Labour has been pretty racist in the past (my GF has literally been crying over the news of Labour/NZF/Greens getting elected, as she is a foreigner. Which reminds me, we should hurry up with getting the immigration paperwork done before they tighten up the rules....):

“39.5% of last names in a list of house sales sound Chinese”

https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2015/07/labour_blames_the_chinese.html

(the reality is only a very small % of house purchases are by non-citizens/residents)

After 9yrs out of power, is a bit sad to see them return to government. I just watched the live stream of the moment when Jacinda got sworn in as PM a few minutes ago.

In a nutshell, China's buying our resources again so we can all breathe.

China sneezes and Australia will catch a cold.

Hi @tenjin, I have worked mainly in the television industry as a freelancer, AD, floor manager, assistant producer etc, in Melbourne. So my advice on work would come from that angle.

@Haberdasher, do you feel the film industry is better in Sydney or Melbourne? (or Brisbane?!)

“On a 25-year mortgage, you’ll pay $24,000 in interest on the stamp duty so basically in total it costs $56,000 per house on average in Victoria over the life of a mortgage.”

WOW! That is insane that level of tax on every single house sale.

No sign of a housing price crash or recession in Australia, yet. There has only ever been two very slight downturns in my 60 years here. There is no price "bubble". That's the media doing the bankers bidding by creating an issue that does not exist. Prices will keep going up over the long term. The chart above is very revealing about the US economy, rather than showing any problem with other countries. Property is the same as any commodity and is subject to supply & demand, even if the supply & demand are manipulated by bankers in indirect ways.

Neither give a fuck about our children and their children.

Well...

Under capitalism a democratic republic, like every other form of state, is nothing but a machine for the suppression of the proletariat. The big bourgeois knows this from his most intimate acquaintance with the real leaders and with the most profound (and therefore frequently the most concealed) springs of every bourgeois state machine.

:-)

Improvements are clear

Property Council Australia’s deputy executive director of the Victorian division, Asher Judah, said affordable housing in Melbourne was getting worse every year while also blaming the soaring cost of stamp duty.

He said stamp duty had increased a whopping 795 per cent. Back in 1995, the average home cost $131,000 and stamp duty cost an extra $4000.

But today, people are paying $620,000 for an average home but $32,000 extra for stamp duty.

“On a 25-year mortgage, you’ll pay $24,000 in interest on the stamp duty so basically in total it costs $56,000 per house on average in Victoria over the life of a mortgage.”

http://www.news.com.au/finance/real-estate/buying/renters-resort-to-paying-for-tents-and-shared-rooms-due-to-high-cost-of-living/news-story/d3977d7c436ad9b4e94f11a56dee0fcb

@Haberdasher

That seems to be the situation so many young people are facing. Possibly dammed if they do, and dammed if they don't. Their high levels of debt is just a way of life that they've grown up in, and that's before a lot of them have a mortgage.

It is false choice.

If some rapist came and asked you choose one of two ways he want to fuck your daughter you won't be thinking what to choose. Here the solution is the same.

@kinvermark

Their approach is very popular lately, but had been used for long long time. Idea it so focus on bankers, as if they are some separate evil entity. Such sites and papers have huge flaws, like even not understanding that is the role of government and central banks.

Home prices and mortgages is also nothing new, it is indirect tax that ruling class imposes on workers.

Personally, I am not a socialist, but I certainly don't support unfettered capitalism either - the system needs to change.

Where is no good capitalism variants. So, improving capitalism is waste of time.

@kinvermark

Can you post here short version for lazy guys?

Well it had to start happening but I didn't think interest rates would start heading north until later on in the year. Wasn't the Reserve Bank, nor the Federal Govt, but the good old banks are taking it upon themselves to do it. One of the major 4 Banks increased home loan rates to existing loans and investment loans. 25 basis points to home loans. JP Morgan advised yesterday that housing investors could expect to see hikes of 3% in the near future. Lot of people gonna get caught out. Once again I hope I'm wrong.

Insecure, stressed, and underemployed: The daily reality for millions of Australians

The rise of the part-timer

The sectors of the economy that have enjoyed increased activity are healthcare, hospitality, and tourism. These sectors tend to be biased towards hiring part-time workers.

During the 1980s and 1990s both men and women were working more, and earning more (excluding the recession). Recently, however, the economy's been unable to sustain those jobs.

Now, women tend to be working 25 hours a week, while men also work 25 hours a week (in trend terms). So, overall, the household is working more, but because both jobs may not be strictly full-time, the actual combined take-home pay at the end of the day is less.

So yes, you guessed it, overall we're working more, for less pay.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-01/insecure-stressed-and-under-employed-the-daily-reality/8311462?WT.mc_id=newsmail&WT.tsrc=Newsmail

@tenjin

You sound like someone who can be confident of entry to Australia, so you may well find employment in your media field.

For others intending to emigrate to Australia, it's a good idea to look up our immigration points system for different kinds of visitors. (Basically the country selects people we need - so the healthy, honest, English-speaking, solvent and trained tend to get chosen).

Unless people qualify for immigration under family reunion or political asylum grounds, (which awards them high points) the bulk of candidates fall into the employment based category as specified on the Department's website: https://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Work/Work/Skills-assessment-and-assessing-authorities/skilled-occupations-lists/CSOL

Film and TV graduates do figure on the list (notably, video producers aren't needed much according to a note I read somewhere on the website):

• Artistic Director 212111 VETASSESS
• Media Producer (excluding Video) 212112 VETASSESS
• Radio Presenter 212113 VETASSESS
• Television Presenter 212114 VETASSESS
• Author 212211 VETASSESS
• Book or Script Editor 212212 VETASSESS
• Art Director (Film, Television or Stage) 212311 VETASSESS
• Director (Film, Television, Radio or Stage) 212312 VETASSESS
• Director of Photography 212313 VETASSESS
• Film and Video Editor 212314 VETASSESS
• Program Director (Television or Radio) 212315 VETASSESS
• Stage Manager 212316 VETASSESS
• Technical Director 212317 VETASSESS
• Video Producer 212318 VETASSESS
• Film, Television, Radio and Stage Directors nec 212399 VETASSESS
• Copywriter 212411 VETASSESS

When it comes to accommodation in cities, I tell people to check the real estate sites first for something you can afford, then use Google maps to work out commute times.