Can some one give me the run down on Australia?

Question

I've been putting some Serious into moving to Australia, I'm planning on going to check it out next summer. Is there any one here who can give me the facts on Australia, like how to apply for citizenship, cost and quality of living and all that other good stuff. It will be greatly appreciated

Answer 1

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the world's smallest continent and a number of islands in the Southern, Indian, and Pacific Oceans. Neighbouring countries include Indonesia, East Timor and Papua New Guinea to the north, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and the French dependency of New Caledonia to the northeast, and New Zealand to the southeast.

The name Australia is derived from the Latin Australis, meaning of the South. Legends of an "unknown land of the south" (terra australis incognita)

There are few territories in Australia in which include:

-Northern territory
-Western Australia
-Queensland(East of Western Australia)
-South Australia
-New South Wales(Under Queensland, East of South Australia, and North of Victoria)
-Victoria
-Tasmania(Island off the coast of Victoria)

Other Tid-bits you should know about Australia:
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Great Barrier Reef(world's largest coral reef system; The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland in north-east Australia.)

-Adelaide(capital city of South Australia)(the City of Churches, a relaxed South Australian alternative to the big eastern cities)

-Sydney(Australia's first and largest city, the capital of New South Wales)

-Melbourne(Australia's second largest city and the nation's first capital city. Melbourne is the culinary, sporting and cultural capital)

-Brisbane(sun-drenched capital of Queensland)

-Perth(Located in the south west area region of the vast state of Western Australia)( most remote continental capital city on earth, on the south-western edge of Western Australia)

Canberra(Capital of Australia)

More: http://wikitravel.org/en/Australia

Answer 2

Hi! Sorry I don't know anything about how to apply for citizenship or immigration but this site should be able to help you out: http://www.immigration.gov.au/immigration.htm

Unless you're homeless or a drug addict or something the quality of life here is pretty good. It helps to have a job - we do get an unemployment pension but it is barely enough to survive on for most people. The good news is the employment situation is apparently great at the moment because our economy is quite strong, so there are lots of employment oppurtunities.
The average male earnings per week are around AU$1000 per week while the average female wage is around $900. The best paid workers are miners whose ordinary earnings average around $82,000 per year. The worst paid workers are those in hospitality (restaurant, pub and accommodation) industry who only average around $35,000 a year. As an adult bar worker here (depending on the place) you can probably expect to earn around 18 to 20-something dollars per hour during the week with penalty rates sometimes paid on weekends and public holidays.

Most people here are friendly and laid back - but you do get the occasional uptight wanker, like most places I'm sure.

The weather is pretty good, where I live in Adelaide, South Australia we have a climate very similar to that of the Mediterranean. So, in winter a really cold day for us starts at about 3 or 4 degrees celcius in the morning and will warm up to about 12 degrees. Most winter days are warmer than this. Summer is quite hot here, with the temperature sometimes reaching 43 degrees celcius. Usually it's cooler than that, with most days ranging from the 27 to 35 degree mark at the height of summer. Autumn and Spring are usually pleasant, although Autumn can be quite rainy.

We have beautiful scenery here, you'll find bush, desert, gorgeous beaches, rainforests, mountains, snow, farmland, english gardens, lakes and riverland. Anyway, I think I've gone on long enough, but this website should give you heaps of useful information on moving to Australia: http://www.livingin-australia.com/ Good luck, I hope I helped : )

Answer 3

check at the australian embassy in your country as far as citizenship goes. Australia has all the climates i can think of from tropical to snow depending on what your after. i think western australia is the best state (biased, maybe) at least for job oppurtunities especially in the minig industry although if you have a trade you could get a job anywhere

Answer 4

Ken E is on the ball but I won't let our mate and ex (thank God) premier Bob Carr of the hook that easy. Cupla train crashes, Glenbrook and Waterfall. lost a fair few lives in recent times. Australia is as good , or even better than described here but I ain't sayin nuthin cos I want it to stay that way and stop our fair nation importing other societies and cultures probs.(no offence, I'm sure you are nice and are welcome, but we have been taken advantage of by too many troublemakers)

Plus any one called deepthroat is more than welcome and will be given a speedy visa approval.

Answer 5

That's a fairly open question. I'd be writing for a year if I tried to answer it. Try to come up with more specific questions and we'll answer them for you.

A good start for you would be to go to http://australia.gov.au/ and check out the links. There's a lot of info there on immigrating and also coming for a holiday (including a working holiday).

Answer 6

Moving to Australia
Australians seem to be more relaxed about some things than Americans according to a New Orleans man who arrived here several years ago. For instance there is a lot less "fly the flag patriotism" in Australia but just because you don't see the flag at every house does not mean patriotism does not exist. Most companies do not have dress codes for staff out of the public eye since staff would tell management to get ***ed if they tried it on.

