thombatt

A 13 number is billed as a local call, even though the receiving party may not be local. The receiving party pays for that part of the call that is not local. A 1800 number is a toll free number Never heard of a 15 number. So guess that they will be few and far between.

Declare. Make sure it's in unbroken packs. See if the items are available in Australia, print out the Web site and bring it with you. That should ease any customs concerns.

There are a couple of reasons for the request 1 Is Australia importing a potential mercenary. 2 Is Australia importing a potential war criminal. I have heard that some people have been asked for details of the units they served in and their commanding officers as additional info once they had provided their military servic details.

However long it takes to walk from my bedroom to my study

Will it work in Oz? The voltages are different. I think this is one of the reasons lots of US companies will not ship outside the US. Could open themselves to lots of legal action.

http://www.finance.wa.gov.au/cms/content.aspx?id=344&linkidentifier=id&itemid=344 The Australian Federal and State governments offer assistance for people buying their first home in Australia. How much they help depends on which stat you are in. I've given the link for WA as that sems to be the state you are interested in.

WA will hav to pay education, policing, first time home owners and health costs (among others) out of their state budget. Hopefully you will contribute GST and other stat taxes to the state coffers. Hopefully you will also contribute to overall taxes, including th company you work for. There is also th multiplier effect, you will, by buying goods and srvices in WA get someone else to also contribute.

Yes you can. Remember mortgage interest can be claimed, but not the capital portion of your mortgage payment. I don't know the ins and outs of uk taxes but there is a change in use of the property, which may have some implications for the mortgage interest detectability in OZ . Changing the mortgage to a landlord type mortgage I would think would be enough for the ATO. Unoccupied may be an issue as there may be a query whether you are a genuine landlord so be prepared for that.

Not sure how similar they are but quite a few credit cards have reward points for using them. I estimate the on we use gives us an effective 1% discount on each purchase. There is also flybuys flybuys.com.au

I have lived in four different countries in my life. In many respects that is a great blessing, I've experienced many different things and wouldn't give up what I've seen and felt for the world. I also travel regularly between 3 of the 4. But what I've found is that I also miss things in the countries I'm not in at that specific time. I may be at home in Australia and suddenly want to see the mountains of New Zealand. Or be in London and want to feel the sun and sand of a Queensland beach. Or be in New Zealand and want to see part of my history that is older than a 100 years. I know I've been very blessed, but sometimes the blessings are a curse.:biggrin:

http://www.smallbusiness.wa.gov.au/starting-a-business/ Is a starting point

Tax is simple You earn money, the government legally steals it from you and spends it inefficiently.

The ato actually gives their approved rates. Impossible to find if you don't know about them. http://www.ato.gov.au/businesses/content.aspx?doc=/content/22855.htm&mnu=44257&mfp=001/003

Potentially putting Australia's flora at risk. Thanks mate!

Australia runs on a Federal system, with states accountable for a whole bunch of things, policing, education, health, licensing been some of the bigger ones. So it is state parliament that decides these things. They often don't refer to other states for reference. You will also find that the transfer duty on a property in NSW is different to other states, payroll taxes will be different (paid by employer), first time hoe owners grant will b different. You can be mad in Tweed, but perfectly sane 100 meters across the border in Queensland.

New Zealand is on the other side of the world. If you transpose NZ to the other side of the world it sits on the west coast of Ireland. So you can go either way. The Air NZ flight goes via the US, everybody else via Asia. I've done both. If you go via the US you have to go through US passport control. This is a major pain, and can have you standing in a queue for half an hour easily. I'd go the Singapore route every time.

Nobody forces you to get a 457.

I don't see an issue, but be honest They're looking for potential war criminals and potential mercenaries trying to get in. If you ask enough questions and these guys fail to declare them they kick them out because thy lied on their application form, rather than having a long protracted court case.

It's not an Australian quarantine issue but rather a shipping issue. Batteries can be a fire hazard, that's why they want them removed.

Swan is motivated by his need to deliver a balanced budget to meet Labor party commitments. This sort of thing is low hanging fruit. He doesn't care if companies don't like it, it's nothing compared to the pressure he's got from the mining tax and the carbon tax. It also panders to the Australian voters (immigrants have to pay their share blah, blah,blah). 457 visa holders cannot vote so he doesn't care what they think. The only thing he has to worry about is the effect on the economy. He has a very short term view, and that's the next budget submission and the election next year and the economy wont be affected that much by then. He also knows that Australia is the country of choice for immigrants and that for every person that leaves there will be 7 in the queue to take their place. If the UK government were to contact him about it he may well ask were their LAFA allowances are and bat it right back on those grounds. Personally I don't care either way it goes, I'm highlighting the politics.

That's not where the issue is. The issue is when you have an accident and they ask you to prove it then. If you can't then the insurance co can claim that you did not make full and complete disclosure when the policy was written and repudiate the claim.

How the new system will work is still not known BUT Australia continues and will continue to need migrants so what ever the system it will still continue to have people been approved to migrate to Australia What I expect will happen is that the order of selection will change. Currently it probably fair to say that selection is very much on a first come first served basis. Under the new system it is more likely to be the applicant with the highest score will be invited first. So if you have high score you may well be able to "jump the queue" under the new system, if you have a low score you will fall down the list.

If you don't ask, you wont get. If you do ask and they say "no" what have you lost?

http://www.ato.gov.au/businesses/content.aspx?doc=/content/50240.htm

Can vouch for that. I always get told what I can't claim but never once what I could and should claim for. Everytime there is something a bit iffy they have always said I should go with the version that favours the ATO.