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So what's the deal with this stuff I'm hearing about the Australian government changing the working holiday visa in June to tax 30% of every dollar made? Instead of 30% after the first ~18k? (this is how it is currently, right?) True or false? I'm American and if I recall correctly can only get the 462 and cannot do a second year, even if I put in the agricultural work. If true that pretty much ruins the working holiday visa from being a profitable venture 
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Feb 17, 2016 21:49
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I LIKE COOKIE posted:So what's the deal with this stuff I'm hearing about the Australian government changing the working holiday visa in June to tax 30% of every dollar made? Instead of 30% after the first ~18k? (this is how it is currently, right?) Slightly worse than that, but pretty much correct. They did away with the tax-free threshold for backpackers by making it impossible to get tax residency on a WHV, so you get classified as a non-resident for tax purposes and saddled with 32.5% income tax from the first dollar. Under the old system, you'd have only been liable for 19% tax on income above the 18k but below 37k, the 32.5% is actually the marginal rate for AU$37-80k/yr. There maaaay be hope, I just read an article earlier this week (after seeing nothing in the news for months) that farmers and effected groups are finally starting to make noise in an organised fashion. One proposal they're talking about is doing away with superannuation contributions for WHVers, which appears sensible at first, but doesn't actually address the problem on its own. It's not that backpackers are suddenly becoming too expensive to pay, just that they're getting too much tax taken out after the fact to make it worth coming here and working. Would employers then pass the 9.5% they would be paying in super directly on to the backpackers, I guess? I have a feeling less financially literate Aussie employees would get kind of salty about that, and it will probably make doing payroll more of a pain in the butt. At any rate, the sense I got from the article is "Well, we're going to wait and see if people actually do bail in droves this year when it comes into effect  ". I was doing some picking work last month and it was probably 90% backpackers, it would be interesting to see how it impacts the agricultural sector (particularly fruit). And by that I mean "holy crap it is really gonna suck for a lot of farmers". Personally, I think it would be way easier and more reasonable to just keep things the way they are, but have the government collect their super fund as tax after the backpackers leave, effective for anyone arriving after July 1. 9.5% tax is reasonable*, and since it'd be going into the super, it's not money that the WHV makers would be missing in terms of getting by in their day to day lives anyways. Sure, some would grumble, but given that it's money separate from their usual paycheque that it'd be months before they saw anyways, psychologically I don't think it would have much of an impact. Plus, it saves the government having to amend the tax code just to accommodate backpackers, employers having to do separate payroll for backpackers with no super, etc. There, I fixed it. Pompous Rhombus for Treasurer  *In the article, the current Treasurer whinges that backpackers use health and emergency services without paying tax, seemingly unaware that backpackers aren't covered by Medicare and are required to have health insurance. Emergency services (and other stuff like roads, libraries, etc) I do see, and he does have a point that the vast majority of WHV holders won't pay any tax aside from GST, so I don't think it's unreasonable to ask them to pay something. Pompous Rhombus fucked around with this message at 22:46 on Feb 17, 2016 |
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Feb 17, 2016 22:34
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Pompous Rhombus posted:*In the article, the current Treasurer whinges that backpackers use health and emergency services without paying tax, seemingly unaware that backpackers aren't covered by Medicare and are required to have health insurance. Emergency services (and other stuff like roads, libraries, etc) I do see, and he does have a point that the vast majority of WHV holders won't pay any tax aside from GST, so I don't think it's unreasonable to ask them to pay something. I, for one, am excited to get paid 60 cents on the dollar and still have to pay for health insurance when I come this year. Thank god I have some okay savings and the US dollar is really strong right now.
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Feb 18, 2016 22:43
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A Time To Chill posted:I, for one, am excited to get paid 60 cents on the dollar and still have to pay for health insurance when I come this year. You're not going to be paying taxes, why would you expect to get free healthcare?
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Feb 18, 2016 23:56
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Pretty sure whv people pay taxes, or at least should be.
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Feb 19, 2016 00:29
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Omgz posted:Pretty sure whv people pay taxes, or at least should be. Well they don't pay the medicare levy, was more what I was referring to.
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Feb 19, 2016 00:36
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Also lol at Americans being surly about not being able to access healthcare in a country in which they are not even a citizen 
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Feb 19, 2016 00:37
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I'm not a citizen/pr and I definitely pay the Medicare levy. You claim exemption when you do your taxes.