Public Safety
Crime rates are lower than in the US. The murder rate is a fraction of that in the USA. One US criminologist here said the violence rate is actually not much lower but since Australians are rarely armed fatal injuries are rare. It used to be considered dishonourable to carry any kind of weapon. Most crime seems to be housebreaking by that ever present menace - the drug addict. Prostitution is now legal in controlled houses in some states and some forms of gambling have always been legal so there has been little chance for organised crime to get big.

Road death rates are higher than in the USA, but the difference is marginal and Australian death rates are lower than they are in some western European countries. The last heavy aircraft crash was in 1960 and there has been no accidental loss of life among railway passengers since 1977.

AIDS has a low incidence. As soon as it emerged in the 1980s the Gov’t of the day started a major public awareness campaign. Sufferers are usually male homosexuals and intravenous drug users. A few non-fatal diseases are slightly more common than average in some areas, but there are no endemic diseases. There is no malaria except among people who have brought it into the country and tuberculosis is all but unheard of. Some of the more stupid people refuse to immunise their infants and there have been a few local cases of whooping cough. The last diphtheria case was in 1992. The larger cities and towns are well supplied with doctors who are trained to international standards, or better. Hospitals range from slightly sub-optimal to good. There are government and private health insurance schemes which have varying amounts of cover depending on how much you pay.

Housing
Most Australian housing vaguely resembles the California bungalow or the “ranch house”. There is usually only one floor and no basement. Typically houses built before about 1970 have 3 bedrooms, one bathroom. After that many houses were built with an "ensuite" which is a shower booth and water closet attached to the master bedroom with a full bathroom elsewhere. Kitchens generally are smallish but well appointed. Most houses do not have pantries or "dens". Recently though land prices have risen while the cost of building has fallen so newer houses are larger and better appointed. I have just paid yearly land tax of $758 on an “unimproved land value” of $269,666. This tax would be the same whether the house was big, small or non-existent. This tax does not include water supply or sewerage charges.

Major cites and most medium to small towns have sewer systems and safe water supplies. Electricity is 240Volt, 50Hz so most American appliances will not work here. Cable TV and mobile (cellular) phones in larger towns. There are up to 7 free-to air TV networks available, multiple AM and FM radio stations. The landline phones work.

As in the USA real estate values vary with locality. I've seen houses sell here recently for a million but they are at the top end of the local market. I live 20 minutes walk from a major employment centre and a large shopping mall. There is an elementary school five minutes walk away (set to close unfortunately) with a convenience store, small children's play area, sports ground, park, restaurant, local general practice medico nearby. There are Catholic and government high schools within twenty or thirty minutes walk.

A natural gas pipeline and a coaxial cable for phone, I'net and cable TV run past the door. Power supply is reliable. It went off the other day as some work was being done - must have been off 8 minutes. That's the only power cut for months and the previous one lasted about as long.

This city's population is about 270,000. The house is an older one with three bedrooms and one bathroom, separate garage, brick construction, tile roof, central heating on a gas furnace.

There are several real estate dealers (realtors) who operate nearly Australia-wide, look for websites for "The Professionals" and "LJ Hooker" among other reputable companies. In some country towns you can get good houses for around AU$120,000 or less. It all depends on whether the population is growing and how much work there is. I've heard of one whole village being sold for a few thousand, which was a local joke here a few months ago.

Work
Australia needs doctors and dentists for country towns. There is plenty of work in construction and mining. There are two low-rise buildings going up and another almost completed not far from the shopping mall I just mentioned. Same thing is going on in Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Melbourne and even in some of the larger country towns. Plenty of work for IT people, qualified motor mechanics, carpenters, plumbers, you name it.

Income tax is "high" compared to the USA but lower than in many other countries. This is levied by the Federal Government. On a salary of $65,000 you can expect to pay about $17,000 tax. Another federal tax is the Goods and Services Tax. This is levied at 10% on all goods except fresh uncooked food. A third federal tax which many people never have to pay is capital gains tax. This is levied on investments once disposed of, if the value has risen. If the investment is held for more than about five years (don’t quote me) then the tax is not payable.

You will not pay any direct taxes to the State governments unless you buy and sell land or apartments or buy a car in one state and take it to another. State governments also tax cars every year with registration fees, these are a few hundred dollars. I have a V8 coupe and recently paid $740. This included third party injury insurance.

I ate lunch at a small Asian style restaurant today. Hokkien noodles, sliced beef, four kinds of vegetables with black bean and honey sauce, freshly cooked. Cost AU$8.90 including tax.
A 12 inch Submarine sandwich is around the same price, depending on the filling. A hamburger style bun with ham and salad in it costs around $6.00.

Citizenship has required at least 4 years residence though there has been a move recently to tighten things up a bit, maybe put in a minimum competence in English. You should have no problems with that.