This observatory-making business is for sale in Queensland

Are you an intrepid entrepreneur with an interest in astronomy? We’ve got wind of a unique opportunity to buy a business that designs and makes small observatory domes and sells them to stargazing enthusiasts around the world.

Astrodomes is for sale to an investor from anywhere in the world, ideally one with a keen interest in amateur astronomy. Astrodomes are made form composite materials and transported to buyers ready-made, and are also supplied in kit form.

Typical orders retail between A$2.9m and A$6.5m each. Clients are mostly universities and observatories from all over the world. The company receives about 25 inquiries a month from around the world (many driven by advertising in specialist astronomy magazines) and about five orders in hand at the moment.

The enterprise demands ongoing investment in materials, communications and technology used in developing the product – and the current owner, Colin Blumson, has identified various ways of exploiting revenue streams further in the future.

Based in the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Blumson founded the company out of an interest in astronomy and a background in boat-building. Blumson is 71 and ready to retire, seeking a suitable new owner for the company he founded.

“I wish to find a person who can make Astrodomes the business success it deserves, so it can grow as happily and successfully as it can. I need to hand the baton on.”

Offered for sale at around A$4.25 mllion is around A$1.5m of materials, the brand, designs and other intellectual property, client database, sales in progress, transitional expertise and training along with a family home, workshop and 17 hectares of land on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland.

Interested parties should contact Mr Colin Blumson on  +61 7 5446 7449 or email colin@astrodomes.com

For listings of more investment opportunities in Australia, visit InvestinAustralia.com

For information on business investment visas click here

Nice work if you can get it... Australia needs to fill thousands of jobs in tourism and hospitality

What with everyone and their dog desperately wanting to visit Australia, tourism has long been a healthy earner for the country. So it stands to reason that there needs to be a large workforce of hospitable types ready to cater for them; not just for hotels and organised tours, but in fields from catering to marketing to adventure activities.

A new report for the Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism estimates that Australia’s tourism industry currently has around 35,8000 job vacancies which it needs to fill in order to fulfil its economic potential.

And that’s not all – by 2015 the holiday industry will need to recruit a further 56,000 people, including 26,000 skilled workers. Naturally, the idea of bringing in foreign workers to fill them is under discussion.

The industry suffers from a lack of specialist skills and staff retention, as many jobs within tourism and hospitality are seen as fairly casual.

So skilled overseas workers, who would be obliged to stay put in the job for a bit, are one solution. Extended student visas and 457 visas have already been introduced for overseas workers to this effect; both tie the visa to the job.

Structured career pathways can also help with retention, because people are likely to stick at a career for longer if they can see where it’s headed. Improved training and integration of indigenous workers could help meet the demand for Aboriginal ‘cultural experiences’ and improve indigenous employment at the same time.

This has not as yet resulted in further changes to the Permanent Skilled Migration rules, but new pathways could open up to certain skill sets in the future. Watch this space.

• Full report: National Long Term Tourism Strategy 

Home ownership accounts for most of the average Aussie's wealth

Australia’s wealthiest 20% of households are now 15% richer than they were five years ago, even after inflation adjustments. Meanwhile the poorest 20% are only 4% better off than they were then.

These findings, by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), will not be welcome news to all the protesters currently demonstrating in cities around the world against the ever-widening gap between rich and poor.

The ABS has also found that the wealthiest 20% households had an average net worth of A$2.2 million each (two-thirds of Australia’s household wealth), while the poorest 20% combined only owned 1% of household wealth, or about A$32,000 each.

Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania had lower average capital than Victoria, NSW and Western Australia. Rural areas were also worse off than capital cities by some margin. (averaging A$629,000 and A$772,000 respectively).

Most of this wealth exists in the form of home ownership – the average family’s biggest asset. More than 66% of Aussie families own their own homes, about half of whom own it outright or and half via a mortgage.

The good news is that even after inflation, the average Aussie household is still better off than they were five years ago, which isn’t the case in all countries. Average wealth across the board was up 14%.

The average Australian home is currently valued at around $531,000, and the average mortgage outstanding is A$188,000.

20% of households (presumably that millionaire top 20%) also own a second home or rental property. Over 75% of Aussie households also have superannuation funds as a major asset, averaging A$154,000 in value.

