I'm trying to persuade my mum that moving to Australia is a better option than staying in England. What points could I make that shows that Australia is a better option than England?

She's worried about employment for teachers there, education for us children and the cost of living. Alsoo what places are nice to live in around Australia.

Thankyou xx

Hi, Read this update (from today) from someone living in Melbourne.

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=673936

Are you secondary or primary. Cost of livin is huge especially when you look back at uk. Education i am afraid awful. I absolutly love this country for a holiday or workin break, but to educate kids or live wow. Think hard.

Really? I thought it would be cheaper to live in Australia cause Englands EXPENSIVE. I'm 17, my brother and sister are 15 and 12. I thought the education would be regular?

Sorry your seventeen! Talk to your mum i really dont want to know!

what? I am talking to my mum about this

Teaching jobs are hard to find in the nice places that everyone wants to live in - there are vacancies out in the mulga where no Aus teachers want to live (and probably neither would you).

Education for you guys is not as good as the UK would be - and if you want to go to university here you will have to pay up front, no accruing debts to pay back later, you will be up for anything between $5k and $10k a yr depending on what you study with no grants or scholarships until you have citizenship. Also, dont come until you have A levels under your belt. Moving here at 16+ is a very risky situation.

Expensive????? There are loads of threads on here but when I visited my folks in February, I found UK to be much cheaper for the staples. Petrol was more expensive for sure but the rest was surprisingly cheap in comparison. Getting on the housing ladder here is increasingly difficult and our mortgage interest rates are rising.

I'd say that if your mum has a secure job in UK she would be nuts to leave it in hopes of getting a teaching job here.

Some people on this site are not enjoying it here and a balanced view is hard to find. Equally hard to find from those who are loving it here. You can rest assured that most of the same problems exist here as in the UK, expense of life being one. I wouldn't change it for the world and love it here. For me, the quality of life is superior.

Quality of life probably edges it here than in the UK for many/most. I think it's a bit easier here to find a decent place to live than it is in the UK. If you are already living happily in the UK though then it's an awful lot to throw away on the off chance it might be better here in Australia.

Cost of living, especially for new migrants is a bit of an eye opener. If you compare like for like between the UK and Oz then Oz is currently staggeringly expensive... but it's a bit deceptive. Exchange rate movements between the two countries have distorted things and people will probably get paid more here than the UK. As an example, if somebody currently earns 30,000 pounds in the UK and thinks that the equivalent $52,000pa would give them the same buying power here in Oz then they are in for a very nasty shock.

For sure. I reckon that 52,000 would have to be nearer 70......

yeah, I would go with that figure as well.

I agree with some of the others, finding a teaching job is one thing but finding a good one is another.

I believe the standard of education here is good, but I would only go private - there are too many feral children with a disruptive influence in government schools.

Agreed. Don't simply rely on the current exchange rate when comparing wages.

It does vary slightly though depending on if you are coming from northern England or the south.

Why indeed!

You're 17, you have the energy and mindset to experience all the world has to offer. If your mother wants you to develop as a person then I would think she would encourage you to branch out, even though she would miss you.

My advice is to get some kind of working holiday visa and try it out for a bit, if you like it then investigate more permanent options.

I'll leave the last word to Ferris (showing MY age):
"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it"

Good luck, enjoy, savour.

(edit) And for Christ's sake, don't try and work out the relative cost of living ... people do that at 37, not 17