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Feb 19, 2016 00:44
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Omgz posted:I'm not a citizen/pr and I definitely pay the Medicare levy. You claim exemption when you do your taxes. That's what an exemption is, it exempts you from paying that tax because you're not eligible to receive the benefits from it.
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Feb 19, 2016 02:18
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I'm an Australian citizen with permanent residency in the USA and l cannot even tell you what I don't have access to, or how much I have to pay for health care (thank god my husband has insurance now). Soooo ya. Boo frickin' hoo.
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Feb 19, 2016 02:31
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HookShot posted:Yes and then that exemption - gasp - gets you your money back, which means you never paid into the system, so why should you get free healthcare when you never paid the tax for it? Yes you do get it back obviously, but not until after you give it to the government as an interest free loan for a year. I'm not arguing for free healthcare for temporary residents, just stating facts. Edit: let me make this clear for prospective temp residents. You will pay taxes, and you will pay the Medicare levy until you file for exemption when you do your taxes. Omgz fucked around with this message at 03:14 on Feb 19, 2016 |
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Feb 19, 2016 02:49
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HookShot posted:You're not going to be paying taxes, why would you expect to get free healthcare? I have no problems paying taxes and getting services. The issue is I will be paying taxes and getting no services. Much like my own lovely country. So yeah I guess not a huge deal since I'm used to terrible government.
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Feb 19, 2016 03:10
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Sharks Below posted:Also lol at Americans being surly about not being able to access healthcare in a country in which they are not even a citizen America sucks the most. You will get no argument here.
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Feb 19, 2016 03:11
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if my nick was "a time to chill" i would never post except for when threads got salty and then i'd kool-aid man my way in like HEY CHILL
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Feb 19, 2016 03:22
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willus posted:if my nick was "a time to chill" i would never post except for when threads got salty and then i'd kool-aid man my way in like HEY CHILL Haha I like that. Kool-aid man would make for a good av too.
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Feb 19, 2016 03:27
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HookShot posted:You're not going to be paying taxes, why would you expect to get free healthcare? Well, he'll be paying 32.5% income tax come July 1 (and not receiving healthcare in the bargain, which was his point).
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Feb 19, 2016 05:51
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Anyone have experience using HBO Now here? I've got a US billing address/credit card, but no paid VPN service. Can I get away with just Hola? All I've been able to find online is that they cracked down on it last April, but not sure if that's just people using iTunes GC's or Aussie credit cards. Related, but might be useful to someone: I was able to get the Spotify student discount by using my old US university email login, and attaching my Aussie tuition statement as proof of current enrolment. They don't offer student pricing for Australia (so I don't think an Australian university email will work for registration), but I guess whatever temp in India checks the tuition bills doesn't really give a hoot, was approved within a few minutes. In other news, I get to look forward to moving a couple months early thanks to my landlord deciding to bring in a random Spanish couple next week (originally lured me into staying saying my partner and I would have the place to ourselves for two months after she got here, then dropped that on me a couple weeks ago). From looking at new places I found out it wasn't legal for him to collect the bond from me directly last year*, so I now have a meeting with the free student legal advice people on Tuesday to figure out what my rights are in this situation. I don't *think* he's going to try and keep it since I'm effectively being replaced by higher-paying tenants, but I want to shut him down as quickly as possible if he starts making noises in that direction. Also found out I've got zero credit history here thanks to the off-the-books lease I'm currently on, which isn't really a surprise, but certainly isn't going to help. The places I've been looking at have had disheartening amounts of interest, this is timed pretty badly with the start of uni. One place did say that bringing in statements with bank account balance can help out, so I'm going to try that when I go in to drop off the paperwork Monday morning. *This makes total sense and I think it's a fantastic arrangement, but I've never heard of anything like it until recently. edit Came across this today looking something up on WHV visas: looks like as of late last year, doing WWOOFing/other volunteer work no longer counts towards eligibility for 2nd year visas. Personally, I find using volunteers to fill what ought to be paid positions somewhat questionable at best, but this + the tax increase on WHV makers is going to make for some interesting shifts in the agricultural labour market this year. Reminded me to see if any movement had happened on the tax situation, all I could find was a tiny blurb from earlier this week that said the treasurer told parliament they were "working through" the issue. Pompous Rhombus fucked around with this message at 23:44 on Mar 5, 2016 |
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Mar 5, 2016 07:27
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Wait so if a foreigner breaks their leg while on holiday here, are they just completely hosed like they would be in America? Thats horrible imo, maybe people on holiday shouldn't get bulk billed gp visits but serious stuff like that shouldn't have the potential to bankrupt you. On a different topic though, have any of the people in this thread gone up mt barney/done ovenight hikes in seq in winter?
