A skills shortage in the IT sector should be eased by facilitating overseas professions to emigrate to Australia, leading recruiters say.

Skills shortages and the need for more skilled workers to fill IT jobs could delay major projects such as the national broadband network, and the restriction on the number of skilled IT workers from overseas should be reviewed, recruiters say.

Australia’s largest IT and technology recruiter, Peoplebank, last year signed an agreement with the federal government that allows them to recruit 150 to 200 overseas nationals annually, and has increased its intake of overseas IT professionals by about 20-30 per cent in the past six months.

Peoplebank acting chief executive Jeff Knowles said the company will ask for a further increase on that number, and predicts a skills shortage by the middle of this year in NSW, Victoria and Canberra if more workers cannot be found. Read the full story

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Almost 90 per cent of temporary skilled migrants who were granted Subclass 457 visas in 2009-10 to date are managers and professional workers, new figures show.

The average total salary package for all new Australian temporary skilled migrant workers is almost $100,000 – an increase of $10,000 on the same time last year.

The highest paid workers on a Subclass 457 Australia visa were in the mining industry, with an average total remuneration of $169,000, followed by the financial and insurance services sector at $127,600.

Temporary skilled overseas workers in Western Australia were the highest paid with an average total remuneration of $114 800, followed by New South Wales ($101,100), Queensland ($97,900), Victoria ($94,200), Tasmania ($94,100), Northern Territory ($85,500), ACT ($83,600) and South Australia ($81,700). Read the full story

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Bruces Barbecue gets a little out of control

It was only a couple of weeks ago that I wrote about the recent hot weather we were experiencing here in Perth.

We were hitting temperatures of over 40 degrees Celsius and I have to say it was pretty warm. We were grateful for the air-con that’s for sure.

Now pop a few thousand miles South East of here to good old South Australia and Victoria and the guys over there are having a seriously hard time of it.

Adelaide has had a 15 day string of temperatures in excess of 35 degrees C which is a one in 3000 year event apparently.

Meanwhile, In Victoria, bush fires have destroyed at least 10 homes with nearly 500,000 people in the state losing power (and the all important air conditioning) following severe pressure on the electricity grid. Read the full story

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According to a survey undertaken by the Master Builders Association, the Australian State of Victoria needs 40,000 new construction workers in the next five years.

The MBA says skilled workers are needed in order to solve the skills shortage and it is the issue which is most affecting the sector’s progression.

This is obviously good news for folks skilled in the construction profession who are considering a permanent move to Australia.

MBA executive director Brian Welch said: Read the full story

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The Yarra Valley is located a short 90 minutes north-east of Melbourne, the capital of the southern Australian state of Victoria, and is an idyllic destination for a day tour or weekend getaway.

The Yarra Valley’s rolling green hills are brimming with vineyards, boutique wineries, orchards, cheesemakers and quality restaurants, and the whole region is quite simply a gourmet’s delight. Whatever your interests, Melbourne’s Yarra Valley has something for everyone.

The Yarra Valley is home to many excellent food and wine festivals. In January, raspberry lovers can enjoy the Kinglake Raspberry Fair, while May offers the Kellybrook Cider Festival and the Grape Grazing Festival. In November, the Victoria Strawberry Festival is held in Seville and the Country Harvest Festival is held at the Warratina Lavender Farm. In December, the Victorian Cherry Festival is held at Wandin.

The Yarra Valley is home to at least 23 wineries which are open to visitors and where you can sample their award-winning produce. The wineries range in scale from large operations such as Rochford’s Eyton and Tarra Warra Estate to small boutique wineries such as Ainsworth Estate in Seville and Warramate Wines near Healesville.

If history interests you, the historic Yering Station-Yarrabank winery near Yarra Glen claims to be the first vineyard established in Victoria.

Pioneer history can also be experienced with a visit to Gulf Station, an early farm in Yarra Valley now managed by the National Trust.

Lovers of Australian animals can pack a picnic lunch and visit the world famous Healesville Sanctuary to view a large variety of native animals including kanagroos, wallabies, wombats, emus. echidnas, goannas and platypus.

