Questions And Answers On Australian Business Property

Moving to The Great Ocean rd area?

Hi guys,

I am thinking of moving to somewhere along the Great Ocean rd. It is most likely going to be around the Warrnambool area but could really be anywhere. We need a sea change. The need for jobs isn’t really a high priority because I am a property investor and therefore can do it from anywhere.

What is the area like? is it really ‘country’/full of retired melbourne business people/ is it a bit bogan/ is it trendy etc.

Are there many restaurants and shops? I can live with a trip to melbourne every few weeks to go shopping but I like to go out to cafe’s and restaurants alot. Is this area good for such a lifestyle?

Since we will be moving to a large farm (80-100acres) is the farmland good for horses? does it flood etc.

I basically just want to know what the whole place is like before we visit and determine if it is the place for us to move.

I am quite happy just doting about on my farm from day to day but I am a bit ‘city’ in the way that I like to eat out alot and go shopping. I can live without shopping except for going into melbourne for a weekend every once in a while but I do like the cafe lifestyle. Basically I want a nice relaxed life.

I am an Australian national so there is no Visa type problems with my move.

I really appreciate any help you can give me.

Many thanks.

Moving to the Great Ocean Road area?

Hi guys,

I am thinking of moving to somewhere along the Great Ocean rd. It is most likely going to be around the Warrnambool area but could really be anywhere. We need a sea change. The need for jobs isn’t really a high priority because I am a property investor and therefore can do it from anywhere.

What is the area like? is it really ‘country’/full of retired melbourne business people/ is it a bit bogan/ is it trendy etc.

Are there many restaurants and shops? I can live with a trip to melbourne every few weeks to go shopping but I like to go out to cafe’s and restaurants alot. Is this area good for such a lifestyle?

Since we will be moving to a large farm (80-100acres) is the farmland good for horses? does it flood etc.

I basically just want to know what the whole place is like before we visit and determine if it is the place for us to move.

I am quite happy just doting about on my farm from day to day but I am a bit ‘city’ in the way that I like to eat out alot and go shopping. I can live without shopping except for going into melbourne for a weekend every once in a while but I do like the cafe lifestyle. Basically I want a nice relaxed life.

I am an Australian national so there is no Visa type problems with my move.

I really appreciate any help you can give me.

Many thanks.

Australians? Question about your natural heath products?

I know this is sorta the wrong category. But I would like an Aussie’s opinion. I am asking this because I have heard this has already been passed in places like Germany and Australia.

Recently Canada has tried to pass a bill making Canada’s natural herbs & minerals only available by prescription. They are being payed off and pushed by big Pharma and its wrong.

“75% of natural health products will be
unable to obtain license for sale, therefore rendering them illegal
& discontinued”

“WITHOUT a warrant, government inspectors will be able to (all just for growing or having your own herbs, vitamins, or minerals):
- enter your private property
- take your natural products (garlic and blueberries?) and seize your bank account
- levy ‘Draconian’ fines up to 5,000,000 and/or seek 2 years in jail”

Pretty much you need a prescription for Vitamin C, Iron, Potassium, St. Johns Wort etc.

It is greedy and it makes me sick!

If you want to be able to SELL these you must purchase a license, which is costly to small business owners and apparently is hard to get.

So, if you Aussies are living by this law, what do you think? How much do you pay for a bottle of vitamins? Its about 10$ Canadian here for a bottle of iron.

can you translate these English paragraph to Tagalog abouts demographics???

The UAE population has an unnatural sex distribution consisting of more than twice the number of males than females. The 15-65 age group has a male(s)/female sex ratio of 2.743. UAE’s gender imbalance is the highest among any nation in the world followed by Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, and Saudi Arabia – all of which together comprise the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).[4] The GCC states are also what most South and Southeast Asians refer to as the Persian Gulf especially in context of emigration.[5]

