pomikev

One of the positives about the ACT is that it is the home of the public service, all the national head offices of major national government depts are there, the tax office, finance office, immigration, healthcare, welfare etc etc... it is also the home of all the international embassies and diplomatic services, as a result of this a huge percentage of the population work in the public service and they have a really good/strong public service trade union type thing going by sheer weight of numbers, as a result of this they have managed to secure themselves some of the highest salaries and working conditions and perks in australia.

Overtime is great there, double time on the weekends, tripple time on sundays and public holidays, time and a half for any extra hours worked over the basic 38 hours a week. travel allowances, clothing allowances, child care rebates, free medical, great superannuation deals, there is a public service credit union (bank) that offers good rates on loans and mortgages.

I have a few close friends in canberra that have worked for the public service for 20 to 30 years and they all say that the basic salary is not really a good indication of what they earn, it's all the extras that can add up to another 50% over the basic pay rate.

The downside of this is the cost of living there for anyone not on the public service career bandwagon is astronomical. That's why houses are so bloody overpriced there.

We moved to canberra in 1995 with 3 young children, in those days we rented a 3 bedroom house in Rivett (a nice mid range suburb) for 175 bucks a week, we had an opportunity to buy that house for 135k and never did it (biggest mistake I ever made), we had this crazy dream of wanting to own a couple of hundred acres in the bush and so ploughed our money into that instead and kept renting.

That house was on the market last year for 520k seriously, I don't even like to think about it lol.

I worked initially there as the general manager of a small chain of computer shops and my salary back then (18 years ago) was around 45k. I went from doing that to starting my own internet company and did the small business owners merry go round for 3 years, working 80 hour weeks, at the end of that time I was struggling to make 60k net after the government took its slice out of it.

So at that time I was watching my friends working their way up through the public service and they were toddling along not working half as hard as me but were all on salaries of well over 80k a year, this was still over 10 years ago now, I couldn't ever get on that train because as someone else pointed out in an earlier post you needed to be a citizen and I was just a permanent resident. it was maddening.

So I ended up moving to the south coast - 2 hours drive from canberra and re trained as a tradesman working in commercial construction ending up as a project manager, this pushed my salary up to around 75k but by this time my friends in the public service were all on 100k+ perks.

well the cost of living kept going up and up, housing went ballistic and in the end the flame just wasn't worth the candle and I worked myself so hard I just burnt out and we moved north and started living in the bush 10 hours from sydney and I just started doing a few projects a year and dropped my net take home pay to around 50k, but houses around this area are still affordable (still madly overvalued but compared to sydney melbourne canberra they are positively cheap) a 3 bedroom detached single story here is around 250k to 300k for something mid range but nice. in canberra now the same house would be 600k+

So I guess what I am saying is... 50k per year in Canberra for a public service job does seem really low but if they are offering you "substantial extras" I would think it's lots of overtime which could easily push it up to 75 or 80k - but you will be working 50 to 60 hours per week to achieve that.

Look I'm sorry we got off on the wrong foot before, (that was my fault and I apologize unreservedly) and I do wish you well and hope you can get this all sorted out, It must be confusing making sense of all the various conflicting stories you get about Australia, one story from the Gov websites, another story from the reps at the Australian info events in the UK and then the kind of things people have told you in here.

But the government spin doctors here are the same as everywhere else in the world and are hardly going to come out and say "Australia is a shadow of it's former self and is grossly overpriced at the moment" but that is in fact the truth of the matter right now, people in here are not trying to put you off or shatter your dreams but are just trying to give you a more realistic picture about just how crazy the cost of living has gotten here and how hard it will be these days to start here with nothing or just a small nest egg, the people who rave on about how brilliant it is here either got on the property train 20+ years ago or are in really high paying executive jobs or are wealthy self funded retirees, ask anyone here who is trying to make ends meet on a regular weekly wage and they will tell you times are pretty bloody tough at the moment. Housing, food, electricity, petrol have all gone through the roof in the last decade, the last 5 years have been just stupid and the gap between wealthy and struggling is immense and very unbalanced.

So just wanted to share my take on the situation with you, take it for what it's worth ie just my opinion, but I've been here almost 30 years now and it's a very different place now than when I arrived. - you can still do well here if you get on a good salary and have a bit of luck, but that's probably the same anywhere in the world. Australia is not the goose that lays golden eggs anymore, far from it.

regards

Kev

macatack007

Hello Kev.
Wow, firstly thank you for sitting down and taking the time to write such a great deal of information and some personal experiences. I guess, as all the heads of Government offices are in Canberra my wife should be able to find a job, fingers crossed.
I have been looking a lot at the house prices in the area and you are not wrong, I cannot find a decent 3 bedroom house within my budget of $350.
I am unsure if I get state sponsorship if they would allow me to work in Canberra and live in NSW (hope they would?)
Kev, I am not one for holding grudges and I apologise for being hot headed and for some of the rude comments I posted, you seriously didn't deserve them. After reading your post I can see where you were coming from and understand. I accept your apology and hope you accept mine also.
With regards to being confused, gosh, it is hard to remember everything people tell you and the people on this site have been absolutely first class. I couldn't have asked for anymore, I post a question and I get an answer within hours,
Again, I appreciate you taking the time and sharing your experience of Australia with me, oh yes and not to forget my grammar lessons

Pete

pomikev

Mate if you do get here I'll be more than happy to shout you a beer

Here's my take on the working in the ACT and living in NSW...