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Mar 12, 2016 03:05
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A Saucy Bratwurst posted:Wait so if a foreigner breaks their leg while on holiday here, are they just completely hosed like they would be in America? Thats horrible imo, maybe people on holiday shouldn't get bulk billed gp visits but serious stuff like that shouldn't have the potential to bankrupt you. That's true everywhere though. That's why you should always get travel insurance. Though not every country charges like America, when I spent a day in hospital in Iceland for kidney stones the CT scan + bloodwork + bed for 8 hours was only around $600 out of pocket. Which I was then refunded by my travel insurance. But yeah depending on what you do it can get super expensive.
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Mar 12, 2016 03:16
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Hey thread. I'm planning a move from Brisbane to Canberra in May. I'm seeking advice on moving interstate for the first time, going from a sharehouse to a 1bdr/studio apt. Any tips on negotiating rentals in ACT, whats the rail freight like in canberra, can i put all my poo poo in a container and move it or will it be better to backload? major furniture i have is a queen bed w/ sidetables and medium bookcase. I do have a fuckarse huge dining table (2.4mx1.9mx0.9m) but might find a taker here. i'll probably ditch my desk and get a new one down there. No fridge, washer, dishwasher or couch/tv. Other stuff is full kitchen, clothes, ~100 books, a few computers and peripherals, a big bunch of tools, some bulky miniature wargaming boxes. I've been told that the majority of residents move in march (march in march out for defence force people) and so post march i'll have better chances negotiating with rent prices as otherwise empty apartments will remain empty till next year. I'll probably load my car with some stuff and drive down but what would be best for moving a motorbike there? Whats the NBN/ADSL/Cable internet situation like? Currently with optus for mobile but theyre loving with their cable modem firmwares lately and i dont like it, but thats minor. Who are the local goons? whats the parking like? Is there free motorbike street parking or should I get a bicycle? How is the bicycle network? Whats the better hospital for cardiac services? Are there any meetups i should be aware of or try to go to for networking? Negative Entropy fucked around with this message at 02:38 on Mar 20, 2016 |
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Mar 20, 2016 02:36
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Can anyone recommend a good VPN?
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Mar 26, 2016 09:50
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IPVanish
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Mar 26, 2016 11:57
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I'm going to Sydney for ~10 days in July. Planning to get out to the blue mountains if reasonable, will want to visit museums, and I'm mostly a food traveler. I like hole in the wall places of just about any cuisine. Where should I go?
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May 16, 2016 01:28
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I like turtles posted:I'm going to Sydney for ~10 days in July. I couldn't tell you specifics, but have a look at this blog: http://www.b-kyu.com/ They're Sydney based and eat just about everything, everywhere - usually suburban rather than central, but there's enough in the city to keep you occupied.
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May 16, 2016 02:08
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Finch! posted:I couldn't tell you specifics, but have a look at this blog: http://www.b-kyu.com/ Awesome, thanks, I'll check that out, looks like a good resource.
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May 16, 2016 02:28
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Hey everyone, We are hauling our family over from the US to the Brisbane area for about 10 days in late July/early August, staying in the city for the first two days then campervanning around the Gold Coast up to Rockhampton and west to Emerald before looping back down through Miles back to Brisbane. At least, that is the current plan. We have three small children with us (ages 5, 3, 2) and will be taking our time lingering wherever the kids find something interesting. I was advised to hit the zoo just north of Brisbane, and then the aquarium at Mooloolaba. We've been to the Capricorn Caves near Rockhampton before, so I think that's as far north as we'll go, and we think the kids will like the mining stuff in Emerald. Any other suggestions would be much appreciated! Has anyone done any visits to the islands around and north of Brisbane? Anything worth seeing? I hope the kids get a chance to see some of the reef before it is bleached and dies off. Any kid friendly boat trips or adventures you might recommend along the Gold Coast? Thanks in advance!
