deryans

Hi Everyone,

 

What are the advantages to keeping a British and Australian passport?

 

Thanks.

It's always useful to have as many passports as you can, my kids have both, I have three and my wife also has both.

In our current world, such as it it, brexit, Trump, Isis, aussie turn back the boats bernardi, I'd get as many valid travel documents as you can, if it's affordable of course.

It sounds like your children are thriving in the UK system!

 

Our eldest daughter is an Aspie, and whilst school has pushed her academically with extension classes etc, there has been little support for her socially or when she has meltdowns. They usually just bang on about how she needs to build resilience, and yes I agree she does but it isn't quite that simple. The teacher she has this year has been great, although in week two of the first term she phoned me in a panic because daughter was hysterical and she didn't know why and she couldn't calm her down - the school had mislaid the diagnosis paperwork so she had no idea that eldest was on the spectrum. Now she understands why Soph has meltdowns and what triggers them, and she has been able to adapt her teaching to avoid those situations which has been great. However, I have been forced to keep her at home on days when I've sensed that she might struggle with school because I don't fully trust school to be able to help her through a meltdown should one come, and I don't want her to feel embarrassed or anything in front of the other kids.

 

Our daughter is having some problems with anxiety at the moment which I suspect will become greater as she heads towards puberty, so I expect she will need more support as time goes on which is one of our considerations for moving back. I had suspected that access to support with her autism but also mental health support might be easier and better quality in the UK.

Teen years are a challenge whichever way you look at it, I would not immediately assume that more support will be needed, just different support, I am really quite astonished and humbled by our aspie's growth and development, in part it must be said , started by some exceptional individual teachers both in Sydney and Adelaide.

But you must remain positive and look at the opportunities that are now available for aspies worldwide, I knew a 747 captain in HK who was definitely on the spectrum, can't imagine what long haul would be like sitting next to him , I also knew a judge who was both at once brilliant and so obviously on the spectrum, in another lifetime ago i worked for an investment bank in the city and i can definitely comment (now that I know) aspies will thrive in that arena

in fairness to the people in SA, there were some fantastic individual teachers and some really capable and motivated professionals, but, and here is the rub, there seems to be a significant disconnect between the policy and practice delivery within DECD (department of education) , with no clear and consistent practice and or strategy across the sector, and it looks like each individual school has to make do with what they can, and of course this varies with each principals appetite for such challenges.

Unfortunately, it only takes one or two narrow-minded selfish people to make it more difficult or to ruin it, and unfortunately with aspie families we have constraints and challenges we need to work out as we go along, however we do get better at it and we can identify and address these obstacles as they present.

You as a family, and you as an advocate must take up this slack and manage it as well as you can, my only advice is to be involved as much as you can with the school , parents group, charity work, board and visibility and contribution make it much harder for un-cooprative or dare i say incompetent principals to ignore you or frustrate any frameworks you require to support your child.

I worked at DECD as a consultant for a while, so I had a very good looking glass and my comments are not based on hearsay or rumour , and what I saw I did not like.

Thank you so much for confirming that for me. I thought I was on the right track, but the differences in cut off date were confusing me.

 

One of the things I had thought of was that if we move to Scotland rather than England then eldest would have an extra school change to deal with, as Lady Rainicorn points out. She has always loved school, and we had no problems with her when she started kindy. She is autistic (Asperger's) and does find it hard to make friends though, so I'm wondering whether it would be better to support her into a primary school where friendship groups are already formed but where there would maybe be more of a 'gentle' integration ready for secondary school the following year. On the other hand, going straight into secondary school where all of the other kids are in the same situation might be better because those friendship groups are mixed up a bit. Hmmm, lots to think about.

 

Here in Sydney she is one of the youngest in her year, so some of the kids in her year group are 15 months or more older than she is. Add to that the fact that she is year 5 but in a composite 5/6 class, and some of the kids in her class are considerably older than she is. She's handled it well though, and has absolutely blossomed this year. The social stuff is still hard for her, but academically she is on fire! She's never been good at sport (she has congenitally absent anterior cruciate ligaments and also some gross motor troubles, so swimming and bushwalking/hiking are her thing) so I'm not too worried about that. She gives team sports at school a go, but isn't bothered if she isn't picked or comes last etc.