On a sunny day the Healesville Sanctuary is a great place for a picnic, and there are plenty of picnic shelters for damper weather. Opposite the Healesville Sanctuary is the Galeena Beek Living Cultural Centre, where you can learn more about the cultural heritage of indigenous Australians from the Melbourne region.

Healesville is delightful country town nestled in the Dandenong Ranges and is a haven for lovers of art, crafts and cafes, making it the perfect place to while away a relaxing day. Healesville is surrounded by charming picnic places, including the Maroondah Reservoir Reserve, which has barbecues and bush walking tracks along the Badger Creek. Visitors of a literary or historical bent can visit the magnificent two hectare Singing Gardens of early Australian author C.J. Dennis, located near Toolangi. C.J. Dennis lived in Toolangi from 1915 until his death in 1935, and wrote his famous work The Sentimental Bloke there.

The Yarra Valley Regional Food Trail allows you to independently explore 14 ‘farm gate taste and buy’ gourmet experiences and 11 ‘pick your own’ produce farms. With more than thirty top quality eating places dotted throughout the Yarra Valley, there’s plenty of gourmet experiences to choose from. And all that is before you even consider the Yarra Valley’s world-renowned wineries!

Whether you love fine food and wine and abundant fresh farm produce, are seeking a relaxing, therapeutic or romantic getaway, or are inspired by natural beauty and want to walk through towering eucalypt forests, an unforgettable experience awaits you in Melbourne’s idyllic Yarra Valley.

Miguel Scaccialupo writes regularly on Outback Australia Tour topics, including Alice Springs Tour destinations and Yarra Valley Tour itineraries.

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Tourist attractions in and around Perth

Weeks or even months can pass in Perth without substantial rainfall. One of its main attractions are its beaches, located along the city’s coastal suburbs. Perth’s beaches are not as developed as becahes in other Australian cities.

Perth City

The centre of Perth is located on the northern bank of the Swan River, a part of the River known as ‘Perth Water’ and roughly comprises three parallel sections.

The central business district, close to the river, runs along St Georges Terrace and Adelaide Terrace and is the historical core of the city. It includes Government House and several office towers. Parliament House is on the hill to the west looking along St Georges Terrace towards the Darling Scarp.

The retail district, which has its focus on the Hay and Murray Street Malls. These pedestrian malls are interconnected by arcades and walk through shops. Over time the number of hotels in this area has declined, with new hotels being built at the eastern and western ends of the city. Forrest Place, connecting Wellington Street and Murray Street, is a popular meeting spot, and is the site of political rallies and public events. Closed to traffic and redeveloped in the mid-1980s, it is flanked by the Commonwealth Bank and GPO buildings on the west, and the Forrest Chase retail development on the east.

The entertainment and cultural precinct, known as Northbridge commences at the point where the railway land cuts through the city. It extends for at least four blocks north, and is bound at the east by the Library, Art Gallery and Museum, and to the west by the northern suburbs railway.

Kings Park Perth

Kings Park occupies 1,000 acres (4.06 km ²) of the crest of a large hill (Mt Eliza) overlooking the CBD.

Larger than New York’s Central Park (843 acres (341 ha)), Kings Park contains Perth’s botanical gardens as well as tracts of natural bushland.

During spring, Kings Park bursts into a world-class display of wildflowers, which is a popular tourist attraction. In August 2003, the Lotterywest Federation Walkway was opened in Kings Park. It is a 620 m long elevated walkway through the treetops, providing a remarkable bird’s eye view of the park and gardens as well as sweeping views of the Swan River.

Perth is a relatively green city, with an abundance of parks and tree-lined boulevards.

Swan Bells

The Swan Bells is a bell tower siting on the edge of the Swan River. It is a copper clad structure representing the sails of a ship.

It houses bells from the church of St Martin-in-the-Fields, which were gifts from the United Kingdom to the people of Australia on the occasion of Australia’s 200-year anniversary of colonisation.

