Dear Guest,

Throughout Australia's European history, people have come here from the British Isles. In the beginning, many weren't given much choice and arrived as convicts.

Since then, Australia has welcomed British citizens and residents, as well as nationalities from all over the world, to help build a unique nation on these distant shores. They have come freely and evolved into that diverse and complex nationality the world knows as Australian.

Current research indicates that Australia is the number one choice for a new wave of skilled English, Irish, Scots and Welsh folk, as the UK economy bites deep into their standards of living, like the chill of a northern winter.

While we wish Britain well, that country's problem is Australia's opportunity...and yours. At LIA we encourage anyone who's contemplating emigration, to contact us and discuss the prospects offered by this huge nation and its booming economy.

Simply click on the links below to automatically scroll down the page of the latest LIVE IN australia.com^® news. Click on 'TOP' to return to the top of the page:

1. Most Brits see upside of Down Under
2. Here's to your health!
3. Aussies head home as UK prices soar
4. How far can a migrant go? Andrew Murray: Federal Senator
5. China teams up with Aussies
6. Aussie Surprise of the Month: Counterfeit resistant Polymer Currency Notes.
7. Big penalties for dodgy employers
8. Should experience equal qualifications?
9. For the record, 2007 was a bumper year
10. A town like Wollongong
11. One nation, many cultures: Glendi Greek Festival, Adelaide
12. Plenty of room, heaps of opportunity
13. So how do you like Australia? Ming Qiang Tang - Grocer
14. Aussie Survival Guide: The Constitution
15. Aussie Recipe: Yabby Avocado
16. In Brief

Most Brits see upside of Down Under
The reasons that Brits consider emigration vary from person to person. Some want to experience a different culture. Others seek a more favorable lifestyle, or the promise of employment in a country that desperately needs skilled labour.

But overall, most of those UK citizens looking to move overseas are seriously looking at Australia. A survey conducted by Manpower revealed that 53% of respondents who'd consider moving abroad would likely choose to go to Australia.

Manpower managing director, Mark Cahill, states that "Australia and New Zealand – two of the most popular places to emigrate to – are booming economies, and people see they need all sorts of skills to help build these countries for the future."

People choosing to emigrate are generally in their twenties and thirties. Steve Hill, a professor of economic development, theorises that this is because "they are mobile, and many who go become settled and do not come back. They respond to economic opportunities."

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Here's to your health!
Australia is one of the healthiest nations in the world, taking great strides in many health areas.

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare's (AIHW) Director, Dr Penny Allbon, says Australia's status 'at or near the top of world health is achieved efficiently, with per-person health spending being in the middle of the health spending tables for developed nations'.

The report, Australia's Health 2008, shows falling death rates for cancer, heart disease, strokes, and injury.

The report also shows that Australians enjoy one of the longest life expectancies in the world, an average of 81.4 years. This life span is second only to Japan.

Australian men reaching the age of 65 can now expect to live to about 83 years, and women to 86 years, about 6 years more than their ancestors a century ago. More than 90 per cent of children are fully vaccinated against major preventable childhood diseases at 2 years of age.

Dr Allbon said it was clear from the report that there was great scope for health improvements through tackling the so-called 'lifestyle' health risk factors such as diabetes, obesity and road trauma.

Australia is both healthy and wealthy: look after your future and contact LIA today.

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Aussies head home as UK prices soar
Many British-based Aussies are pulling the plug on Britain because of the high cost of living. In short, they're heading home.

The exodus is driven by the cost of providing for a family has grown more in Britain than in anywhere else in the Western world.

The Australian Government estimates 2600 Aussie expats a month have been returning home since last June, compared with 1750 a month between 2000 and 2005. Many are chasing job opportunities created by the resources-led Australian economy.

Britain is already suffering a 'brain drain' of Australian workers from the City of London, most of whom work in financial services and associated professions. City firms in London are expected to shed 6500 jobs this year, with the British economy predicted to grow at its lowest rate since 1992, but opportunities abound in the Australian market.

