thombatt

Politicians have a long, long way to go to get back any of my respect. What this has done is for me to tell my accountant to push my tax return right to the edge.

I think the quality of the flight has more to do with the plane. An economy seat in a new 380 is better than a premium economy seat in an old plane. Qantas' fleet is pretty new

It's not only the value that is an issue (which I can't comment on) but what might be on the tyres, so make sure you clean them well

Missing payslips, especially if they are between payslips within the same company are very unlikely to be an issue. The payslips are to ensure that there has in fact been employment and that you haven't just drawn up the contract of employment yourself. (which is fraud) The bank statements are the last step in the audit as the payslips need to match up with the money deposited into your bank account, thus showing that the payslips are in fact genuine.

Salaries at the range you're talking about are normally inclusive of super.

I have been fortunate, or possibly cursed, to have lived in 4 different countries. Fortunate because I have experienced them all but cursed because I'm always missing something from the ones I'm not in. I live in Brisbane at the moment, but sometimes all I want to do is look at the mountains in New Zealand, or go to and look at Westminster Cathedral. No doubt if I was in NZ or the UK there will be times all I want to do is walk down a golden beach. Having all these expriences can be a blessing or a curse.

1 - Food/Groceries budget P/W - in the UK we spend approx £70 You can do a virtual shop at coles.com.au http://www2.woolworthsonline.com.au/ 2 - Public Transport costs - I believe there is a card system for area? This will help http://translink.com.au/ http://translink.com.au/tickets-and-fares 3 - Mobile Phone costs - I spend approx £30 per month on mine at the moment (Iphone with 3G) http://www.telstra.com.au'>http://www.telstra.com.au http://www.optus.com.au/ http://www.vodafone.com.au will help with plans 4 - Wireless Internet cost for home Same site as mobile phones will help with plans and pricing. 5 - Gas/Electricity/Water (will be living in a 2 bedroom place at first -probably a small house) http://www.makeitcheaper.com.au/Prices should help 6 - To fill up a small car tank what is the cost of petrol - probably automatic, something like a small Mazda Auto motormouth.com.au 7 - Council Tax/rates if applicable? Owner pays, not lessee 8- Cost of visiting the doctor/GP? We are getting the mid/high range of Medicare http://www.phio.org.au/downloads/file/PublicationItems/DoctorsBill.pdf 9 - House Insurance youi.com.au Nrma.com.au racq.com.au All allow you to get an online quote Hope this helps. All the sites you should be able to tweak to your circumstances and requirments

If 17 years were true you wouldn't be able to get a mortgage longer than 17 years

I'd say no, it is not the norm. Some Companies might be able to get a better deal for their employees though.

the operative word is Income After you have arrived in Australia with the intention of taking up residence you will become a tax resident of Australia. You will be liable for tax on income and capital gains from any investments in Australia and any you still have overseas. You are not taxed when you transfer capital

The ALP was effectively whipped out in QLD and in Brisbane. Brisbane is the biggest urban areas and has the highest population and the biggest number of constituencies. There were some specific circumstances around Brisbane that made it even worse for Anna Bligh. There was a water grid capital expenditure costing $9 billion Dollars to secure the South East. This had to be paid for and the ALP decided that the state as a whole should not pay for it and the South East should pay (fair enough) but it resulted in a tripling or more of household water charges in the South East, and those charges were introduced after the drought had been broken. That is not going to make you popular. Also the South East were told that the drought was a 1 in 100 year event, so when the charges came in people realized they were now paying for infrastructure that was only going to be needed in 99 years time. There was also the dam inquiry, which came up with the finding that the state government dam policies had some impact on the level of the flood and that QLD could be up for compensation claims exceeding $1 billion as a result. The report was due to come out a few weeks before the election. The enquiry had to be reconvened because a newspaper found that evidence may have been altered to make the dam engineers look better. All Bligh's good work around the flood was effectively negated with these findings. How do you persuade someone to vote Labor because the premier was so good during the flood, when in fact it may have been Labor's fault that your house got flooded in the first place? That's a big ask. Council amalgamations also resulted in rates increases. Councils were quick to point out that these increases were as a result of removal of state subsidies for certain infrastructure (like sewerage plants) and that rate increases were in fact state tax increases in disguise. Inceases in car rego was effectively the same thing, they more than doubled during the last 3 years. Also in the South East there were big improvements but in place to upgrade the consumer rail network, to be funded by by increased fares. Fares increases were introduced at 15% over the last 3 years BEFORE the improvements were done, so people saw increases, but no improvement in service, in fact service became worse as stations had builders hoardings around them. Bligh said that she would retain the fuel subsidy and not sell state owned assets and that she broke this promise because of the GFC. Well I'm sorry but the GFC was well underway 6 to 12 months prior to the 2009 election and either the ALP government was incompetent in understanding it's consequences, or chose to ignore the information before the 2009 election. I do remember it an know how I shouted at the TV every time she said it was done because of the GFC. Every time she made that comment I become less and less inclined to vote Labor. The opposition also became better. Campbell Newman was well liked as Brisbane's mayor, he also performed well in the floods, organized the "Mud Armies". His mantra spilled over into neighbouring Shires. Her biggest mistake was attacking Newman personally, then admit she had nothing on him and then the CMC cleared him a week before polling date. ALP was certainly hoping the CMC couldn't get a finding out before polling date. Also Newman and the LNP said they would not attack opponents families, but it was well known that Bligh's husband had a $600k pa job in the Queensland public service. A job that had not been advertised. The same applied to Kate Jones. At the end of the day when you get whipped out in Brisbane there is no way you will win. When you get wiped out in more traditional Labor seats in areas like Ipswich you are on a hiding second to none. The people of Queensland made their views known. The ALP holds approx 10% of the seats, that is a complete wipe out. If this sort of result were to be extracted to a Federal level Labor would hold no Queensland seats. You cannot win a Federal election without wining a seat in Queensland.

there are no taxes on the transfer of capital. There may well be Capital Gains tax on the sale of the property depending on the circumstances. These taxes would be payable whether you moved the funds to Australia or not You are only required to declare CASH (i.e. notes and coins) if you bring in in excess of $10 000.