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May 17, 2016 05:58
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Australia Zoo is indeed awesome, it's a bit more than "just north" of Brisbane, like a little over an hour IIRC, on the sunshine coast in Beerwah. Lady Elliot Island is amazing, but would get pretty expensive at that rate. Honestly if you want to see the best part of the reef you'd probably want to keep going north to the Whitsundays, Airlie Beach area.
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May 17, 2016 06:32
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HookShot posted:Australia Zoo is indeed awesome, it's a bit more than "just north" of Brisbane, like a little over an hour IIRC, on the sunshine coast in Beerwah. We leave Brisbane on a weekday morning for a 7-day roundtrip, so we figure we'd head north to the zoo and hang out for a few hours, then drive to Mooloolaba for the night. Then see the aquarium there and head north for our next stop. We figured we'd check out Seventeen Seventy, then Hervey Bay for some whale watching, then up to Rockhampton for the caves and then west to Emerald before swinging back south to Brisbane. I'm the kind of person who would rather have a plan, but I also know with three little kids it might descend into chaos and we need to be flexible in our expectations. We have a little give in the schedule I have in mind, so I was considering a trip to an island or doing some kind of boat tour of the reef somewhere along the coast. Whitsundays are a little far north for the little amount of time we have. I just priced out a flight to Lady Elliot for a family of 5.  But...is it worth it? It would be our one big splurge for the vacation, but it seems like it would be wasted on the youngest kids. The 5 year old would probably have a blast. It sounds like something I'd have to book before we get there, as opposed to seeing how everyone is feeling at the time. I guess it might be best to just wing it once we get there. Thanks for the advice! I'm trying not to overplan, but recommending anything we might overlook in our planning would be much appreciated.
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May 17, 2016 07:48
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I lived in Rockhampton for about 30 years of my life so let me know if you want any more info / ideas about that area. I miss it. Vermont is nice too and all... EDIT: Also, idk about price differences but IMO Heron Island kicks the butthole right off Lady Elliott. Sharks Below fucked around with this message at 14:31 on May 17, 2016 |
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May 17, 2016 14:27
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Wife and I bought some error fare tickets (that are now confirmed) so it looks like we're going to Australia in August! Looking for just a little bit of advice: We are leaving from LAX and we arrive in Brisbane Sunday Aug. 7 at 7am. On Sunday Aug. 14 we fly from Brisbane to Syndey at 9pm, then leave Syndey --> LAX 12 hours later at 9am on Mon. Aug 15. That gives us about 7 days to see as much as we can. We'd like to see a couple major cities (obviously Brisbane and Sydney make sense with our flights) and the some outback if possible. Also the Great Barrier Reef. We're hiking/outdoorsy types. Any sort of itinerary recommendations?
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May 19, 2016 21:53
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khysanth posted:Wife and I bought some error fare tickets (that are now confirmed) so it looks like we're going to Australia in August! Looking for just a little bit of advice: Let me guess. $541 from Delta, or something like that? Though for ours we have to fly through SFO.
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May 19, 2016 22:17
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khysanth posted:Wife and I bought some error fare tickets (that are now confirmed) so it looks like we're going to Australia in August! Looking for just a little bit of advice: Honestly, if you're the outdoorsy types I wouldn't bother spending much time in Brisbane. I'd immediately grab a flight north to Cairns from the airport, rent a car, and spend pretty much my whole time in that area or up in Port Douglas. Do some outer reef cruises (make sure to go with one that will let you scuba dive if you're not PADI certified, and pay the extra for that), go up to Kuranda, do a Daintree Rainforest tour... that part of the country is seriously a nature lovers' paradise. Then fly back to Brisbane maybe on the 13th and spend a day or so wandering around there before your flight to Sydney.
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May 19, 2016 23:11
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khysanth posted:Wife and I bought some error fare tickets (that are now confirmed) so it looks like we're going to Australia in August! Looking for just a little bit of advice: Can you cancel the Brisbane to Sydney flight? That's not much time... but yeah, as has been said, have a flight with to Cairns booked to suit your arrival into Brisbane. Spend a few days there, then take a flight with Qantas to Ayres Rock. When you're done there, fly with Virgin Australia from Ayres Rock to Sydney. Flights to and from Ayres Rock won't be cheap but if you're a hiker there are some amazing walks around Ayres Rock and The Olgas and being middle-of-the-big-rear end-Australian-desert they're so much different to the tropical beaches and rainforests around Cairns. Sydney is worth at least 24 hours - much more so than Brisbane.
