I'll check it out. My doctor prescribed Temazapine. I haven't looked it up yet but he claimed no lasting impact in the sense of drowsiness. Don't get on well with the recycled air on planes. Some airlines worse than others. I find an aisle seat best in preventing the feeling of being trapped. Nothing worse than being seated next to someone that sleeps most the flight and feel unable to disturb with any degree of frequency.

Alternative views should be welcomed. With so many of the old cliches now increasingly discredited, it should surely be time the 'old' Whingeing Pom should be laid to rest. Goodness, what is unfolding in this country should be shouted from the roof tops. The gravity is severe and the silence is deafening.

If the OP is still with us...I wonder if he and his wife have considered the compromise of a "trial run": going to Oz for just a year, and coming back if there is too much unhappiness. If they've been married long enough to have a three-year-old child, they have probably encountered a few situations already in their life together, that have required some kind of compromise. And a year isn't forever. What does the Team think?

I thought along those lines as well. Where I would be a bit reluctant though is the scarcity of rentals. (especially with a young child) It would be difficult, I imagine to stay in a Back packers? But definitely a good idea to get a feel for the country before deciding on a longer stay.

Yes, I take your point. But I assumed (?) that the Police Force would find a place for them to live. (Although the Police might well require a commitment longer than one year!)

The cost of shipping your home contents, plus airline tickets, alone likely makes the cost prohibitive, not to meantion sales of cars and buying replacements in Aus.

Unless you were recently a happy back-packing student, the idea of rocking up in Aus with the contents of two suitcases each and attempting to set up your life without spending a substantial amount on furniture and homewares (kitchen utensils, tablewares, bedding and towels, plus additional clothing) seems like a recipe for stacking the odds, heavily, against a happy and successful trial run. And then there's the cost of going home if the trial "fails", and either facing the cost of shipping newly purchased stuff back, or discarding it to get back down to the two-suitcases-each limit.

In short, I think the "try it for 12 months" is simply a bad idea for a family,

It well be the case. Thing is there is a high level of disgruntlement within the police. At least there is in WA. (record number leaving) Just the fact that it appears more of a discovery tour to see if like and fit (as in a year) suggests to me fraught with possible issues.

This team member is very much against giving it a go for a year or two - sorry but there is no guarantee that if one says nah, I hate it I want to go home, the other wont say "tough bikkies, I wont let you take the child" and if they are here on a visa that gives them some longevity all the court will say is that they are habitually resident here and wont let a child leave, no matter how much of a drop kick the other parent is. We have seen so many times that goalposts have been changed and someone ends up very unhappy - if there were a way around it, maybe like a signed contract of "if one of us hates it we will go home" but I expect the law would just chuckle at that and say too bad, too sad. It would be nice if you could be sure that everyone would stand by an agreement but, sadly, lots of people dont. In theory it is OK but not something I would do if I were a reluctant participant and if there was a child involved.

Yes, Pulaski is right. I go back to my original advice: Don't go. Born in Australia, I can say that every one of my ancestors was an emigrant/immigrant. But in those non-divorce times, once the boat sailed from England, there was no going back. And there was no telephone or WhatsApp either. Only postal letters, telling of the wretched circumstances - and no doubt many of them (the letters) saying what a swine the husband was for making his family move!

They could always give that option “a go” but I have known quite a number of “couples” who have tried that and bar one couple that option did not work out for the others ie one wanted to stay the other did not, children loved it wanted to stay parents did not and wanted to leave but felt guilty doing so stayed and they eventually separated or the other couple where the original partner (who wanted the move) was very unsettled and eventually left Aus leaving their ex being very happy in Australia. Migrating can open a can of worms, you can work through “things” if both are on the same ish page or by really listening to each others concerns and working on from that, my dad use to say “some things in life just take a bit hard work and compromise sometimes it worth it and for others life has a different plan”