So I thought I’d write a quick update today for those readers with fingers of the green variety.

Just over two years ago I wrote an entry titled gardening in Australia in which I wrote about the challenges of the local soil and the sheer lack of experience I had growing exotic plants such as the Lemon and Orange trees which are readily available at our local garden centre.

Well, 24 months after writing this entry, I’m pleased to say that I’ve taken to gardening in Australia pretty well and to say that the Australia weather suits plant life out here would be somewhat of an understatement. Continue Reading

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New data by the Australian Bureau of Statistics show Perth’s metropolitan area’s population grew by 3.2 per cent in the year 2008-09, making it the fastest growing metropolis in Australia.

Combined with this, the City of Perth -which includes the CBD, East and West Perth and Northbridge – was the fastest growing local authority area in Australia.

The report Regional Population Growth, Australia 2008-09 showed that 12.8 per cent more people called the 12.7 square kilometre municipality home than the year before.
Most of the state’s growth was due to Australia immigration, followed by natural birth increase, then interstate migration.

Perth was closely followed by Darwin’s 3.1 per cent population growth. Continue Reading

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I know I can often be a little romantic about the wonderful weather we receive here in Western Australia.

Perth is the sunniest capital city in the world at the end of the day so it’s often very easy to gloat when the weathers so damn nice all the time.

Yesterday it would seem was payback time for that three years of gloating when the worse weather experienced in Perth in over 10 years hit the CBD and surrounding areas.. VERY hard!! Continue Reading

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It has been a busy start to the new year in the Sydney investment property market as good quality properties are being sold quickly to eager buyers – sometimes at their full asking price.

I’m not yet sure whether this strong buyer demand will be maintained throughout the year – or whether the strong results from sales early in the year will induce others to list their properties for sale – providing some increased supply to keep prices more in balance.

As I have previously reported, the Australian residential property market has fared better than several other markets internationally over the last 20 months. Several local market watchers (professional and amateur) saw this as being in part due to the government’s housing stimulus for first home buyers – and predicted that the winding back of these subsidies would have a slowing effect on property markets – particularly the first home buyer belt, which in Sydney is the A$500,000 to A$650,000 segment. Continue Reading

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Australian house prices rose last quarter by the most since 2003, and combined with the expansion of the manufacturing sector the central bank may have to extend a record round of interest-rate increases.

Economists are expecting Reserve Bank Governor Glenn Stevens to extend the benchmark lending rate, which reached 3.75 percent in December from a half-century low of 3 percent in October.

An index measuring the weighted average of prices for houses in the eight capital cities climbed 5.2 percent from the previous three months, the Bureau of Statistics reported in Sydney. Continue Reading

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The welcoming country down under beckons you to check out vast landscapes, rugged mountains, pleasant, sunny climate and rich culture. Australia definitely has the best ingredients to make a comfortable and convenient life. Perhaps these are some of the reasons it has remained a favorite tourist destination.

The wonders in this country have just lured many visitors from different nations. However, while visiting for a great vacation is a good option for a million people or so each year, emigrating to Australia is a wise choice for hundreds of thousands of migrants. Immigration is no surprising thing. It has been happening for a long time.

Australia is one of the least heavily populated countries. People actually get much relief after seeing crowded streets and overpopulated cities elsewhere. Continue Reading

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There are plenty of people wondering whether to emigrate to Australia. The lure of a new life with higher living standards and better prospects for your children has always been a big draw for new migrants. But as someone who decided successfully to emigrate to Australia from the UK, what really motivated me was to hear the stories of those who had gone before me. So, this article is the first in a series in which I will be telling how it was for me, why I made the move and what sort of experiences I had along the way.

Unlike what many people say it was less the push of the old country rather than the draw of the new one that made me emigrate to Australia. In other words I found the attractions of Australia more compelling than the reasons to stay behind. Having already spent two long holidays in Australia I was fairly confident of what to expect. Continue Reading

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Phew! What a scorcher.

Yesterday saw the hottest day in Perth for nearly two years with the mercury hitting 42.9C . By 5am, the temperature at Champion Lakes near Armadale were already 30.4C – warmer than in Marble Bar, which is Australia’s hottest town and only 20.6C at that time.
At time of typing the temperatures are just shy of 41C so it looks like it’s going to be another hot one today

The hottest ever recorded temperature in Perth was 46.2 °C (115 °F) on 23 February 1991 and I can imagine, back then it must have been pretty unbearable. Continue Reading

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Australia Immigration figures show applications for 457 visas (temporary skilled workers visas) fell 49 per cent in the five months to November, after the laws were tightened requiring employers to pay equal wages and lift conditions for foreign workers.