Canberra is slap bang in the middle of NSW, think of it like greater london being in the middle of south east england, now if you worked in central london but were looking to rent or buy a house somewhere nice on the edges and do the commute, say somewhere like guildford, you would still find that house prices were really high, well canberra is the same, within an hours commute of the ACT there are some nice little towns like murrunbateman (bad spelling but it's 3am here) lovely spot, nice houses, good roads but still really bloody expensive, it only really starts getting cheaper if you move out as far as yass to the north or braidwood to the south, but then you are talking about a long long commute everyday from a piss pot rural town with one pub, a really expensive local shop and bugger all services and crappy schools, the only real option for canberra if you are on a budget is queanbeyan, virtually part of canberra (like an outer suburb) 15 mins drive but technically (well actually) in NSW cos it's just over the state/territory border, but queanbeyan is a dump, crime riddled, rough as guts bikie gang hell.

Now I'm sure I'm going to get jumped on for saying that by some folks who are going to say there are nice parts of queanbeyan but then you are back in the 500+ per week rental trap or looking at half a mill upwards to buy into those pockets. either way you are screwed.

Trust me on this if nothing else - you will not be happy living in queanbeyan.

if you really want to know what it's like there have a listen to this.......

http://farsouthcoastscan.no-ip.com/

click on the police stream and listen to that on what would be a friday or saturday night our time, it's a live stream of the police patrol cars from queanbeyan down through braidwood to the south coast, domestic violence, drunken brawls, house invasions, burglaries, drunk drivers running road blocks, drug busts, the whole works, it's a real eye opener.

My brother is a policeman serving with the devon and cornwall constabulary and I got him to listen to that stream and give me his opinion, he was absolutely shocked and horrified.

It's highly entertaining though and riveting listening, much better than edited sanitised TV reality cop shows, this is the real deal with no punches pulled.

So, what can I tell you that will give you hope ? hmmmm that's a tough one, and I've sat here for a while thinking long and hard about it.......

Well as I said before if you can get plenty of overtime in it will be really well paid, and if your wife can get a job (unemployment is pretty low in canberra so she should be Ok with that one) then 2 incomes will make a huge difference and you should be sweet (bit of Aussie slang for you there )

I don't really know anything about the working restrictions you will be under on your visa but perhaps you could get a second job (lots of people do it even though it's hard yakka, (another bit of slang) Securing a decent income is going to be the key factor IMO, and getting off the rental market and into buying your own place is going to be paramount, and there are still bargains to be had, you do occasionally see older places for sale that need renovating and fixing up a bit but are still in decent suburbs, you just have to be in the right place at the right time and jump on them quick, but getting somewhere in Canberra for 300k is not an impossible goal, but you will have to be here already to find one of those, they don't get advertised and having a network of local connections and friends will make all the difference.

Let me have a bit more of a think and also I'll be chatting to a couple of mates this week who are still living and working in Canberra and I'll pick their brains a bit about what the real current situation is there re employment and housing and get back to you with my findings if you want.

kev

macatack007

I will hold you to that

I live in the South East (Suffolk) so I now understand the positioning of Canberra relating to the surrounding areas and house prices etc etc.

Good job you explained about queanbeyan, I was looking at houses in that area, phewwww.

I tried the link you provided re the police scanner and all links stated it could not be found.

I am going to go and have a look at propery prices in murrunbateman. Thank you again for the advice.

Pete

pomikev

wow, that's strange about the police scanner link, it's working here, maybe they have blocked it outside australia now.

i think its murrumbateman, also check out bungendore - thats about 30 mins south.

macatack007

It would have been interesting to hear what they had to say over the radio.

Checked both places nice and still expensive, may have to retrain...lol

quoll

Don't be put off by Queanbeyan, there are some nicer bits - I have friends who wouldn't live anywhere else because it does have a country town feel to it - but price wise it might be the only place you'll get. Murrumbateman is right over the other side of town - a fairly hefty commute along a not too brilliant road. Mind you, I also have friends in Yass who commute (and complain about the cost). You could go further South and try Michelago, Williamsdale, Royalla even as far down as Bredbo - it'd be closer than Murrumbateman I should think. Or you could go Bungendore or Wamboin. If you do look at Qbn, avoid Oaks Estate but as has been said, the cheaper the places the rougher the area usually. Qbn isn't that much different from any other NSW country town (and petrol is usually cheaper there!)

Getting a second job as a public servant requires permission which is not always given but depends on the nature of the second job - any conflict of interest and there's usually a No!

BTW I lived in Canberra and worked all over for 32 yrs before returning to beautiful Cambridge 18 months ago

macatack007

I guess I will keep my options open. It is the same in my job here, if you require a second job and it is a conflict of interest i.e bouncer, then it's a big fat no no.

How long is the drive from Camberra to Michelago, Williamsdale, Royalla and Bredbo.

quoll

Half an hour (Royalla) to an hour (Bredbo) into Civic but as you would be working on that road it would be about 10-15 mins shorter.
Huh! Just realised it is of course the Alexander MacConachie centre and I have been blithely calling it James - the Alzheimer's is kicking in!

macatack007

Lol... Thank you for the info