rosiew

As I understand it, in Australia the carer's allowance is a payment to help cover the incidental costs of the disability (extra therapy,medication, travelling around etc) and you tend to get it if a doctor will certify that it should be paid after assessing your child.

This is different to a carer payment which is a welfare benefit paid to an adult to stay home and care for someone disabled, or a disability pension which an adult gets who is unable to work.

If it's just the allowance you get, you may need to check that such a payment even exists in the UK where most things are covered by the NHS.

But will the 'like' button return?

You must be so proud :wink:

why wouldn't you put the migrants where the jobs are? Surely that is where they will go?

You'd like to think so. But look at all of the people on this forum who are determined to settle on the Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast or Perth just hoping for the best that a job in their field exists there.

How open to negotiation are landlords/agents?

 

Is it expected that the tenant pay the asking price or that it is negotiated downwards?

 

Thanks!

It's entirely dependent on where you are looking. Perth right now, you've probably got a chance. Inner Melbourne, unlikely.

I don't disagree with you necessarily but I think there are questions over fundamental freedom of movement that get in the way.

As a related point, would it possible to do more to encourage immigrants to actually work in the job that got them the visa? We are trying to fix a skills crisis but importing people on a permanent basis who may only be using their skills to get a visa with no intention of working in that area. So we gain nothing to boost skills, but possibly take away a job from an existing resident.

Maybe there is a case for a middle ground permanent visa tied to a profession for a certain time. But you would need to have a safety net system whereby you could prove that you were unable to get a job in that profession and then get permission to work in another. It would probably prove way too unwieldy.

Perhaps the answer is to issue more visas tied to a particular state?

well, you could. Why not?

Would you suggest "a big, beautiful wall"?:cute:

To be fair the sunset time tonight in Melbourne is 8.08pm. We are 2 months past the solstice, so in Victoria and Tassie we get a lot more light. But I agree that Queensland has the early finishes - and often not a long twilight. It's a shame, particularly as they have no daylight saving either!

Two of the other drivers in the inner Melbourne market are international students (who drive the country's 3rd biggest industry) and interstate migration. We are not going to kill off the golden egg of education export and we can hardly stop people moving from interstate.

I'm watching last week's "A New Life in OZ". This show has even less knowledgeable production people that WDU. Today they said that new cars in Australia are very cheap because "The government subsidizes the car industry". They were buying a Hyundai......I obviously live in a parallel universe......

However, it doesn't top last week's assertion that a woman working in a lowish level HR position and her casual labourer husband were clearing 11,000 pounds a month.....

I know, crazy how much your heart can be split between two places!

As a person who lives in Melbourne and spends every second winter in Barrow, I feel your pain! You'll be right. That white sky sitting just above your head will lift over the next few weeks and the colour will come back. You'll certainly appreciate Spring more than you did here! I'd take Quorn over Barrow btw but I imagine the houses are dearer?

Hi,

 

We have just been told our application for Australian Citizenship has been approved and now have to wait up to 6 months for the ceremony.

 

I have just been accepted into University to complete my Masters and was really hoping to obtain an urgent ceremony to HECs my fees (I have been told by people that this is sometimes possible).

 

We live on the Gold Coast. Can anyone please let me know if they have managed to do this and if so how. Oh and can anyone tell me how often the ceremonies are held on the Gold Coast too please. Thanks in advance!

I just googled it and it seems that the department will consider a request for an urgent ceremony for HECS reasons but will give preference to people who have already been waiting a while and still have a while to wait. So calling them and asking may be worth a punt. They may well have a ceremony lined up for this very reason!

This link takes you to my Commbank credit card insurance over view (with a link to the PDS), no minimum spend required, rental excess included. It worked for an emergency turn the plane around and surgery in Switzerland situation a few years back.

That's a great policy and I'll bear it mind next time I'm shopping for a credit card. The OP is in the UK so will need to check any policies that come with a UK card.

So I have a dilemma....

 

im British with pr for australia

 

my wife is Australian with uk visa

 

son has both citizenships

 

so do we get travel insurance to go to Australia? what is it covering?

We always get insurance to pay to repatriate ourselves or our bodies (!) but also because it covers the rental car excess and is cheaper than paying the rental car company to waive the excess. If you are going to rely upon the credit card travel insurance check the small print as it sometimes only covers travel paid for on that card.

Also if you need any emergency dental work done that is covered by your travel insurance.

Travel insurance is cheap in the UK. I'd get it.

Oh yeah, I have a few things that pop out and people look blank! Mind you, nothing prepared me for the day my English friend asked me to help with her "rooter" - I couldn't stop laughing for some time! I won't be saying that when I return to Aus though:-)

Like button!

Today's revisited..

 

apparently getting a student visa counts as permanent migration and all of the family can chose to come along too including adult children and parents over 50

 

really BBC it's a good bit of entertainment but why are some episodes so unrealistic with visas it's verging on an outright lie

 

a couple of days ago the family took 3 years to get a visa and eventually made the move isn't that more like the truth?

Yes I wondered how that student visa was going to play out. I guess what they had going for them was if they could get work as entertainers they could actually survive on the 20 hours a week work restriction - unlike people earning an ordinary service industry hourly rate like most students. I could see years of visa stress ahead though.

Your choice may be constrained by where you live. Government schools have catchment areas and if you live within a catchment area the school is obliged to enrol your child. There are out of area enrolments but they are at the discretion of the school and in some places out of area enrolments are not allowed by the Education office. Cost wise, there is a "voluntary" donation that there is a moral obligation to pay - varies from school to school plus uniforms, supplies, visiting teachers, excursions, extra lessons etc

 

Private schools can cost anywhere between $4k and $40kpa and they are not obliged to take you if they don't like you. Most are religious schools so if you aren't Catholic for example and there are enough Catholic kids to fill the places you would be prioritised down the list. Some private schools have waiting lists with kids' names put down at conception and you have buckleys of getting them in after that.