 

I'm not particularly worried about youngest. She is clever, confident and generally easygoing. Not much bothers her. So although I can see that a move will be a bit unsettling for her, it will be met with her usual stoic attitude!

 

I hadn't really considered private schools, but I will have a look at those. We are in the fortunate position that we could probably afford private school fees for the two of them.

 

If we were to move to Scotland it would depend on OH's work situation, but we'd ideally be looking at west of Edinburgh, up to Falkirk and Stirling areas. We'd prefer something rural-ish but within easy drive of a larger town. I don't really know how we would ensure that we chose an area straight off that we were happy with, but I guess everything will fall into place. I keep reminding myself that OH moved areas/schools a couple of times in his childhood and he was fine! As for areas in England, I have no idea. We'd not want to move back to East Anglia, the South West, the Midlands, or Wales (we've lived in those places before and they didn't suit), and we couldn't afford to move to the South East I wouldn't have thought (where OH's family are), so I've really no clue as far as England is concerned.

 

There sure is lots to think about!

3 kids, moved from South Australia to east sussex last year , two oldest kids skipped a year, year 6 in oz into 8 here, and year 8 into 10 for the 12 and 14 year old respectively. 8 year old went into year 4.

They have all adjusted very very well, some ups and downs but on the whole very favourable and much better than the schools in SA.

Why much better ? 8 year old is aspergers (very high functioning) and he was or rather the school in adelaide just had no skills or capability to deal with him, common solution was to exclude and send home (that head teacher has since been relieved of her duties and dismissed - too late for us I'm afraid, but hopefully it will improve for other families ), he was also mercilessly bullied and excluded by his cohort.

By contrast, the UK system is much more mature, better understanding and much better equiped to manage aspie's, so much so they described our son as a remarkable and fantastic child, something the SA school could not even see.

Both our sons were at he same school in adelaide, and for one it was a disaster and it just simply shows that the capability is very narrow and thin in SA, they just don't have the maturity or training to deal with it. Our daughter went to a private school in adelaide and that was superb, she's taken the work ethic there to a new level here and she's doing triple science, double math and international bacc of GCSE.

Hi folks, my first post so please be kind.

 

I'm looking to make the move from Northern Ireland to Australia, I graduated in July 2015 and primarily my experience is in Children's residential but will be moving to Family intervention in the next few weeks. From some online research I see that as my course was three years instead of four I would need to have three years post qualifying experience, is this the case?

 

I'm also not sure of which area of Australia I would be interested in moving to, main focus is to go where the jobs are! So any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

 

Initally I would like to go out on a working holiday visa to see if I like it or not, however is it possible to get a social work job on a WHV or even a social care job or would it be necessary to apply for a residents visa? According to the online residency points calculator I should be applicable at the minute for residency but am not sure about how sponsorship works as there's seems to be a lot of mixed messages.

 

Im also curious if people had jobs or interviews lined up before they went or just applied when they arrived.

 

Apologises for the long post, any information you have would be a great help! Thanks in advance!

Sadly social work is a growing area, particularly in the lower socio-economic areas, Western Sydney has a central DOCS (department of community services) in Liverpool which is where the 1st response call centre and where assessment is, various offices around , Ashfield in western sydney has the HQ and aboriginal unit, but these are also spread around.

You should get work quickly as a basic entry level social worker (office based) fairly quickly , especially if you are qualified, Sydney LSAs' (local services areas) could not find enough resource when I worked with them, the LSA's are broadly aligned 1:1 with the municipal councils except rural where they are consolidated, you might find assessment visits and pre-assessment visits are limited because you are not permie and on a working holiday, but then again, you may be thrown straight int the deep end at the three mac's (a notorious area) in western sydney. this can be tough if you're not used to it.

I admire you for your choice, it's not something everyone wants or can indeed do, there have been some very high profile (what else I hear you say) failures of leadership in child protection in NSW and recently in SA, some of it is just well, depressing.

