More people are choosing to emigrate to Australia.
Australia remains the number one choice for Britons thinking of emigrating abroad so just why would people leave this rain-soaked island to live in a land of sunshine? Well according to a recent survey by Currency UK, one of the main reasons people want to emigrate to Australia is because of the uncertainty surrounding the government and economy of the UK at the moment.
Brits still make up the majority of migrants entering into Australia. In 2007-08 13,700 Brits entered Australia on skilled visas and that doesn’t take into consideration the many Brits who choose Australia as a place of retirement.
So why choose Australia over Europe and the Americas? Well for most people they fall in love with Australia after holidaying there, which is what happened to Phyllis and Paul Groundwater from Scotland. They both worked in Australia on temporary visas for two years before returning to the UK with heavy hearts: “We moved on, always with the view that we would try to return one day.”
So let’s have a quick look at what Australia has to offer emigrating Brits.
Australian Climate
It’s no exaggeration to say that Australia has one of the best climates in the world. Summer stretches for 10 long months before the winter cold sets in. Depending on whereabouts in Australia you set up home, winter can either be quite cold and even snowy or mild and wet. The Australian summer corresponds to our winter, December – February whilst winter is from June to August. That means Christmas is often spent on the beach with a Barbie!
Australian Economy
The Australian economy was one of the only ones to survive the global recession and is getting stronger than ever. Immigration in Australia has played its part in keeping the economy buoyant as new people entering into the country are filling skilled shortages and in turn increasing demand for commodities. Strong trade relations with the Asia/Pacific market have also helped Australia to keep a strong and healthy economy.
The Australian economy is as solid as its rocks.
Couple that with a much better banking system (ranked 4th in the world) that is governed with prudence. Not one dollar of taxpayers money has been lost by bank depositors in over one hundred years. This reliability and trust has helped the banks to create a formidable reputation and savers are happy to trust the banks with their investments.
Also the mining industry is going from strength to strength with many new projects being planned for parts of Western Australia. This will create even more jobs and will mark Australia as one of the biggest suppliers of LPG and other minerals.
Australian Property
The government have put restrictions on foreign investors lately in a bid to halt the rising house market fuelled by Chinese investors in Australian property. However these restrictions don’t affect people emigrating to Australia too much. A quick call should secure approval from the Foreign Investment Review Board (this isn’t necessary if you already have resident status) and you are then free to buy your home. Older properties may be disallowed for foreign buyers so do beware of that.
Property prices are highest around the main cities of Sydney and Melbourne. But places such as Brisbane (recently outed as the top spot for Brits relocating to Australia) still offer bargains. Average prices for Brisbane are around $445,000. Adelaide and Hobart are currently the cheapest places to live in Australia. Buying a property in Australia could also turn out to be a good investment as it is unlikely that the market will crash due to the stability of the banks and the economy as a whole, and the fact that there is still a lot of demand for housing in Australia. So it’s still a good time to buy a property knowing that it can only rise in value as Australia becomes one of the wealthiest nations in the world.
Families
Education is fantastic in Australia. Almost 80% of all children in Australia go on to higher education and Australian Universities are amongst some of the best in the world. Private schools vary from catholic to Islamic and non-church schools so there is a variety of choices if you can afford to pay the private rates, although with the good reputation of state education there really is no need.
Children appreciate the vast array of wildlife around them.
Healthcare is also very good. The Australian version of the NHS is a scheme known as Medicare which is available to those living permanently in Australia. Private healthcare is also an option and can be arranged through work.
Generally children brought up in Australia tend to have the kind of childhoods that we see as traditional here in the UK. As Louise, an Australian born national describes: “Playing outside all year round, holidays at the beach, swimming and sport at school outdoors every day, BBQ on the weekends, playing games with other kids in the street.” Kirsty, another Australian, agrees with the concept of a “perfect childhood”, saying that she had the outback practically on her doorstep. Land is something that Australia is not short of and so families are delighted to discover that most homes in Australia are detached with large gardens.
Even the cities are dotted with huge parkland areas and there are festivals and carnivals galore so that no one weekend is ever the same!
Lifestyle
The Australians are noted for their friendly, laidback lifestyle. As much as 80% of the population live within 50kms of the coast so you can see why most of their lives are spent outdoors. Australians are also extremely sporty, with a huge variety of sports on offer, from traditional surfing to the Grand Prix, tennis and cricket. You can’t get healthier than a lifetime of outdoor activities!
If that isn’t enough to convince you, Australia is home to one of the world’s oldest living civilisations – the Aboriginal people. It has breathtaking scenery and currently boasts 107 places on the national heritage list. It has rainforests, vast plains, rocky mountains, deep blue oceans, spectacular volcanoes, canyons, waterfalls and deserts – there isn’t a landscape that Australia doesn’t have! Well, apart from snow and ice. It truly is an amazing place. So why not book a holiday in Australia – we guarantee you’ll fall in love with it and then when you decide to emigrate, we’ll be here to help you every step of the way!
Love Australia? Let us keep you informed...
- Join the Embrace Australia community today. Have your questions answered by our experts, start your own blog, get vital migration information and gain valuable insight from those who have already made the journey.
- Subscribe to our RSS Feed and have all our daily news and features delivered straight to your news reader.
- Join our mailing list -