Wiriaya Plukavec, 31, moved to London from Sydney two years ago to work as a credit controller in the City. She plans to return home in the next few weeks. "I was going to stay another year but just got fed up with the cost of everything going up - bills, food, toiletries, rent, going out - everything," Ms Plukavec said. "Life will just be a whole lot cheaper back in Sydney ... and the weather will be better."

Nicola Brennan, 35, moved back to Melbourne earlier this year after 10 years working as an accountant for an investment bank. "My husband and I decided to return to Australia because we felt it was a much better place to start a family," she said.

You don't have to be an Aussie to call Australia home. Contact LIA and see what kind of future you could enjoy.

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How far can a migrant go?
Andrew Murray: Federal Senator

Born in 1947, in Hove, England, Andrew Murray eventually migrated to Australia in 1989 via South Africa and pre-Zimbabwe Rhodesia. Murray has been a Fairbridge child migrant, a Rhodes scholar, a serviceman and a businessman.

He was deported from South Africa for opposing apartheid in the late 1960s, and later served in the Rhodesian Air Force.

"You can inform outcomes enormously over time if you are credible, experienced and your point has validity," says Murray, who eventually settled in Western Australia. He decided to go into Aussie politics after being "incensed" by a major political scandal known as 'WA Inc'.

He was elected into the National Parliament as a Senator for Western Australia in 1996 and retired prior to the 2007 general election. Over his 12 years in the Senate, Murray suggested many more than a hundred revisions to Federal legislation.

As a Senator who belonged to a small party, Murray took on multiple portfolios, including accountability, electoral matters, taxation, workplace relations and finance and corporate affairs — areas that Murray attacked with vigour.

His committee load was vast and complex, and his unwavering obsessions were transparency and governance. He left politics respected by both major parties, and virtually everyone else with whom he dealt.

Murray's achievements epitomise the ability of even recent arrivals to participate in Australia's political process. Unlike many countries, every citizen gets to vote (it's actually compulsory).

Sit in the public gallery of any Australian Parliament, State or Commonwealth and you'll hear members speak in accents from around the world and see names that indicate first or second generation settlers from any continent on Earth.

Andrew Walker

LIA shares that determination to win, while doing the right thing. Contact LIA now and see how that helps you.

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China teams up with Aussies
To many business leaders and policy makers in our highly industrialised and resource-rich country, China is much more than a supplier of value-for-money consumer goods. Australia now seeks Chinese capital investment in its mining industry and is increasingly attracting Chinese tourists to visit the country's many attractions.

A recent high-profile Australian trade mission to China was led by Morris Iemma, Premier of New South Wales (NSW), who brought a group of business leaders and government officials from Australia's oldest most developed states.

Iemma told China Daily in an interview: "We have a complementary economic relationship, built on our reliability as a supplier of resources to Chinese industry, growing tourism in both directions and partnerships across a growing range of sectors in knowledge and innovation."

In March, Australia relaxed its visa restrictions, giving Chinese tourists more freedom to stay in the country. John O'Neill, executive director and general manager of Tourism New South Wales, expects there will be 1 million Chinese tourists visiting Australia by 2015.

Furthermore, Australia is the world's largest exporter of coal, and the coal mining industry is looking for increased partnership with China.

Chinese investment in Australian primary industry is expected to increase by over 10% this year.

In July, Australian Delta Electricity and Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Research Organization will work with China's largest power company, Huaneng, on the development of technology to capture carbon dioxide emissions for safe storage underground.

Cooperation in the financial sector between China and Australia also flourishes. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), has won approval from Australian financial regulators to open a branch in Sydney, while Westpac, the second largest Australian bank, will open a new office in Shanghai, the first offshore branch the bank has opened in 15 years.

Developments like these help create skilled jobs in everything from mining to IT. An LIA Advisor can explain the numerous opportunities that await you in Australia.