Docs sydney : http://www.community.nsw.gov.au

DECD south Australia: https://www.decd.sa.gov.au

both these organisations are media shy (for good reason) and sensitive, DECD has just had child protection taken off it and placed into separate entity.

Can't comment any more but you'll have an embarrassment of riches to choose from, such is modern society.

ah, and you'll need working with children and a separate police clearance expected times vary, but:

Police in NSW took about a week, SA was almost next day, education clearance in NSW was about a week and in SA took almost 3 months!!!!!! go figure

Has anyone done the Harry Potter Warner Bros tour before?

 

If so, was it a worthwhile day out for kids (and adults) or a bit of a rip off/let down? If it was a let down can you explain why?

 

Thanks in advance

 

 

It's very good, easy to find, park and very well laid out and a tip is to get in on one of the earlier AM sessions as people linger and the later ones can be crowded. Our aussie kids loved it, aged 14, 12 and 8.

It beats Madame Tussauds hands down and did not feel like a rip off, there are some pretty impressive props, I was impressed that the Gringits bank door actually works and is real!!

134 gbp for the 5 of us, along with the obligatory wands, candy and butter beer!

Adelaide is a popular place to retire, but you'll need to find your own independent sources of Power and Water.

we were over in Ireland last august bank holiday weekend to see relatives and friends, Dublin does seem to be buzzing, but as posters above have said, small towns are struggling, as they always have. From a work point of view I think most of the density would be in and around Dublin, but from a University study/liveability and ease of living, compared to say London, my daughter was very taken with the idea of studying in Dublin, as was I given that we have got EU Passports many years ago so avoided the Brexit panic rush and can possibly make use of the EU Uni fee scheme which is lower than the standard UK one, 3K euro as opposed to 9K gap

Nah, just to exercise his petty little prejudices.

John Howard lied about children overboard and tampa and thus he broke the law.

It's a real pity he carries the same name as the brilliant major who led the Ox and Bucks airborne gliders on to pegasus bridge in the first act on d-day 1944, a man who would gladly welcome and protect the weak.

Don't be ridiculous.

The law is what makes something legal or illegal.

 

A law itself cannot be illegal.

The law is a jurisdictional obligation/framework is either enforced (police) or compliant and obligatory (i.e tax and moral behaviour)

The law can be and is often wrong and inappropriate for the matter hand, laws are constantly being reviewed, amended and updated.

This is why we have decision makers, also known as Judicial Officers....

I don't think so.

 

There red aren't really that many options. It boils down to 4.

1. Complete and total wash the hands of everything. Unlikely.

2. The EEA such as Norway. The easiest as technically we could argue we are already members (we signed and never repealed so, in the event of leaving, we could claim membership). But, I think unlikely as it would be unpopular with leave as it means still paying the EU and accepting free movement.

3. A new sort of sideline deal giving access to free market without free movement or fees. Very unlikely as EEA would be in uproar and demand the same deal.

4. A free trade deal similar to that between Canada and EU. Most likely. Offers about 90% free market access with little restriction. The Canada deal could be copy paste very quickly. This is my bet.

sure, option 4 looks good, but all these will call for extensive contract and legalise re-drafts, and of course a willing and co-operative partner, where I work (in the city at a law firm) there is concern that the EU will not be helpful, quite the opposite infact to discourage other member states from similar actions.

I can't help agree with Nick Cleggs piece in the ES today which basically said the Breexiters had just simply not thought it through to the extent that they have planned the next 18-24 months - a critical piece of time, and that includes Boris.

They are saying now there is very little chance of us leaving Europe in the forceable future

Listening to the BBC on Saturday morning, a senior source in Whitehall reported that his European legal expertise department numbers about sub 20 good enough civil servants wth enough know how to navigate the current european regulatory waters, he opined that he would need almost 10 times that number .....

but you would rather be driven home by the sleazy greasy Cameron or worse Osborne ...lol

I don't really care who drives after a fun filled party, but it is important we actually get home safely.