The Swan Bells was opened to the public in 2001.

The government of Western Australia took a significant amount of criticism for creating the Bell Tower; it was said that the significant funding allotted for the project (millions of dollars) could have been better placed into the health and education systems, and that the structure could have been better designed aesthetically.

The Perth Convention Exhibition Centre

The Perth Convention Exhibition Centre opened in September 2004. Situated on the river foreshore, only a short walk from the CBD, the Centre is WA’s only purpose built convention, exhibition and meeting centre. It can cater for functions of up to 2500 delegates.

The Centre is expected to attract increased tourism for the state. It is jocularly referred to as ‘The Hayshed’, because of its flat and extended design which originally was intended to resemble a gum leaf.

Perth Mint

Perth Mint is the oldest still-operating mint in Australia. One of two legal tender mints in Australia, the other is in Canberra.

It is open to the public 7 days a week and includes displays and the Perth Mint Shop which buys and sells precious metal proof quality gold and silver coins, bullion, nuggets and jewellery

Islands off the coast of Perth

There are a few islands off the coast of Perth, notably Rottnest Island, a significant tourist attraction.

Other nearby islands include Garden Island (home to a naval base), Carnac Island, Seal Island and Penguin Island. It is possible to walk from the mainland to Penguin Island at low tide. All of these Islands are ‘A’ class nature reserves with restricted access.

The deep shipping channel between Perth and these islands is called Gage Roads, the site of the America’s Cup yachting challenge in 1987.

Fremantle

The historical port city of Fremantle is located at the mouth of the Swan River, and is home to many attractions including Fremantle Prison and the mammoth newly-constructed Western Australian Maritime Museum. Located on the dock at Victoria Quay, the museum houses ‘Australia II, the yacht which won Australia the America’s Cup in 1983. Also in Fremantle is the Maritime Museum shipwreck galleries, with recovered artifacts and part of the hull of the shipwrecked Dutch ship Batavia, from hundreds of years ago. A more recent vessel, the Oberon class submarine the HMAS Ovens has been retired next to the Maritime Museum.

Fremantle (or ‘Freo’ as the locals call it) is renowned both locally, nationally and internationally for it’s easy-going, laid-back lifestyle. Cafes are the heart and soul of Freo, and one cannot visit Fremantle without going to the Fremantle Markets, before having one of the many varieties of coffee on the city’s infamous Capuccino Strip – South Terrace. There are numerous arts and crafts stores to suit all tastes and budgets. Fremantle is well-known for its local Arts scene.

At nightfall, Fremantle is a music-lovers’ paradise. Venues such as the Fly by Night Club and the Newport Hotel offer intimate, but venerable paradises for concerts, other events, or merely chilling out. Fremantle showcases the best in local and international talent. In addition, Fremantle offers many opportunities for clubbing with venues as the Harbourside, Millennium and the Metro.

Other must-see attractions include the Fremantle Arts Centre, as well as the historic precinct around the Round House – Western Australia’s earliest remaining building.

The Aquarium of Western Australia

Perth is home to Australia’s largest underwater walk-through aquarium, AQWA (The Aquarium of Western Australia), at Hillarys Boat Harbour, about 20 km North of Perth.

AQWA first opened in 1988 as Underwater World, but changed its name in 2001 to emphasis it’s links to Western Australia and to avoid confusion with the Underwater World in Singapore, has over 400 species of marine life including fish, sharks, fur seals, sea dragons, turtles, crustaceans and stingrays in a natural like environment.

Following the closure of the Atlantis Marine Park in Yanchep, Underwater World was the home to performing sealions and dolphins. In late December 1999 all of Underwater World’s dolphins died, with forensic tests revealling that the cause of death was deliberate poisoning. AQWA is also used for rehabilitation of injured or sick sea creatures, mainly sea lions, turtles and seals.

Whiteman Park

Whiteman Park is situated in picturesque bushland 25 minutes North East from the City Centre, it forms the western boundary of the Swan Valley wine region. The Park covers an area of more than 42 square kilometres (16 mi ²) with nearly half of this classified as high value conservation bushland or wetland. The Park also protects the southern portion of the Gnangara Water Mound – a large underground water source that supplies up to 40% of metropolitan Perth’s drinking water.