So although the gap between rich and poor seems to be as broad Down Under as it is anywhere else, Aussies still seem to be better off than many countries in terms of assets, home ownership and rising net worths.

Your pension no longer has to follow you Down Under - but there are tax implications to consider

If you’re lucky enough to have a British pension (an increasingly rare perk these days), and are looking to uproot to a new life Down Under, you won’t want to be leaving your retirement stash for dead. But a lot can ride on when you decide to transfer it, where, and how.

We spoke to Geraint Davies of Montfort International about the need to plan for a secure retirement. Relying on the Government is clearly unrealistic. Anybody moving out of the UK therefore needs to weigh up what to do with their current pension arrangements.

More and more migrants are becoming aware of Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Schemes (QROPS)… but is an Australian QROPS the ultimate panacea to cure all retirement planning woes? There’s plenty to think about in terms of when – and indeed whether – to transfer a UK pension to Australia.

Is it true that I have to move my pension fund within six months of emigrating? 

GD: No, and you don’t have to move your pension to Australia even after 6 months.  Many migrants make this mistake. In years gone by, you had to move your pension fund because of a very nasty Australian tax assessment on your UK pension. Now, not only have the tax rules been totally overhauled, but QROPSes have arrived. The tax hit has been toned down and you no longer have to move your pension to an Australian scheme.

There are 43 countries that operate a QROPS solution for those who call Australia home. And as for the six-month transfer rule; this is a common ploy used by Australian advisors to spook UK pension holders to transfer to an Australian superannuation scheme, when it’s not necessarily in their best interest.

Its true, however, that any transfer to an Australian scheme will only be tax free if made within six months of migration. It’s also true that if you move it within, say, 12 months and the scheme grows by 10 per cent (those were the days!), then the tax deducted from the fund would normally be less than about 1.5% of fund value… and the exchange rate can match that within a day.

Do I have to move it at all? 

GD: No, you don’t. This strategy of moving a scheme to Australia was abolished in 2006.  Today it’s a much more complex and finely balanced decision process. If you are being told by an advisor that you must transfer it to Australia, then walk away. And if you’ve already transferred, get an expert to check out the advice you were given, because you may be due some explanations as to why your retirement plans are needlessly and prematurely trapped in an Australian superannuation. You may find yourself unable to opt for an early retirement, while other expats can.

Under current rules, you can leave your pension where it is until you retire. In 99% of cases it’s not necessary to move it out of the UK. If you have been told this then you should register a complaint against the firm and ask for an advice review.

Can I move my pension to another, third-party country that isn’t Australia?

GD: Yes, and your advisor should discuss what options other countries offer. Some other countries will let you access your pension earlier than the UK (at age 55) and Australia (at age 60), so it’s not only worth looking into, but a necessity when an Australian advisor is keen to get you to transfer..

With such a weak pound at the moment, is it a bad time to transfer my pension?

GD: With the exchange rate as it is, I would only transfer into an Australian fund if it can hold your funds in pounds and allows you to withdraw in pounds (in a form that does not force you into a foreign exchange transfer). Really, I’d only consider this if you need the income to live on immediately. Why move funds when the foreign exchange is at its lowest in living memory? You’ll just lose money. You need to devote serious time to understanding your options.

Can I move my fund back to the UK again later on if I need to?

GD: Not without hiring some serious technical expertise. A recent case saw a fee of £20,000 being charged just to embark on the process. It seems outrageous, but that’s going rate for digging that person out of the deepest of tax holes. This required re-drafting of what is called the Trust Deed scheme rules, which is why it’s such a very expensive move. So don’t go there – don’t move a fund to Australia until you know you’re definitely staying for good, regardless of what the foreign-exchange rates are doing.

So what if I don’t stay in Australia? Does my pension scheme remain marooned there? Can I withdraw it from Australia at retirement age?

GD: Yes, you can withdraw your Australian pension when you retire, but if you are back in the UK, there’ll be a massive UK tax charge on return. It’s really not worth moving a fund to Australia, unless you’re 110% sure you are staying for good. If you keep your fund outside Australia for as long as you can (and that doesn’t mean leaving it in the UK), you won’t have to pay these taxes.

And will it be taxed as income in Australia? 

GD: It depends. Take these scenarios: A non-Australian QROPS delivering income to an Australian resident’s UK pension fund would be tax assessable. Meanwhile someone on a temporary visa, who is a tax resident in Australia and draws income from a non-Australian QROPS, will not be taxed on that income. Drawing from either a UK scheme or an Australian superannuation will be taxable on that income.