Whats wrong with Boris and gove as his side kick? cant be any worse than the odious lying chuckle brothers Cameron and osbourne

Great quote from one of Boris's colleagues today:

"He's great company to have at a Party, but I don't think I'd let him drive me home"

Your assumption is that he must have been mentally ill to do such a shocking act.

Not a valid assumption at all.

not a valid assumption ? why would you post this statement, quite odd, trolling ?

[h=1]Thomas Mair: Man arrested in connection with Jo Cox attack was a 'loner' with 'history of mental health problems'[/h]http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/06/16/jo-cox-mp-everything-we-know-so-far-about-thomas-mair/

so low socio economics here though....... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3148576/Was-AFL-coach-s-son-high-ice-stabbed-father-death-Detectives-investigating-drug-link-killing-rocked-sporting-code.html

Don't know how old your children are but parents who worry about their children usually have the least to worry about.

 

The greatest protection from drugs is self-esteem and resilience which good parenting will build. That said all kids are prone to experimentation and some can be simply unlucky - make sure your kids can talk to you about drugs, it's not unknown for basically good kids to get into medical emergencies and be afraid to call help until it's too late.

 

Educate yourself, if you're not already - not all illegal drugs are equally 'bad' or 'risky' and a blanket - 'drugs are evil' approach doesn't work on clued up teenagers. Lots of advice online on how to talk to kids about drugs.

 

My son (13) is studying drugs at school this term ('we're doing drugs this term mum' gave me a moments heart failure ) so lots of 'did you know dolphins eat puffer fish to get high' - no, but did you know bees eat cotton fruit to get drunk...conversations in our house at the moment.

 

It's be wrong to say I don't worry but I worry equally about drink, sex, RTA's & him wasting his life on video games!

Probably, or quite close to one of the best posts I've read on here.

It does make me worry for my children.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3574366/Man-smokes-ice-pipe-public-bus-filmed-passenger-shocking-video-sweeping-social-media.html

Do you think it is the boredom ?

that, social circumstances along with accessablity and affordability.

ICE is one of the cheapest and most profitable and supply resiliant illegal drugs, cook houses can be operational overnight from scratch and product cycle to market is cheap and short (i.e. quick)

It is a myth in my opinion that drug use is associated with poverty and deprivation, those living in poverty are the ones the authorities become aware of because their drug use is a 'problem' because they don't have the money to support it plus they are targeted by law enforcement.

half true, ICE is relatively cheap to purchase (a 8 ball hit is cheaper than a pack of cigarettes) relative to other drugs

I have some exposure to this drug with my past work in Crime, I did not see many cashed up & well off ICE users, but what I did see was lower socio economic, vulnerable and challenged victims (co-morbidity, alcohol, substance, unemployed and poor education) it is an unvirtious cycle.

Anyway, organised crime (pronounced the Bikies) run it in SA and they are creating a gathering storm of social disaster.

Seems that way now. Global warming.

 

Last winter here though was a really cold one but the summer just gone seemed endless days of warm, sunny weather. Hard to predict weather patterns anywhere these days.

1st winter back (last 2015/2016 xmas) unusually mild to my memory, my kids are all aussie so they think it's well , not great, but also not so bad.

Then snow in Feb and warm (they's never seen snow and we had at least 1 to 2 inches), and then really warm last week and sleet on thursday ?? bizzare! Frost officially finished here in east sussex this weekend, but waiting until next weekend to put my seedlings out,

Still, it's quite warm now today and I can see (yes I know) myself complaining about the heat on the trains in less than 6 weeks time!

Unless there's someone from Cornwall or Norfolk... They might be able to help...

lol, or golders green....:biglaugh:

Pretty shocking and sad the comments on here by local adeladians:

http://indaily.com.au/business/2016/04/12/sas-age-structure-holding-us-back-economic-paper

• Neil Paterson • 13 hours agoSkilled Migration Huh? Where are they going to work? Just relying on them arriving here with all of their o/seas assets cashed out to make the move, and therefore inject some local purchasing power does not solve the real problem - there are just no jobs! BTW: I was a skilled migrant 13 yrs ago that now generates all of my income interstate and internationally - it's sad to say, but SA seems to be in a death spiral of it's own (Gov) making I think.
• Ms Nanny State • 13 hours agoThe 'exodus' out of Adelaide started in the late 1970s. Also the interstate emigration figures out of SA are under done by at least 60 per cent. The reason is that the ABS relies on people informing Medicare of their new address in Melbourne or Sydney or where ever. Not a high priority if you're 22 and starting a new life.
  