UAE has one of the most diverse populations in the Middle East.[6] 19 % of the population is Emirati, and 23 % is other Arabs and Iranians [7]. An estimated 85 percent of the population is comprised of non-citizens, one of the world’s highest percentages of foreign-born in any nation. In addition, since the mid-1980s, people from all across South Asia have settled in the UAE. The high living standards and economic opportunities in the UAE are better than almost anywhere else in the Middle East and South Asia. This makes the nation an attractive destination for Indians, Filipinos, Pakistanis, and Bangladeshis along with a few thousand Sri Lankans. In 2006, there were approximately 2.15 million Indian nationals, Philippines Nationals—OFW, Bangladeshi nationals, and Pakistani nationals in the UAE, making them the largest expatriate community in the oil-rich nation.[8] Persons from over twenty Arab nationalities, including thousands of Palestinians who came as either political refugees or migrant workers, also live in the United Arab Emirates. There is also a sizable number of Emiratis from other Arab League nations who have come before the formation of the Emirates such as Egyptians, Somalis, Sudanese and other Gulf Arab states, who have adopted the native culture and customs. Further, Somali immigration also continued in the 1990s as a result of the Somali civil war.
A woman shopping at Dubai Duty Free
A woman shopping at Dubai Duty Free

There are also residents from other parts of the Middle East, Baluchistan region of Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan, Africa, Europe, Post-Soviet states, and North America. The UAE has attracted a small number of very affluent expatriates (Americans, British, Canadians, Japanese, Chinese and Australians) from developed countries who are attracted to a very warm climate, scenic views (beaches, golf courses, man-made islands and lucrative housing tracts in Abu Dhabi and Dubai), the nation’s comparably low cost of living (but in 2006, thousands of real estate properties are valued over millions of dollars) and tax-free incentives for their business or residency in the UAE. They make up under 5 percent of the UAE population; mainly English-speaking. Expatriates adhere to the law and customs of the UAE, their adopted country.

The most populated city is Dubai, with approximately 1.6 million people. Other major cities include Abu Dhabi, Al Ain, Sharjah, and Fujairah. About 88% of the population of the United Arab Emirates is urban.[9] The remaining inhabitants live in tiny towns scattered throughout the country or in one of the many desert oilfield camps in the nation.

Do you agree Melbourne & Australia is pretty average?

I am 24 years old and have lived in Melbourne Australia all my life.

I have backpacked Europe several months and the USA for several months as well.

Having seen alot of the world, I often wonder why Australians continuously say “This is the best country in the world!” or “Mate, we live in the lucky country eh!” or most often “It’s good to travel overseas but it makes you realise how lucky we are to live here!”

Whilst I think Australia and Melbourne is comfortable to live in, I don’t think it’s necessarily “the best place in the world!” when compared to other countries. Why? See below

a) Australia has only 3 “big” cities – Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane. Once you’ve seen and explored them several times there is not much else busy going on.

b) Melbourne lacks beaches. The port is dirty. Beaches in places like Cairns and Far North Queensland are shut in Summer because of deadly box jellyfish that move in.

c) Housing is extremely unaffordable. 6.5 time the average household income per year (compared to 3x in the USA). If you want to live “inner city” in Melbourne which is about 20-30 mins away from the city in decent subarbs without hoons, crime and gangs you pay literally millions for a house and hundreds of thousands for units of apartments with no land.

d) Prices – Prices are insanely high and inflation is growing. Also caused by the drought. I mean, $3.50 for a 600ml bottle of coke? that is ridiculous. Any dinner at a restaurant that’s decent costs $25-$50 these days and meat prices have shot up. Also everything imported costs so much more than the US/Europe because of Australia‘s tiny population and distance away from the rest of the developed world.

e) Transport – Transport, even in big cities like Melbourne and Sydney is totally sub-par. There is no underground railway, and trains are slow, over-clogged and do not run efficiently. Often to go from East to West by train you have to go North then change trains and come back down. Trams are slow, clogged, inefficient, almost always late and yet the Gov’t continuously promotes them over cars, even to the extent that major roads in the city have lost all but 1 lane, to trams that don’t event run continuously!

f) Tax – Australians are some of the most heavily taxed people in the world. GST (Sales tax) is at 10%, Income Taxes are high, Stamp duty on property is 5%!!!, Capital Gains Tax is high, Luxury Car tax is at 140% of the car’s value!!!, car “registration” is approximately $600 and road toll’s are increasingly common, Superannuation (retirement savings) are taxed at 15%, Businesses are taxed at 30%, Alcohol is taxed at 40% – where the hell does all this tax money go?

g) Proximity – Australia is far away from Europe and the USA. Even Asia. Any time you want to see anything other than the “lucky country” it’s going to cost you about $2,000+ to fly out of here.

h) Crime – Crime is on the rise, largely due to poor immigration choices of unskilled, unintelligent migrants from Africa and the Middle East. The city of Melbourne and Sydney is dangerous at night with all of the gangs around.