See how finely balanced this decision process actually is. But if you transfer it into an Australian superannuation scheme, as an Australian resident you wouldn’t normally have to pay tax on it. This is one of the advantages of transferring your pension to Australia, actually – as long as you know you’re staying put.

• With thanks to Montfort International

Want to be the next Bill Granger? Australia's states need talented chefs

‘Too many cooks’ is not a problem Australia has. In a country where eating out is part of life and the cuisine is to die for, the reverse is true – and the Skilled Migration Program has confirmed this by re-instating Cooks and Chefs to the lists of skilled workers needed in five Australian states.

So if your career is inspired by world-famous Aussie chefs like Bill Granger, John Torode, Jill Dupleix and Curtis Stone, now could be your migration moment.

Each state has identified a number of culinary talent it needs to find – and will sponsor – to fulfil local demand. State sponsorship is a great pathway to permanent residency, but cooks and chefs will have to be quick; when those sponsorship quotas are full, it’s likely that the doors will close again until the next time – if there is one – that they find themselves short.

Having an employment background (normally comprising at least 5 years experience) in one of the occupations on each state’s Skilled Occupations Lists, and also fulfil certain other criteria, the state will sponsor successful applicants to live and work in Australia with their families, for a period of two years.

Independent migration is not an option through this route (these occupations aren’t on the Australia-wide lists) – it’s a State Sponsorship opportunity. Successful migrants will have to live in that state – but when the two years are up, they can live and work wherever in Australia they choose.

The following five states are currently open to state sponsorship applications from eligible chefs:

• New South Wales (chefs only)
• ACT (Canberra)  (chefs only)
• Northern Territory (chefs only)
• Western Australia (chefs and cooks)
• Victoria (chefs and cooks).

As well as meeting the skilled occupation requirements for the sponsoring state, applicants also have to meet central Immigration Department criteria for the relevant visa, such as age, English language skills, health and character checks and commitment to the State – so there are further hurdles to jump even if you are accepted for state sponsorship.

Australia’s a brilliant place to be a chef, though. They take their tucker very seriously; the standard is high, and employment prospects are good. But chefs and cooks will have to act quickly – this could be a brief window of opportunity and it may or may not open again in the future. Everything could be totally different next year – so be quick!

A fossil-fuelled boom is boosting Gladstone's economy

New coal and gas extraction projects planned across Queensland are expected to increase demand for labour across the ‘Sunshine State’.

The A$80 billion worth of investment in the projects is likely to translate into around 38,000 new jobs – not just in fossil fuel operations but in construction.

Many construction workers will have to be flown in and out to various projects during their construction phase – moving between temporary accommodations around the state – but there will be some permanent and ongoing jobs as well..

The action is centred around the central Queensland coastal town of Gladstone and the Galilee Basin, and fly-in-fly-out workers are already being recruited from as far away from Ireland.

The biggest employer in the industry is US-owned construction engineers Bechtel. And the resulting economic boost is likely to have a knock-on effect, potentially increasing job opportunities in other sectors as well, including transport, logistics, hospitality, IT and marketing.

So if you dream of living or working in the Sunshine State, the next few years could prove fruitful. Just watch this space!

More migrants are needed to help build Australia's bright future

Australia’s Trade Minister, Craig Emerson, has called for Australia to increase immigration levels so that the country can exploit its “sparkling future in the Asian century”.

Its international trade links with prospering Asian countries have safeguarded Australia’s economic future, in constrast to the grim outlook in other first-world economies.

But the Trade Minister feels that a shortage of skilled labour is holding the country back from its export potential. He calls for more immigrants to be allowed in, both on a temporary and permanent basis.

But – crucially – most of these workers will be needed in regional and rural areas – especially the mining districts which are fuelling the primary exports boom. So unfortunately it’s not a case of migrants heading straight to the glitz and glamour of downtown Sydney or Melbourne – they are not the job-hunting hotspots. Perth, on the other hand, is a different story, acting as nerve centre for the Western Australian mineral rush.

Australia really needs to fill its provincial regions, which are the powerhouses of the current economic boom. The nation’s population is set to hit 35 million by 2050, and if all these people squeezed into the usual three or four state capital cities, it would probably take much of the fun out of living Down Under. Instead, regional towns need to expand and become cities themselves, spreading the workforce more evenly and into areas where it’s needed most.