• Pete • 14 hours agoIt's all about jobs. Sheeze it ain't hard. I'm tired of the constant banging on about increasing population from economists and vested interests. Yes there may be a demographic, age related shift. I say that is great. We need less people in the long term, not more. Ok there will be significant pain however the current world plague of humanity simply cannot keep growing and consuming at the rate it is until we learn how to manage ourselves sustainably. We may as well be the leaders and exploit it.
  
• Nigal • 14 hours agoWe need to employ the people we already have, not import more problems.
  It is disgusting the amount of over 40-50s that have virtually no jobs to go to, and it is not their fault.
  Fix this problem and people will return and bring others. Only when their prospects are looking better will things turn around.
  Increasing the population is never the answer, look around the world more population increases the cost for everyone and never solves the problems.
  

• ben • 16 hours agoI'm 45 and wish i had left when i was 20
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  • Jason ben• 16 hours agosame - best to leave at 20-25 if you are going to leave
    also lost 6 figures "downsizing" my house to reduce debt
    tough crowd Adelaide
    

   

   

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  Maggie • 16 hours agoWake up SA - there are no jobs for young graduates or school leavers why does this make news as everyone knows they have to move interstate or overseas to get a decent job after all the hard work at university or school and some of our universities are out of touch with the workforce! Take their money then let them go into the 'big bad world' unprepared..

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  • Lillian Rojas Maggie• 16 hours agoWell said Maggie. What exactly what my Adelaidian friends say in Sydney.
    

   

   

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  Shaugn • 16 hours agoThis is all fine and well, but the reality is that notwithstanding excellent qualifications, migrants find it exceedingly difficult to be placed in good jobs in South Australia. Working through agencies appears to be a nigh on impenetrable wall and I suspect it's because when weighing up a candidate - proviso's of "local experience, closely defined job definitions that exclude candidates with transferable skills, a tick box approach that effectively rules out migrant candidates, are all contributory factors. This promotes an environment where jobs get shuffled around a core of local workers, with the odd migrant getting a chance. Coupled with that, it's not as though there are a huge amount of jobs available. So all in all, speaking from experience (I have a masters and two bachelors degrees), it's a long, frustrating and heart breaking process.

  Don't kid yourself that it's a fair employment environment. It's not. Your either too old, too young, too qualified, too not australian, too whatever. There is an underbelly of having to belong to the club that no one wants to see or admit to. Small wonder people look for better alternatives!

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  • Neil Paterson Shaugn• 13 hours agoExactly right - Adelaide seems to be quite unique in an 'Old Boys' club kind of way. Looks like it's unraveling fast now though.
  • Vernham Shaugn• 14 hours agoAs well as not 'connected' that is do not know the right people to put in a word for you - whether your capable of doing the job or not and usually not. That's why there are so many idiots working and well rounded, qualified and capable people out of work while others are in jobs they are not capable of doing or even want to do.
    

   

   

Syd is pretty good and open for JAR/CAA PPL's , VFR flight rule guides are an excellent one stop shop for local ops in and around GAAP's and controlled and non controlled, although CASA seem to change this every other year.

Not sure if you can just straight swap a UK/FAA/JAR ppl, think there may be a time limit, CASA used to issue a special pilot licence with inherited type ratings (check ride endorsement) but I think they phased that out, class 2 is not really a hard medical, maybe the initial is but the Aus class 1 is fairly straight forward when compared to the old JAR class1.