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Aussie Surprise of the Month:
Counterfeit resistant Polymer Currency Notes.

From 1988 onwards Australia's currency notes were transformed.

They were converted from a paper to a polymer (or 'plastic') base and substantially redesigned. Research to enhance the security of the note focused initially on developing a hologram-like Diffractive Optically Variable Device (DOVD). This was found to have better optical effects when applied to a smooth surface. This led to a decision to develop a polymer substrate with DOVD as the principal security feature. Australian notes have a number of features designed to frustrate counterfeiters, including a clear window with the DOVD.

By the centenary of Federation in 2001, Australia had an internationally unique set of currency notes based on homegrown technology and skills. Furthermore, Australia was exporting polymer note technology to many other countries – a sharp contrast indeed with the struggle to produce our first notes in 1901, when technology and expertise had to be imported.

Specimen $AU5 polymer note

We need innovative skilled migrants with clever ideas. Contact LIA and put your brains to work in Australia.

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Big penalties for dodgy employers
Immigration Minister, Senator Evans has released a discussion paper on proposed reforms to the 457 visa regime.

Proposed changes include expanded powers for immigration officers to enter and search workplaces to check whether employers are complying with sponsorship obligations.

Government agencies such as the Australian Tax Office would also be able to check that visa holders were being paid correctly. The proposed changes come as Australia dramatically increases its intake of permanent and temporary migrants.

For the first time in a financial year, the temporary skilled migration program exceeded 100,000 over 2007-08.

To stay in touch with the myriad opportunities offered by Australian industry, contact LIA Today.

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Should experience equal qualifications?
In response to lobbying from the Migration Institute of Australia (MIA), Trades Recognition Australia (TRA) has suggested to the Australia Department of Education, Employment, and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) a replacement to the skilled "Pathway D".

Under the old system, workers looking to migrate to Australia through the skilled migration program had to meet requirements set out in the Uniform Assessment Criteria. There were five "pathways" in the criteria for migrants to qualify for a highly skilled visa.

Pathway D created an avenue for formally unqualified but experienced workers to meet the requirements for skilled migration to Australia. It was closed by TRA in September 2007, affecting thousands of skilled workers looking to migrate to Australia.

As the largest stakeholder outside the government, the MIA collaborated with TRA to provide an alternate pathway for experience-based workers to qualify for skilled migration to Australia. The proposed solution has completely replaced the Uniform Assessment Criteria and its "pathways" for a new TRA Migration Assessment Policy.

The proposal is still undergoing review and TRA are waiting for feedback from the MIA and its members.

We suggest you keep an eye on developments. If you have any questions about the current laws, contact LIA today.

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For the record, 2007 was a bumper year
Last year was big for Australia. More people were born than ever before. More people died than ever before. More people arrived from overseas. And, says the Bureau of Statistics, in 2007 Australia's population grew by 331,900 (a record) or 1.59% (the highest since 1988).

Record growth came from all quarters. Australians had 285,300 babies (another record), and the fertility rate appears to have jumped again to about 1.9 babies per woman of eligible age.

It has been a remarkable rebound in the fertility rate from 1.72 just five years earlier. Yet 2007 also had a record number of deaths - 137,820. The steepest growth was in net migration of permanent and long-term residents. It shot up to 184,400 (a record), rising 73% in three years, as the (record) number of migrants, workers and students arriving outweighed the (record) number leaving.

Most of the surge has been in temporary workers arriving on employer-sponsored section 451 visas, working holidays and the rest.

Victoria's population swelled by 82,400 (another record) to end the year just short of 5.25 million. The state again grew marginally faster than the nation at 1.6% (highest since 1969). Only Queensland, WA and the Northern Territory grew faster. Victorians bore 70,438 babies (the most since 1972) while the state added 49,006 people through net overseas immigration (the highest since comparable state figures began in 1981).

Melbourne added 61,719 people in 2006-07 and 281,790 in the past five years, far more than any other city.

