quoll

Nice dea as long as you don't have kids in HS - moving them here and there and back again can be very disadvantaging unfortunately. If you are single or married with no kids then I'm all in favour of moving where the best opportunities are - even with PS aged kids you have some flexibility but after the first year or two of HS it's a whole different ball game.

verystormy

A few points.

Unemployment in young people is actually higher in Oz - 24% in Oz and rising against 21% in the UK and falling

It is of concern that you couldn't get a job in logistics / freight in WA given it is a major freight centre.

The Oz economy is starting to stutter as mining undergoes significant slow down. There have been a lot of redundancies in the mining industry recently and there are going to be more. While it initially affects WA and QLD more, it will quickly affect the other states as well.

Being an employer of a number of Oz graduates I am pretty shocked at the quality of teaching they have received. They are a year or two below Europen grads. I know where I would want my children to go to uni.

paulry

That'll begin to change as soon as the current bunch of clowns get booted out

Swerv-o

You think that mining will pick up again under Abbot?


S

verystormy

I would like to think so, but I just can't see it. It's not just about the carbon and mining tax any more, but the cost of operating. Look at the most recent major layoffs:
Newcrest - gold so no mining tax, but have been hit by carbon tax
Newmont - gold and not affected by either
Bronze Wing - gold and not affected by either.

A number of the nickel mines are struggling / have made redundancies.

One of the major exploration drill companies went into administration this week.

Lead / zinc exploration is non existent.

renth

My understanding is that the cost of mining the materials is going up fast (fuel, wages etc...) and the yields/prices are going down.

astera

I reckon that the gov't should have run the mining industry differently, not allowing mining companies to pillage the continent on their own but simply sun-contracting external companies to extract minerals/resources FOR the gov't. All resources would be owned and subsequently sold by a gov't-owned entity.

Amazulu

Wages are stable, or falling

High AUD is hurting (although helping when importing gear)

paulry

[ I'd say it's more likely to improve under Abbot than get worse. But some good points raised by VeryStormy.

RedDragon2008

If I were you I would stay as
- you have a job which covers all the costs & you love
- no mortgage
BUT, you have a stay at home husband

Things aren't cheap here even though the A$ is high. It's an expensive move and the exchange rate is definitely not in yr favour. You will both need to work in Australia and have a mortgage. Aussie employers aren't great with flexible working hrs unless you worked with them prior to children & there's no guarentee you'll get a job either.

You've answered yr own question I think and it doesn't matter what the rest of us say. Good luck!

verystormy

Who is going to find the deposits? Exploration is a VERY risky business - has a failure rate of 99%. Then mining itself is high risk. You decide to build a mine that may take several years but you don't know if the metal price is still going to make it worthwhile. So, you commit maybe a couple of billion dollars and it then fails because either the metal price has fallen, or a host of other reasons such as geotechnical, metallurgy or others. Who is going to pick up the bill?

Is the tax payer happy to be funding mines that are loss making - there are a number in Oz at the moment which are kept alive in the hope in the long term the metal price will pick up.

Zen10

The answer is that both countries are the best for your children's futures. If your children have British and Australian citizenship they have more opportunities than both British and Australian citizens. Therefore the best course of action is to secure their Australian citizenship. Then they have both.

dave99

This is exactly that I have noticed as well. It feels like Aus is stuck in a stasis bubble, things are very very slow to change if ever. I often find myself shaking my head at things that could be improved and in the UK would be, but its like people are in a collective daydream with their heads filled with cotton wool. Like the heat has fried some circuits in their brains, and no amount of logic and reason can open their eyes.

At work its frustrating trying to get things done, there is an undercurrent of disorganisation, laziness and dont give a crap attitude that makes things an uphill struggle. But outside of work its the complete opposite, in social time they suddenly wake up and try to cram events into every hour of the day and I want to just say, calm the f*** down and enjoy your time off

Amazulu

Every country does some things well, other things badly

Plenty of things in the UK are backward, lazy, disorganised, f**ked up, 3rd world even. Others things are done well

Same in Australia, as in every other country

paulry

Yup! And not forgetting they can pass it on to their children too. This century is sure to be full of tough challenges so the more citizenships we can load up our kids and their kids with the better.