The Park takes its name from Mr Lew Whiteman (1903-1994), a prominent local identity and enthusiastic collector of artifacts. His family settled in Guildford from England in the late 19th century and Lew acquired some land around Mussel Pool in the 1940s. This, and other land held by a variety of private owners, was purchased by the State Government in 1978 and combined to form Whiteman Park.

All native wildlife in the Park is protected and more than 100 bird species have been identified. Along with 32 reptile, 7 amphibian and 8 mammals. The Caversham Wildlife Park, containing over 2000 animals and birds of 200 different species, recently moved into an area of park near the Village. There are also a number different collections of transport and machinary equipment as well as working historical tram and Rail lines

Swan Valley Wine Region

The Swan Valley wine region is approximately 16km East of Perth and is Western Australia’s oldest established wine region. It is home to over 35 wineries, many of which have restaurants or cellar-door facilities that are open to the public. Bus and boat tours of the swan valley run regularly from the city.

Perth Beaches

Relatively warm water and mild to large swells make beach-going a popular activity during the warmer months of the year.

Perth’s Indian Ocean beaches stretch for 30km north of the Swan River. There are also inshore beaches along the Swan River at Crawley, Nedlands, Peppermint Grove and Mosman Bay on the north shore, and Como, Canning Bridge and Applecross on the south.

Swimming beaches include the popularCottesloe , near the Cottesloe train station, City Beach, Swanbourne Free Beach, which has nude bathing, Scarborough Trigg and Hillarys.

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Traditionally, Perth and Perth’s Swan River have usually been viewed and photographed from Kings Park, situated on a hill to the south-west of the city or from the South Perth foreshore. The historical record of the view shows clear river banks close to the city and a low skyline through to the 1960s. Since then, the filling in of the northern side of Perth Water and crowding of the skyline have continued unabated.

Perth’s city skyline displays the economic prosperity the city currently enjoys. Its tallest building, Central Park, is by some measures the sixth tallest building in Australia.

Perth is a relatively small city in comparison with Sydney and Melbourne, the capitals of New South Wales and Victoria respectively, but it is still the fourth largest city in Australia.

The Central Business District is the financial centre of Perth, and while a hive of activity during the work week, is relatively quiet and deserted during weekends. Despite Perth’s CBD being quite small Perth has many large suburbs which have shopping centres, supermarkets, cinemas, takeaways and many other amenities.

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Well, as I’ll be living there one day I may as well provide some information about our future home. I’ll break this post into a number of sections

Perth is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Western Australia, and is the fourth largest city in Australia, with a population of approximately 1.47 million in June 2005

It is a coastal city, located beside the fantastic Indian Ocean, and situated on the Swan River in the lower south-western portion of the Australian continent.

History of Perth

Although the British Army had established a base at King George Sound (later Albany) on the south coast of Western Australia in 1826 – to forestall rumoured annexation by France — Perth was the first full scale settlement by Europeans in the “western third” of the continent.

The town was established in 1829, as the capital of the Swan River Colony, a free settler colony. In 1850, as Western Australia, it became host to convicts, at the request of farming and business people who wanted cheap labour.

Naming and founding

The name Perth was chosen in 1829 by James Stirling. Stirling, a Scot, implemented the wish of Sir George Murray, Secretary of State for War and the Colonies, that the Swan River Colony settlement be named after Perthshire, which was his birthplace as well as his parliamentary seat in the British House of Commons.

On 1 June 1829, the colonists had their first view of the mainland and Western Australian’s Foundation Day has since been recognised by a public holiday on the first Monday in June each year. James said that Perth was “as beautiful as anything of this kind I had ever witnessed.” On August 12 that year, Mrs Helen Dance, wife of the Captain of the ship Sulphur, cut down a tree to mark the day of the founding of the town. Queen Victoria announced the city status of Perth in 1856.