Loads of high performance singles about, quite a few turbo normalised (out of puff at say 6K, but great cruise perf) , single dustbin of choice for a go-place tin can that you can stick the family or a bunch of blokes with a slab of beer is generally a 182T/Q, good short field, 150Kts ias at 6k , fish around for a tailwind with gps and you're doing 165 at density alt + tailwind and you can get from Syd to brissie in less than 3 hours with 4 people and enough luggage. Totally no point in getting a twin (baron) , spending four times the money fuel and getting another 20kts speed, plus, crap short field and you're buggered if you have to force land, 182 easily into a football oval + a few scratches:)

Lots of interesting things around camden where I used out fly out of (mascot does not count!), good few tailwheels, Pitts, maule, loads of single high performance, complex and plenty going on, stay away from the friendly turk and his mig 15, looks too much like a coffin to me, nice guy, but he's nuts.

Temps definitely an issue, density altitude calc's will save your life, did P charts out of coober pedy once and was off the scale , temps too high and density alt way outside safe area!!!!! Imagine that with a family, bit of luggage, full trip fuel + mandatory reserve and alt, old and tired engine and you're in for a scare

I very much think, you are paying for a container, so might as well fill it up as much as you can to save money. maybe you should read the manual, or even call Sony, now days, the TV settings are very similar.

 

even if it doesn't work, yo can use it as a monitor for a freeview or Sky box etc. thats what we did with our UK TV when we brought it with us to Sydney.

 

When we return we will be taking our TV with us .... we just have to replace the power lead.

 

we even put an australian adapteron our digital phones and use them here

TV's work fine, we have x2 Samsungs , 1 smart and 1 LED, both Tv's and a PS3 and all connected to a x4 socket aussie smart/surge board, so only one plug to change, i.e the board. both have built in tuners and a 5 minute scan on auto-tune turned up about 200+ channels of well.....190 of.. rubbish.

Perhaps living in Canberra has one advantage, that news filter out. For an everyday Joe it is a bad place to be and especially for those who see the massive bureaucracy in play. Australians really do not know how government workers and their friends live here "la vida loca". Good jobs stay withing friends and family. But that is besides the point.

 

You have to be stupid to fall into the fake ads (like the open trade agreement with China is good for us). So you wonder what is the underlying mission of the big players (often rich politicians wanting to get even richer).

 

You see skilled industries dying off:

automobile industry.....gone

machining and metalworking...gone, dying

steel industry..dying, mills are closing

bodybuilding....gone, dying

defense spending..filling and supporting the growth of foreign industries (like the Japanese will build the next submarines for Australia)

farming and agriculture..dying because of cheap imports and land used for other purposes (fertile lands sold to Chinese mining companies who destroy the land, take the resources and leave environmental catastrophes behind)

textile and supporting industries..gone (now everything is made in Pakistan)

mining...slowing (years of undervalued/undersold resources and foreign ownership/ management are finally hitting home)

 

Are the politicians deliberately killing off skilled work to mass allow influx of immigrants? Or is there something even more sinister in play? What do you think?

I think there is a strong realisation certainly in Adelaide that the government is inept and incompetent, the place has been dying for years and now there is simply not enough income to pay all the government liabilities (over 10% of the population is directly employed by the government) the problem is how do you fix it when they are so ingrained in the system, you can't embark on large reform, the cancer is spread too deep and wide and to remove it would surely kill the patient.

There are massive contract and pension liabilities that will outweigh any south australian efforts to remedy, this is what happens when you have ingrained nepotism and cronyism which leads inevitably to incompetence and lack of professionalism.

I was talking to a real estate friend the other day and we were commenting on how different a place we are going to be living in within ten years or so - so many foreign nationals buying property now - and if it's happening in sleepy Adelaide, it's probably much more noticeable in other cities.

 

As for 'not propping up dying industries with tax payer money' - well, firstly, most other first world countries do this for the long term benefits, Australia is very short-sighted, and secondly, I would rather my tax dollars go to supporting industries to provide long term job prospects, than supporting politicians perks!

In March this year We sold our house in Adelaide (eastern suburbs kens park) 700K (720m2) to a Chinese family who could not speak a word of english , next door neighbour was not happy and actually asked us not to sell to the chinese!!!!!!, haha tough luck , what a racist clown. We had another offer of 750 but decided to take what was real as we just could not get out of adelaide quick enough.

The chinese paid cash, no financing required. On our old street this makes four of the 10 houses now owned by chinese,