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Notice Westpac raised interest rates this week. Also saw this in the news today.

Sorry posted in wrong thread. You mightn't want/need some of these but these are our monthly outgoings (3 adults, 4x2 house, pool, R/C air con). No loans or cards, doesn't include drinks/entertaining/eating out. We are in Perth btw. Some of these are non-monthly bills pro-rated.

Sorry, wrong thread for this.

Good advice Carol. They're mates of the in-laws moreso than ours and, yes, they are taking steps to address this but, it will never, ever right itself; too far gone. The wife now has stress-related health implications as a result of it all which compounds their ability to plan. It's a mess and could/should have been avoided. Thanks.

It's in everyone's interests to look properly and frugally at what they can actually afford and not what the bank will lend them. There was a feature on the news last night about the record number of people asking for mortgage holidays and 'relief', and this is whilst interest rates are at a record low. Very easy to come unstuck here, credit is easy to get, sometimes difficult to pay off. I know a couple with normal jobs who have hundreds of thousands of credit card debt, they will never pay it off, will affect the rest of their lives. All because they wanted to live on a fancy estate and the bank said 'yes'.

You mightn't want/need some of these but these are our monthly outgoings (3 adults, 4x2 house, pool, R/C air con). No loans or cards, doesn't include drinks/entertaining/eating out. We are in Perth btw. Some of these are non-monthly bills pro-rated.

With a bit of luck you might get a dope in the office like we did. My Mrs only had a UK provisional yet the WA driving board gave her a full class license, including HGV etc.

Not really a recent phenomenon that though.

I am moving back to the UK in April so I hope you're right. I'm guessing the pound will take a tumble whatever the outcome.

Australians in the workplace. Why should government be any different?

Dead right. Aussie politicians are appalling.

We are going back in April and are taking 1 small & 1 medium dog. We have a $5.5k quote off Jetpets.

All subjective but the fact remains that the cost of living is very high here. We earn twice as much here as we did in the UK but are probably worse off in real terms. I don't mind paying an equated value but I find a lot of goods and services sub-standard and that's when the cost rankles.

I work in IT, Sydney and Melbourne are your best bet for employment opps.

We had a client in Maroochydore few years back so I went there occasionally. Nice place, escaping the Perth winter was bliss, it was lovely there at that time of year. Quiet and tranquil, polar opposite of the GC.

The Govt. has a 'Big Australia' vision where they can recoup vast levels of taxation to drive public spending and services. However, the challenges are there are no real jobs other than in Melbourne and Sydney and the infrastructure in general in this Country is poor yet still extortionate to sustain. Both issues need significant investment that the Govt. simply does not have. So, in the short-term, more people equals more pain and more costs. Plus, you'd have to be mad to move to Australia and live non-Metro.

Don't worry Brexit will sort it, they'll be about 15 quid for everyone in the Uk soon ?.

Brilliant, thanks for taking the time to do that @Amber Snowball I really appreciate it.

Thanks everyone. Bit that's stressing me now is the thought of having to coordinate the timing of everything; putting the house up for sale, booking flights, booking pooches flights, handing notice in at work, exchanging on the house, where to live until flights etc. Can anyone lend their experience of what they did please. Thanks!

Fair play to them, they'll pull ahead further now the UK is on an isolation path. Shame.

Our head office is in Melbourne and I would say 75% of new starters are from India, so that bears out.

When we lived in the UK last, fair to say we'd gotten into a rut and stopped doing as much as we could have. Certainly, living in Perth improved our get-up-and-go, at least for the time that we could actually find new things to do anyway. One of the things I did to help smooth our impending return to the UK with the Mrs was map out places that we either routinely drive to now or don't think of as that far; places like the Hills, Swan Valley, Mandurah, Busselton etc. I plotted them on a UK map to show her what sort of similar area we'd be able to cover for days/weekends out etc. and the extent of what you can do/where you can go is absolutely staggering. Even the distance covered from our home here (NOR) to Perth CBD, the choice in the UK of things to do/places to go is unreal; there's not really anything of equivalence here (apart from Hillarys, which I refuse to go anymore, been 1000+ times).

I guess you either feel isolated or you don't. We do. I don't find Perth buzzing, I find it sterile, samey and unimaginative. Once you've done it a few times, it's boring. We've tried to get into everything and some stuff works, but only for a while. It's like shopping at a supermarket that only sells 10 products. I mean, they're ok things that you like but, hey, ask me again in 12 months.

Thanks Andy.

Thanks Andrew. If said individual is not a citizen and PR has lasped @ preservation age, then does that change the process of releasing the lump sum or incur any taxation?