In the Australian government’s 2011-12 budget, the intake of migrants was raised by 16,000, accounting for more than half of Australia’s growth. Six million (27 per cent) of Australia’s people were born overseas, which is pretty much the highest rate in the world.

This is a country of migrants, which opens its arms to more migrants, and continues to build a prosperous nation with a bright future. To take advantage of this, keep checking whether your employment skills are listed on the Skilled Occupation Lists (SOL) at www.immi.gov.au 

Make sure you get what you pay for: avoid unregistered migration agents and any that demand a lot of money up front

A registered migration agent was busted for fraud this morning in Chinatown, Sydney, when immigration and federal police officers entered her apartment with a search warrant.

Despite being registered with the Migration Agents Registration Authority (MARA; as is the legal requirement for all migration agents acting for potential migrants into Australia), the unnamed migration agent allegedly charged a number of clients for visa application services she never delivered. She allegedly pocketed more than A$80,000 in fees and used fake Commonwealth documents in the process.

The authorities are working out what charges can be laid against her, but meanwhile the incident has caused concern throughout the migration services industry, because the agent was registered with MARA until she ceased trading as a migration agent in 2010.

Potential migrants have always been warned against using unregistered migration agents, who are trading illegally and therefore aren’t obliged to follow a code of conduct that safeguards client’s consumer rights.

But to find that a legally registered migration agent has been ripping off clients despite her accreditation comes as something of a shock. In order to protect its integrity as a licensing body and watchdog, MARA will need to be very tough in pursuing and prosecuting any agents found to be abusing their position.

If you’re using a migration agent, step one is to check online that they’re registered with MARA, at www.mara.gov.au. Try to research their reputation or source some independent testimonials if you can, and be very wary of any agents who demand large sums of money up front before they deliver anything.

Report any incidents of visa fraud to the immigration department at www.immi.gov.au – as a consumer you do have rights, and there are procedures there to protect you.

The forecast is all good Down Under

The future’s bright for Australia’s economy. While the rest of the west appears to be caught in an epic domino-effect of doom, the economic forecast Down Under is as perky and upbeat as its people.

Like a mountain weathering a tornado, Australia seems to be relatively immune to the economic storms that rage around the globe. Prudent economic policies, a culture of debt aversion that sees families saving up rather than ‘paying later’, and a careful strengthening of funding, liquidity and capital position since the 2008 crisis, have combined to keep Australia relatively stable despite the shockwaves hurled at it from partner economies.

The mining boom has helped a lot, with export earnings hitting a record high of A$175 billion in the past year. The Reserve Bank of Australia predicts that the financial outlook looked set to remain positive over the foreseeable future, as long as Australia remains cautious in its lending and doesn’t get all credit-happy like the rest of us.

An official vote of confidence, has come from economic ratings agency Standard & Poor’s, which has affirmed Australia’s triple-A credit status, awarded to only 18 countries globally. This means that if it does need to borrow it can do so at preferential rates. The US, meanwhile, has been downgraded to ‘AA+; outlook negative’ , and some economists predict the UK may follow suit.

Credit ratings explained here:

Semi-skilled workers in certain industries could join skilled migrants in Australia

Under guidelines published earlier this year, Australian employers may soon be able to import semi-skilled workers from other countries, provided they cannot fill the job from the Australian workforce.

This is a really exciting new development, and could add lots of new jobs to the list of in-demand workers who may be eligible for migration.

Australia’s economy is one of few in the West that is growing, fuelled partly by an upturn in its primary resources sector. And with all the investment that’s going on, people are needed to work in associated projects, such as roads, rail and ports infrastructure.

Australian temporary work visas have already surged by a massive 40% in the past year, and these measures are likely to increase this still further, as semi-skilled workers join their ranks.

There are currently 73,500 foreign skilled workers in Australia, working in a range of industries form healthcare to IT, mining and construction. Their average salaries have risen to almost A$100,000 a year.

Employers are not allowed to ‘draft in cheaper labour’ by undercutting the pay or benefits packages they offer their Australian employees. And while there’s no limit to the number of skilled foreign workers they can bring in, the number of semi-skilled and unskilled labourers will be capped.