After a referendum in 1900, Western Australia joined the Federation of Australia in 1901. WA was the last of the Australian colonies to agree to join, and did so only after the other colonies offered several concessions, including the construction of a rail line to Perth (via Kalgoorlie) from the Eastern States. In 1933 Western Australia voted in a referendum to leave the Commonwealth with a majority of three to one in favor of independence, but the election held at the time overturned the incumbent “pro-independence” government, replacing it with a government who did not support the independence movement. When the new government petitioned the United Kingdom for independence, the United Kingdom refused to act against the wishes of the government of the day.

Perth has prospered by becoming a key service centre for the natural resource industries, being the closest city to huge reserves of gold, iron ore, nickel, alumina, diamonds, mineral sands, coal, oil and natural gas. Most of the world’s major resource and engineering companies have offices in Perth.

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The weather has been traditionally British recently, Lots of snow and very cold (averaging all of 2 – 3 decrees Celsius. However the 2006 Commonwealth games started in Melbourne yesterday and it was great to wake up to some live footage of some of the sports over there.

The weather appears to be pretty pleasant in Melbourne, averaging a very comfortable 75 Degrees Fahrenheit most days. Saying that, back on the other side of the country in Perth its forecast to be in the 90′s everyday for the rest of this week

As Melbourne is getting some good exposure at the moment, I thought you folks might be interested in a little more information about the city (clicking the images below to open a bigger version in a new window if your interested).
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The primary basis of Australian culture up until the mid-20th century was Anglo-Celtic, although distinctive Australian features had been evolving from the environment and indigenous culture. Over the past 50 years, Australian culture has been strongly influenced by American popular culture (particularly television and cinema), large-scale immigration from non-English-speaking countries, and Australia’s Asian neighbours.

Australia has a long history of visual arts, starting with the cave and bark paintings of its indigenous peoples. From the time of European settlement, a common theme in Australian art has been the Australian landscape, seen in the works of Arthur Streeton, Arthur Boyd and Albert Namatjira, among others. The traditions of indigenous Australians are largely transmitted orally and are closely tied to ceremony and the telling of the stories of the Dreamtime.
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Australia consists of six states, two major mainland territories, and other minor territories. The states are New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia. The two major mainland territories are the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory.

In most respects, the territories function similarly to the states, but the Commonwealth Parliament can override any legislation of their parliaments. By contrast, federal legislation overrides state legislation only with respect to certain areas as set out in Section 51 of the Constitution; all residual legislative powers are retained by the state parliaments, including powers over hospitals, education, police, the judiciary, roads, public transport and local government.

Each state and territory has its own legislature (unicameral in the case of the Northern Territory, the ACT and Queensland, and bicameral in the remaining states). The lower house is known as the Legislative Assembly (House of Assembly in South Australia and Tasmania) and the upper house the Legislative Council. The heads of the governments in each state and territory are called premiers and chief ministers, respectively. The Queen is represented in each state by a governor; an administrator in the Northern Territory, and the Governor-General in the ACT, have analogous roles.
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The first human habitation of Australia is estimated to have occurred between 42,000 and 48,000 years ago. The first Australians were the ancestors of the current Indigenous Australians; they arrived via land bridges and short sea-crossings from present-day Southeast Asia. Most of these people were hunter-gatherers, with a complex oral culture and spiritual values based on reverence for the land and a belief in the Dreamtime. The Torres Strait Islanders, ethnically Melanesian, inhabited the Torres Strait Islands and parts of far-north Queensland; they possess distinct cultural practices from the Aborigines.

The first undisputed recorded European sighting of the Australian continent was made by the Dutch navigator Willem Jansz, who sighted the coast of Cape York Peninsula in 1606. During the 17th century, the Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines of what they called New Holland, but made no attempt at settlement. In 1770, James Cook sailed along and mapped the east coast of Australia, which he named New South Wales and claimed for Britain. The expedition’s discoveries provided impetus for the establishment of a penal colony there following the loss of the American colonies that had previously filled that role.
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