is life better down under?

[almost-cut-my-h]

have been watching interesting programme about brits moving to aussie land.it seems wages can be quite low.houses seem quite expensive.more stamp duty is paid.would you emigrate?

[gela]

Its true, I've heard that you can get paid more in europe and houses are stupidly expensive here atm.

I think the appeal in living here is the nice weather, and the space.
Wages arn't always lower.. if your a teacher, doctor or pharmasist (to name a few) you can easily walk straight into a well paying job. The only catch is that you have to live rural.
Houses are pretty cheap in small towns aswell.

So its probly a good move for a family wanting to live somewhere quiet.

[nerdvincent]

What place are you talking about?

[gela]

down-under..

aussie land..

^^

Australia

[nerdvincent]

Oh ^^.

[G. Adams]

The average house costs £230,474 in the UK, which works out at $496,247.21 atm. That's about the same as a house in Sydney, and much more expensive than Melbourne or Brisbane. If we compare London to Sydney for housing costs, it's £377,807/$813,757.62 for London compared to Syndey's $500 000, more than $300 000 difference.

If you have a good deal of money stored up here, you could get a good deal in Aus, but once you settle there you will be on an Australian salary, so won't benefit from the current rate of conversion.

[SoylentGreen]

Forsooth I must protest! Down under includes New Zealand - only 4 million people, no snakes, poisonous spiders and only a few (friendly) sharks...currently average temperature 31 degreesC, little religious extremism, warm, friendly, genuine people. Stuff the money - why WOULDN'T you move down under?

[G. Adams]

Quote by: SoylentGreen Forsooth I must protest! Down under includes New Zealand - only 4 million people, no snakes, poisonous spiders and only a few (friendly) sharks...currently average temperature 31 degreesC, little religious extremism, warm, friendly, genuine people. Stuff the money - why WOULDN'T you move down under?

All good points, and you forgot to mention the rugby, the beer drinking, skiing and surfing etc But then you have to balance all of that with the fact it's ran by a little collectivist shite Helen Clark...

[Milton Bradley]

Quote by: G. Adams But then you have to balance all of that with the fact it's ran by a little collectivist shite Helen Clark...

And that differs from England how exactly?


Both cooperate with the same Great Satan.

[Matt W]

Heh. NZ, at least, is thoughroughly non-nuclear, and refuses to allow US nuclear ships to dock there.

[Milton Bradley]

Quote by: Matt W Heh. NZ, at least, is thoughroughly non-nuclear, and refuses to allow US nuclear ships to dock there.

Hey, that's news to me, and particularly entertaining news at that.


Any other differences that pop into mind would be appreciated as well.


P.S. Your spelling "thoughroughly", is that for real?

[SoylentGreen]

Quote by: G. Adams But then you have to balance all of that with the fact it's ran by a little collectivist shite Helen Clark...

Please, lets see you try and justify that statement.

Considering that it was the Labour government that was responsible for selling off most of the state assets to private enterprise.

[G. Adams]

Quote by: SoylentGreen Please, lets see you try and justify that statement. Considering that it was the Labour government that was responsible for selling off most of the state assets to private enterprise.

This website, Darnton vs Clark gives a decent covering of the problems of New Zealands current government.

In addition a brief scan of wiki tells me she has introduce tax credits (crediting your own money back to you rather than not taking it in the first place demonstrates the assumption a principle of considering the money governments in the first place), raising minimum wage 6 times in her tenure (presumption that society at large has a right to determine trade between two private individuals) etc

Also from wiki on how lovely her government is...

Quote by: Wiki Article, In 2007, Clark's Government introduced the Electoral Finance Bill, which will make it illegal for lobby-groups to spend more than NZ$500 criticising MPs without first registering with a government agency. Parliament sent the legislation to a select committee for consideration. So far, the Bill has been highly controversial and has attracted severe criticism from organizations such as the New Zealand Herald for its alleged attack on freedom of speech.

[G. Adams]

Quote by: Milton Bradley And that differs from England how exactly? Both cooperate with the same Great Satan.

True, and I guess if you must suffer such conditions it would be better to be warm and sunny as well.

[Milton Bradley]

Quote by: G. Adams True, and I guess if you must suffer such conditions it would be better to be warm and sunny as well.

Ah, I think we are close to being on the same page here.

