After living in Australia, then the UK, and now Australia again, I think the TOTAL cost of living is about the same, maybe a little cheaper in Australia.

I found groceries only slightly cheaper in the UK than Australia. Meanwhile alcohol, clothes, furniture (including whitegoods), electronic goods, and telecommunications (mobile, home phone, internet, cable TV, etc.) are more expensive in Australia than the UK. The choice in these is dependent on where you live in Australia. Sydney and Melbourne are on par with the UK as far as choice of products go, IMHO.

BUT the UK was a lot more expensive than Australia for all forms of insurance (car, house, etc.), utilities (especially gas but also electricity), transport, petrol and other on-road car expenses. I also found rent to be higher in the UK than here, but this is obviously dependent on where you are living in either country. Then throw in exorbitantly high council tax payable every month including for tenants (tenants don't pay council tax/rates in Australia), TV licence, and winter heating expenses, and things more or less balance out between the two countries.

In my field (education), salaries are considerably higher in Australia than the UK and increase faster, but I understand that in some other industries, UK salaries are better than Australia. Once again, things probably level out on average.

It is also worth taking inflation into consideration. After a couple of years living in the UK, I thought everything, including groceries, was much more expensive than in Australia, but I was comparing it to how I remembered prices two years earlier in Australia. When I came back to Australia, prices had gone up here too!

Anyway, where Australia has an edge in the cost of living stakes is in terms of lifestyle. It is easier to get outside and enjoy doing things that cost almost nothing, like spending a day at the beach, having a picnic in a park, taking long walks, swimming in rivers, lakes, etc.

In saying all that, I think the UK is a wonderful country overall. Culturally rich, close to the rest of the world, beautiful villages, great TV, and a brilliant sense of humour. I also found it to have a more mature, adult society than Australia where everything is censored and dumbed down to suit the brain of a 5 year old! Grr!

I did, however, witness crime on a scale I had never experienced in Australia. Sure, Australia has murders and assaults but most of these are between people who know each other. In the UK, "happy slapping" and other random attacks on strangers, seemed to be a lot more frequent and therefore made it a scarier place to live. I also noticed a lot of people on the streets in the UK who seemed miserable, angry, or generally lacking spirit. I don't see as much of this on Australian streets - sure, Australia has lots of problems and loads of imperfections, and I desperately wish some things would change here, but people overall are fairly cheerful, which does rub off on you.

Cut out the stirring, its unnecessary.

And im not even involved,for once

Having never seen these types of shows, does it say anywhere what type of visa these people might be coming over on? Or if they are even entitled to a visa in the first place?

They often give some kind of "fluffy" info like - "they are going on a skilled visa because he is a bricklayer" or "she is married to an Australian so they can move there even though she is separated from him now"(that one from a few years ago, she'd got a spouse visa while they were still together, but that emerged MUCH later).
And the usual impression is that they decide they want to go to Aus and hey presto the visa arrives in a couple of weeks, and off they go. No real info on the process involved, and even when info is given it is usually out of date. I would advise anyone watching these programmes to ignore the info given about the visa process and get proper advice.

Surely they're here on tourist visas for the taping of the programme, though?

I would guess so - but again this isn't stated, and none of the participants on here have said. There's no mention on screen of needing a visa to visit, or if little things like declaring criminal records before getting one.
Certainly not any good to base any migration research on.

That Amanda lamb used to be a real babe,now she looks like an aussie chick

bloody hell im only agreeing with someone

pathetic

I think this is one of the most practical and thus also objective posts I have seen for a while on cost of living and an insightful one on crime which I think on the face of it has a lot of value.

In my opinion, Australia is cheaper in *some* aspects and the more mature and analytical posters see that. But that goes against *your* spin, does it not?(!)

Indeed. All that is so 2002 lol. We worked this out quite quick which is why we avoided practically the entire 'expats' package that so many go for.

So are you suggesting that all those posters who point out the high cost of living are 'immature'?

....and why is it *my* spin?

many posters often say the same thing.

Ah, but if he is are you not saying that those that say it's not are immature also

It costs what it costs, the UK can be expensive - so can Australia. I do think that the amount of hidden taxes in the UK are more than here - at least here they are always direct about it and you know it's tax.

I would never pay $500k for a house here, but then I'd not pay the equivalent in the UK either - why? Well because I wouldn't be able to afford it

It's all relative to the income you have, the outgoings you incur and the way in which you are able (or willing) to budget. Simple really

If you wanted to buy a house in most parts of Brisbane you would have no choice