Not much time to catch our breath ... this growth is not stopping anytime soon! To find out how our growth benefits your future, contact LIA today.

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A town like Wollongong
Wollongong is the 3rd largest city in New South Wales, after Sydney and Newcastle. It is administered by the Wollongong City Council and is located in the Illawarra region of the east coast of Australia, 82 kilometres (51 mi) south of Sydney. The Wollongong metropolitan area has a population of 263,535 and is administered by the Wollongong, Shellharbour and Kiama councils.

The name Wollongong is believed to mean "sound of the sea" in the local indigenous language, although other explanations have been offered, such as "great feast of fish", "hard ground near water", "song of the sea", "sound of the waves", "many snakes" and "five islands".

Known affectionately as "the Gong", Wollongong is a city with a long history of mining and industry, having coalmines, steelworks and an industrial port. The city is also a regional centre for the South Coast fishing industry. It has a university, the University of Wollongong, which attracts a great number of international students each year.

In the 2001 Census:

• 10880 (14.9%) people were employed in the Manufacturing industry
• 5129 (7.0%) people were employed in the Construction industry
• 10649 (14.6%) people were employed in the Retail Trade industry
• 7332 (10.0%) people were employed in the Property and Business Services industry
• 6861 (9.4%) people were employed in the Education industry; and
• 7647 (10.5%) people were employed in Health and Community Services.

Wollongong

Wollongong Harbour

If you're looking for a big city in a beautiful setting, you'd be wise to check out 'the Gong'. Contact LIA and start your investigations today.

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One nation, many cultures
Glendi Greek Festival, Adelaide

Glendi is one of the largest cultural festivals in Australia. For over 30 years Glendi has presented Greek culture, blending all the things that make life so wonderful ... food, dancing, music and family.

There are dancing groups, sideshows and food, food & more food. Glendi is totally run by volunteers and without their support, Glendi just wouldn't happen. Glendi takes place in autumn, in parklands adjacent to the west end of Adelaide city centre.

Central to Glendi is the celebration of several centuries of Greek culture, in a party mood. Exhibits include such inherently Greek topics as:

• The Olympic Games
• Ikona - divine beauty with original works from an established Master in the ancient art of Iconography
• Photographic displays
• The nine Muses
• The Mati - its origins and Mythical connection
• The Olive Tree - its significance from ancient times until the present

If you're in Adelaide in autumn, remember Glendi!

The culture lives on

Dancing in the Greek style

Folk from anywhere in the world are invited to contact LIA and ask about the almost endless Australian opportunities for skilled workers.

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Plenty of room, heaps of opportunity
South Australians are having more babies and the state is attracting more foreigners. Overall, SA's population grew by 16,541 to reach 1,591,930 people in 2007, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics data.

University of Adelaide geography professor Graeme Hugo said SA had "done an incredible job in attracting migrants from overseas". There was a net gain of 13,061 international migrants, continuing an upward trend from about 3000 a year early this decade.

SA's natural increase – births against deaths – also grew, with a 7308 boost compared to an average of 5735 over the preceding five years.

"The higher fertility is interesting, that's a trend that's been going on for a few years," Professor Hugo said.

Australian Population Institute SA chairman Michael Hickinbotham welcomed the "steady growth of about 1 per cent". "However, we need to be careful not to be lulled into a false sense of security," he said. "Other states are increasing at faster rates."

Mr. Hickinbotham called on SA to be innovative in attracting migrants, noting Victoria had "been very effective at using affordable land and housing to drive population growth".

Professor Hugo said one of the main drivers for overseas migrants was the regional concession SA enjoyed with visas, which makes it easier to migrate to Adelaide than other mainland capitals.

Like to build a secure future in a wonderful state? Contact LIA and see just how South Australia suits your dreams!