 

All depends on where you are going and if you are permanent residents.

I'm loving you still saying "Buckley's" Quoll. Do people look at you strangely when it pops out in the UK?

Hi all,

 

my parents are finally going to come over and visit. Yay!

 

They will be here for 60 days (that's how long their insurance allows). We are in Adelaide and they are thinking of coming in November so they are here for Christmas.

 

They are thinking of flying into Sydney and then making their way to Melbourne and then great ocean road to Adelaide.

They are really stuck on just what to do though. They had been wanting to hire a camper van but have read that even if you pay extra for a low excess that the excess is still £500 odd and some horror stories of them trying to claim you've done damage you haven't.

Can anyone recommend any camper companies you've had good experiences with?

Any tips on travelling around then which will just about be school holidays? 

 

We are all clueless really lol. So thanks for any advice.

Do they really want to drive the campervan for the experience or because they think it's cheaper? It's quite a long way via the coasts and the novelty may wear off quickly. A car may be easier with cheaper motels/ cabins along the way. I know that campervans seem to offer flexibility but you are often not allowed to park them in towns so they'll be up for camping fees anyway - plus the fuel of course. If they'd find the drive more stressful that way then it may not be that great - it's nice to see the Great Ocean Road rather than gripping the wheel to keep your campervan on the correct side of the twisty road from Fairhaven to Apollo Bay. But if they've always fancied it, then good luck to them.

Activist egalitarian

Me too Comrade!

Just wondering where on earth Brookfield is, too- and I have lived in Melbourne 45 years! Take a look at places like Upwey, Upper Ferntree Gully, Tecoma etc if you like scenic areas. Even Lilydale- all a bit cheaper, nice and very pretty.

It's apparently a housing development near Melton - who knew?

Thanks for the help everyone, from what I can see, there is an expected trend that property is more expensive near the coast so living inland will get us a bit more bang for our buck as well as suiting us better for the whole mountain biking thing. I've seen another area called Kilmore which is north of the city which looks nice and has good prices and is nicely out of the city and a bit more rural which we prefer, we both enjoy the countryside so being between half an hour to an hour out of the city is perfect for us, anyone know of any nice villages and towns that are out of the city a little? Just to give us a half decent start point for when we head over in March, thanks

Kilmore is a good hour, but it is a growing place.

I suggest you look at Sunbury, north west of the city. It is very close to the Macedon Ranges (where I live) and that's established mountain bike territory. It has a suburban train line to Melbourne (last stop) and is about 4o mins. The drive is also easy on the Calder Freeway which is one of our less congested freeways. Sunbury is an old town (birthplace of The Ashes!) but also has lots of newer housing in your budget. It has reasonable every day shops (much more than Kilmore), restaurants, wineries, bars, pubs, sporting facilities, gyms, and good schools for any future plans. It is more affordable than places a little further out such as Gisborne/ Woodend where you are usually looking at closer to $600K. There is also easy access to the Surf Coast in about 90 mins. Melbourne beaches are bay beaches and they are about 50 mins away. So you have the best of both worlds. For example: http://www.realestate.com.au/property-house-vic-sunbury-124582418

Homely is not a major real estate site here.

To look at houses you need www.realestate.com.au

As neither of you have directly transferable skills you will be renting for a while while you get that sorted out, so plan for that. The median house price in greater Melbourne is over $700K so you will appreciate that $400K is not going far in most of that. You can buy a new house and land package on the outskirts but you may be stuck for many years waiting for capital growth. The prices of those are deceptive to some extent as you will need to buy curtains, blinds, all landscaping and garden set up and often a driveway etc. So be careful. You may be better to stick to areas like Sunbury where values are established.

Good luck - have fun and remember you don't need to make all of your decisions during your trip!

I have lived in Melbourne pretty much all of my long life and I had to google "Brookfield". It is a housing estate rather than a suburb and was constructed in the 1990s. It has 6000 people and it is not a town as such. It is 43 km west of the city and is part of an area called Melton which many people do not consider a very desirable place to live. But it is cheap. I'm not sure it will meet your idea of the Australian dream....

To help you with areas it would be good to know what your jobs are likely to be so that we know if you will work in the middle of Melbourne, all over the place or have a job that it is portable to lots of areas. An approximate budget would be good too. Melbourne is one of the most expensive cities in the world but there are housing options for everyone. You have picked a nice central spot for your reccie and it is a lovely time of the year here

And if you watched yesterday's episode (Gateshead to Adelaide) please do your own research on the actual salary of a teaching assistant in Adelaide - highly unlikely to be 29,000 pounds for 3 days a week in school terms as reported in the episode. But then butter doesn't cost over 4 pounds a week either, so I'm not sure a skilled mathematician was on the production calculator that day!

I am so pleased to hear that you sorted it out. It is great that you can still settle on the house you like. Don't worry too much about $3000 even though it is a lot of money to find. Remember in Melbourne at the moment your house will quickly recover that $3000 for you! Don't let this spoil the experience of getting your house.

If you can get a permanent visa such as a 189 you will be entitled to receive family tax benefits (like tax credits) which will add to your income. When your wife eventually starts to work again you will get 50% rebate on your child care fees (nursery or after school care). have a look at http://www.centrelink.gov.au which is the benefits website.