[SoylentGreen]

Quote by: G. Adams This website, Darnton vs Clark gives a decent covering of the problems of New Zealands current government. In addition a brief scan of wiki tells me she has introduce tax credits (crediting your own money back to you rather than not taking it in the first place demonstrates the assumption a principle of considering the money governments in the first place), raising minimum wage 6 times in her tenure (presumption that society at large has a right to determine trade between two private individuals) etc Also from wiki on how lovely her government is...

No government is perfect, and nor will they do things that everyone agrees with.
Taxation here is a bit sloppy, we are one of the few countries actually in tax credit rather than deficit.
The argument for tax cuts have been going on for awhile.
As for raising minimum wages, I am ok with that.
As there is no reason to presume that trade between two private individuals will be on a level playing field.
Minimum wage is for youth and unqualified workers and assures they receive a fair wage. There is no assurance that employers will give a reasonable wage on their own merit.

The Darnton vs Clark thing is an issue more complicated than given in that link. It concerns misspending and misinterpretation of laws regarding spending on election advertising.

The Electoral Finance Bill, is probably an over reaction to the events surrounding the last election.
Partly caused by the exclusive brethren ( a so called non political religious group) spending thousands of dollars to support an opposition party without revealing who they were.
The EF bill is in theory an attempt to make it so that people have to reveal who they are and the amount they are donating to each party and to limit the amount of money spent by a party to promote itself during an election.

Again no government is perfect and there is a predominance of nanny state ism here that I don't care for.
But some of them I feel are necessary as in minimum wage and some I wait to see the effects before judging as in the EF bill

[almost-cut-my-h]

Quote by: SoylentGreen Forsooth I must protest! Down under includes New Zealand - only 4 million people, no snakes, poisonous spiders and only a few (friendly) sharks...currently average temperature 31 degreesC, little religious extremism, warm, friendly, genuine people. Stuff the money - why WOULDN'T you move down under?

listen..britain is the only place id spend xmas. id be bored to tears living in new zealand.scotland is like canada,norway. newquay beach and sandbanks beach in poole on par with aussie beaches.
too much sun would annoy me! nothing like going on a london bus on a rainy day. got it now! lol

[SoylentGreen]

My wife lived for three years in England (lived in Kent, worked in central London), earned an amazing amount of money, loved the opportunity to see the concerts, art galleries, theatres, sports etc that only a big population can provide with regularity. But she said it was Christmas there that finally made her come home because in spite of the Regent Street lights et al that happened at the time (including seeing the first snow fall of her life) she said it was unbearably lonely, even though she has a lot of family members living there. The sort of loneliness she meant was walking down the street and noone saying hello; the impersonal service of a big city centre;etc. She said the best things she found on returning home were: (not necessarily in this order) the brightness of colour; the genuine smiles, the size of the steaks; picking fruit straight from the tree; the "can do" attitude, the tolerance of differences.

And she said you're right: there is nothing like going on a London bus on a rainy day...unless it was getting up at 5.30am and walking through slushy snow to catch a bus to work because of a train strike.....

[G. Adams]

Quote by: SoylentGreen No government is perfect, and nor will they do things that everyone agrees with. Taxation here is a bit sloppy, we are one of the few countries actually in tax credit rather than deficit. The argument for tax cuts have been going on for awhile. As for raising minimum wages, I am ok with that. As there is no reason to presume that trade between two private individuals will be on a level playing field. Minimum wage is for youth and unqualified workers and assures they receive a fair wage. There is no assurance that employers will give a reasonable wage on their own merit. The Darnton vs Clark thing is an issue more complicated than given in that link. It concerns misspending and misinterpretation of laws regarding spending on election advertising. The Electoral Finance Bill, is probably an over reaction to the events surrounding the last election. Partly caused by the exclusive brethren ( a so called non political religious group) spending thousands of dollars to support an opposition party without revealing who they were. The EF bill is in theory an attempt to make it so that people have to reveal who they are and the amount they are donating to each party and to limit the amount of money spent by a party to promote itself during an election. Again no government is perfect and there is a predominance of nanny state ism here that I don't care for. But some of them I feel are necessary as in minimum wage and some I wait to see the effects before judging as in the EF bill

None of this disputes my point that she is at heart a collectivist, though.