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So how do you like Australia?
Ming Qiang Tang - Grocer

Ming Qiang Tang owns a Carrum grocery. His daughter, Linda, is a Monash University commerce student, and his father, Guangtao Tang, 80, is secretary of the Federation of Chinese Associations of Victoria.

Mr. Tang came to Melbourne with his wife Vera and her relatives in 1985. He has since brought out his own parents, his brother, Ming Hao Tang, and his sister-in-law Xiaoxin Tao.

Mr. Tang, 50, had a secure job as a high school physics teacher in the northwestern Chinese city of Urumqi. But the standard of living was poor. His wage barely paid rent on the government-owned family flat. He could not afford a car, went to a public shower to wash, and there was terrible air pollution.

In Australia, he enjoys a free media, breathes clean air, owns a house and drives his own car. But what he most values is the freedom to create his own life.

In anyone's language "migrant success story", fits Carrum's Tang family to a 'T'.

Carrum's Tang family

Like to establish your own business in Australia? Contact LIA and ask about the opportunities!

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Aussie Survival Guide
The Constitution

Being historically a collection of fiercely independent colonies, cobbled together into a single nation, there are many remaining differences of opinion between what states can and can't do in Australia.

Originally, the idea was that the Federal Government would run Foreign Affairs and the Armed Forces and the States kind of took care of everything else from education to health services.

Bear in mind there used to be customs on the River Murray that separates New South Wales from its southern neighbour, Victoria. This was because one colony ran on Free Trade and the other protected its industry against those 'foreigners' from across the river.

Originally, the Federal Government had no real taxation powers. But a couple of World Wars created the necessity of central control of taxation. Now, the Commonwealth Government runs income tax and various excises on products like petroleum.

While States still have some taxation rights, they're basically dependent on an annual handout from Canberra. We don't say you need to study the constitution, but do be aware that just because we're a country, rules and regulations are not identical everywhere.

If you're setting up a business, make sure you're complying with all necessary laws, rules and regulations, State and Commonwealth.

The Australia Constitution

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Aussie Recipe: Yabby Avocado
There's a tasty little freshwater Australian crustacean called Yabbies that lurk on the bottom of streams, lakes and in farm dams. Their delicate, sweet flavour and firm texture has won lavish praise from foodies the world over. Yabbies can be used in Yabby Chowder, Yabby Pate, Yabby Pancakes, Yabby Stir Fry and many other recipes. Here's just one:

INGREDIENTS
3 ripe avocados
1 kg yabbies –cook, peel and dice.
Keep some whole for garnishing dish?

Yabby Cocktail Ingredients
Yabby tails
Tomato Sauce
Mayonnaise
Lemon

Mix equal amounts of tomato sauce and mayonnaise in a bowl, add yabby tails and sprinkle lemon juice over the whole show. Halve avocados and remove seed, scoop out the flesh, mash until smooth, blend with cocktail recipe, combine the yabby meat and refill avocado shells. Garnish with a few whole or halved yabbies and rye bread. Serves 6.

Yabby

Yabby Avocado

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In Brief
Plenty of room for more
Australia's population is growing fast. Added to booming immigration, the country has also experienced a small baby boom. According to figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), in 2007 the population rose by 1.6 per cent to 21,181,000; the highest population increase since 1988.

Faster visas for Eastern Europe
The Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) is adding Bulgaria, Romania and Poland to the list of countries whose citizens can use Australia's electronic tourist visa system.

DIAC secretary Andrew Metcalfe said most applicants from these Eastern European countries can look forward to having their visa applications processed within minutes of submitting them,

Aussie Word of the Month
Cleanskin - refers to unlabelled bottles of wine – often sold in bulk by a winery to a retailer, who sticks his own label on the unlabelled (hence cleanskin) bottles and sells as his own brand. Often available to the general public at winery 'cellar door sales'.

Aussie words in action: Let LIVE IN australia.com help you migrate to Australia so you can enjoy a few cleanskins and a barbeque after you arrive.

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Best Regards,

Peter Seers
Marketing & Client Services Manager