entire school undercover because all external walkways are covered, and there are usually benches for students to sit on along the walkways. Another thing that may surprise you is that there's no such thing as wet weather break here, so kids are not permitted in classrooms during break or lunch unless they're doing a specific activity.

Hi again Ben, it's good to get different perspectives but I wouldn't put too much stock into other people's experiences. It's yours and your family's lives you need to consider, and you're unique. I'm sure you've found many posts from people who've felt really homesick for the UK, and in that situation no matter what they do over here to make life more comfortable it isn't going to help. They are missing that feeling of truly belonging that only returning 'home' can bring. I think the title of your post "a bit lost" really sums up where you are in that you're feeling ambivalent at the moment, and not quite sure what to do for the best. I returned to the UK in 2008 and I loved being back at first, but after a couple of years I really couldn't settle - I absolutely hated the British winters. A good friend of mine suggested making a two-column list; 'reasons to stay in the UK on one side' and 'reasons to return to Australia on the other'. I did exactly that and Australia won 9-3. None of the reasons to stay in the UK were real deal-breakers, so back to Australia I came. That's 12 years ago and there are times when I still feel a little homesick as I'm sure most people do, although it tends to be for things that no longer exist in my world, like family Christmases and Friday night pub-crawls with the lads. They are now just fond memories of yesteryear, and wouldn't be a reality of my life if I ever returned. I think you've realized that you need a plan, and that is half the battle so you end up making decisions proactively and not reactively. On a practical note, if you did decide to return to the UK then I would've thought that you'd want to do it before you lad starts secondary school, but that gives you a good 3 years to put it all into place.

I have to admit that I raised my own eyebrows when I saw how much they were prepared to lend me, and how easy it was. I know it would've been a lot harder in the UK, and the terms would also have been a lot less favourable. However, my deposit was 40% of the property value and if I got hit by a bus tomorrow there's enough in my pensions to pay it off, so they're pretty safe. And yes, they do ask you how you will meet your repayments in retirement and required evidence of that, from what I recall.