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May 20, 2016 03:03
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Thank you all for the advice. Will definitely start looking into it and doing some planning. Also am going to cancel that stupid Brisbane --> Sydney leg... I don't imagine it will be a problem??
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May 20, 2016 21:59
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Do not underestimate how big Australia is.
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May 29, 2016 00:04
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Thanks for the trip feedback a few weeks ago. Checking in with an updated itinerary... still trying to figure out what to do with a couple of ours days: Aug 7 we land in Brisbane and we plan to fly ASAP to Cairns to start our adventure. We'll be renting a car so we can do Cairns/Port Douglas stuff, and plan to spend several days here doing Daintree, Kurumba, Great Barrier Reef etc. Aug 7th-10th or 11th - Cairns/surrounding areas (Daintree, Kurumba, Great Barrier Reef, other nature recommendations? Should we do 3 or 4 days?) Aug 10th/11th-13th - Still searching for something to do with this 2 or 3 days. My wife really wants to check out the outback but we looked at flights into Ayres Rock and it will just be too expensive to add that onto our trip. Is there any way to get an "outback experience" closer to Cairns or without paying as much as a flight to Ayres Rock costs? We'll have a rental car if that helps. If we can't figure out a good outdoorsy/outback thing to do, is it worth going to Melbourne for a couple days? Really open to ideas here with this block of time. Aug 13th-15th - Sydney before flight home (early on the 15th). 1.5 - 2 days should be enough? Let me know what we're doing right/wrong Australia goons!
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Jun 27, 2016 21:26
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khysanth posted:Thanks for the trip feedback a few weeks ago. Checking in with an updated itinerary... still trying to figure out what to do with a couple of ours days: I drove from Cairns to Cooktown once and it was really outbackish! It was cool! Lots of red dirt and termite hills and stuff. It's the dry season too so it should be pretty spectacular. We went to an amazing farmstay on top of a hill with the most spectacular views - would something like that interest you? I bang on about it all the time but I love Heron Island, it is spectacular. You can do a couple of days and that's enough - it's a small island. The snorkeling is spectacular, it's right off the beach. It's super eco friendly and very pretty. It might be too chilly to swim but it really depends on your tolerance, as a queenslander I'm a bad judge of what's too cold! You get there via Gladstone which is about 13 hours drive (or a couple of hours' flight) from Cairns. Closer to Cairns you could do Cape Tribulation, you could go along the Bloomfield Track (if you have a AWD/4WD - important) which is a really cool offroad track to Cape Trib. It's a lovely place with lots of rainforest walks and cool poo poo.
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Jun 27, 2016 21:48
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We're going to be in Sydney from July 3-11 - I've rented a tiny car. Are there any particularly pretty places within a ~4 hour 1 way drive that are must sees?
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Jun 29, 2016 06:21
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I like turtles posted:We're going to be in Sydney from July 3-11 - I've rented a tiny car. Are there any particularly pretty places within a ~4 hour 1 way drive that are must sees? Canberra?
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Jun 29, 2016 15:07
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I like turtles posted:We're going to be in Sydney from July 3-11 - I've rented a tiny car. Are there any particularly pretty places within a ~4 hour 1 way drive that are must sees? I like turtles posted:We're going to be in Sydney from July 3-11 - I've rented a tiny car. Are there any particularly pretty places within a ~4 hour 1 way drive that are must sees? The Blue Mountains (research where to go). 1-2 hour drive Hunter Valley wine areas (if you don't have kids). These are pretty much just generic wine country though, so don't bother if you've been to wine country before. 2-3 hour drive If you have kids Stockton Beach (and Nelson Bay) have lots of tourist boat rides. 3 hour drive If you come to the Hunter I recommend stopping for lunch at Amanda's on the Edge; Hunter Valley Gardens is awesome and all but it's kind of designed for everyone whereas Amanda's does a nice lunch looking over the vines. If you want to go to Nelson Bay book tours in advance, the Blue Mountains is just incredible.
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Jul 1, 2016 06:12
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