Despite these changes, the numbers for the same visa class began to pick up through October and November as employers became more familiar with the rules. Currently, more than a third of the country’s temporary skilled migrants work in NSW.

The Immigration Minister, Chris Evans, said a report released Monday on temporary workers provided evidence the changes were having the intended effect as the Australian average salary jumped to AU$85,300, from $74,700 in the same period a year earlier. Continue Reading

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Western Australia job advertisements surged 6% in December which is the strongest monthly growth since May 2007.

Experts say that the renewal of the mining boom could force business to compete ferociously for workers. This isn’t good news for businesses in WA but it could be great news for folks looking to migrate to the state.

Just one day after Western Australia was declared the nations best-performing economy, treasurer Troy Buswell called for a state-based migration scheme as WA businesses were warned to brace themselves for skilled labour shortages. Continue Reading

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So before I even begin to tackle this sensitive subject, let me give you a little context behind the purpose of this article.

Today the federal government said the Indian media is unlikely to show restraint when reporting on alleged racism in Australia. India’s foreign ministry has called on its media to exercise restraint when reporting on recent attacks on Indians in Australia.

The call follows media reports that suggest the stabbing death of Nitin Garg in Melbourne on January 2 and Saturday’s attack on Jaspreet Singh, who suffered burns after being allegedly set alight, were racially motivated.

So there we have it, more attacks on Indian students but are they racially motivated? Continue Reading

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So I’ve been getting updates on email and Facebook from friends back in the UK and the general consensus of opinion seems to be that the snow was great over Christmas however everyone is kind of getting ‘over it’ now.

Looking on the BBC’s website today it looks like the severity of the bitterly cold weather is causing significant disruptions across the UK and much of Northern Europe with over 16 inches of snow being recorded in a 24 hour period in some places!

If it’s any consolation for those getting a little fed up, the weather down in Australia can cause problems to. I saw the attached poster on the train yesterday and it made me chuckle. So much so that I had to take a picture of it to share with our Getting Down Under readers. Continue Reading

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From the 1st of January, as part of the skills assessment process for certain onshore GSM applicants who nominate a trade occupation, applicants will be required to demonstrate that they are ‘job ready’.

This new requirement will be assessed through the Job Ready Program (previously referred to as the Job Ready Test). The Job Ready Program has been developed by the relevant assessing authority, Trades Recognition Australia (TRA), in consultation with industry and unions and will include a workplace assessment by a TRA approved assessor.

The new job ready requirement will ensure that people who wish to migrate to Australia as skilled migrants in trade occupations are able to participate in the labour market in the area of their skills and knowledge. Continue Reading

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Since starting my new role in the mining industry, I’ve found myself working for an organisation which is much more reliant on skilled resources brought in from overseas.

I was chatting to one of the hiring managers the other day about this and being quite interested in the subject, I managed to steer the conversation onto the subject of Australian immigration and the challenges faced by companies following the many recent changes in immigration law.

One thing that I didn’t really appreciate until now is the hoops that the Australian Immigration Department are making companies jump through in order to justify bringing on board ‘foreign’ workers on 457 Visas. Continue Reading

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I should preface this article by saying that unfortunately the crystal ball to tell us how Sydney house prices will weather the next 12 months has not yet been discovered.  

So, if you are looking for someone to tell you this with certainty – keep looking – and tell me if you find that magic crystal ball.   But, if you are interested to read my perspective on the Spring market – and the factors that help some properties to outperform others – then read on.

SYDNEY housing market in spring 2009

Spring in Sydney is traditionally accompanied by prodigious listings of homes for sale – particularly in its more affluent eastern and northern suburbs.   2009 proved no exception, with many homes being offered for sale in September and October – with some more recent listings hoping to sell before the Christmas slowdown.   The Domain North supplement in Tuesday’s Sydney Morning Herald is a good indicator; traditionally comprising one section, over the last month it has yielded two bulging sections of homes for sale.
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Whilst property values in the USA, UK and many western European countries have fallen significantly during the global financial crisis – Australian property values have held up relatively well. In fact median house prices in some Australian markets have actually increased during 2009.

It is interesting to note that Australian property prices experienced some ‘correction’ whilst prices in other western countries continued to climb precipitously in the lead-up to the Global Financial Crisis. In 1999 the Sydney median house price was $295,000 and a peak was experienced in 2004 when the median Sydney price reached $596,000. Today it is around $566,000. Continue Reading

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