Thinking of Moving to Australia

[TheDag]

One other thing that may be require getting used to is swearing. I don't know what it is like where your living but with the books my wife has written a frequent complaint from american reviewers is offensive language. While I don't personally understand that considering the language used by numerous best selling american authors and in movies it does seem to strike a raw nerve with many americans. In australia some swear words in certain situations are almost required language.

 

[WandererOfTheWastes]

Surely it has some effect?
Why do you drink then?

Because it tastes extremely nice?

Re: Swearing- very true, especially in more working class areas and jobs! I work in the mining industry and the f-bomb would certainly be the most used word by a really long way. It's basically a replacement for "um" and almost every pronoun, noun, verb, adjective etc etc. Takes a bit of getting used to, but you do get used to it- and if you don't swear yourself, people will notice, and quick.

 

[Magnus Maximus]

I always wanted to visit OZ I have worked with Aussies and NZers in the Balkans and in my officer basic course (I am a US army officer) they were all great and cordial folks.

 

[Nooj]

Because it tastes extremely nice?

Re: Swearing- very true, especially in more working class areas and jobs! I work in the mining industry and the f-bomb would certainly be the most used word by a really long way. It's basically a replacement for "um" and almost every pronoun, noun, verb, adjective etc etc. Takes a bit of getting used to, but you do get used to it- and if you don't swear yourself, people will notice, and quick.

The F word is the most glorious contribution that English has made to the world, and if you don't f'in agree, you're mad!

 

[ebia]

The F word is the most glorious contribution that English has made to the world, and if you don't f'in agree, you're mad!

What other word can you use to construct a whole sentence using only variants on that one word?

 

[Montalban]

The F word is the most glorious contribution that English has made to the world, and if you don't f'in agree, you're mad!

Billy Connelly was defending his over-use of the word. He says that there's certain situations when you need to use the F-word. He said, for instance that you'll never read

"F- off, he hinted"

 

[Tahoenite]

So let's turn the thing a bit more +ve: what is it about Australia that attracts you?

Funny thing was when watching vscola was watching some reality shows she went from the US version to the Aussie versions of the same show, we found that the Aussie's whined less and that they seemed to be a genuine sense of friendship between all of Aussies. That really appealed to me.

Another thing is I liked the higher education system, seems to be similar to the UK, where all classes work toward the degree.

The biggest thing is through media, my interaction, and impressions of others is that a lot of Australians are like good ol boys, and that's usually where I fit in.

 

[Tahoenite]

Another question, how many languages are government issued test/forms offered in? Can you apply for a drivers license in Spanish or sign up to vote in Japanese?

 

[Nooj]

Another question, how many languages are government issued test/forms offered in? Can you apply for a drivers license in Spanish or sign up to vote in Japanese?

I can predict where this is going to lead.

 

[TheDag]

Another question, how many languages are government issued test/forms offered in? Can you apply for a drivers license in Spanish or sign up to vote in Japanese?

I'll take it at face value although like Nooj I can see where this might be going.

As far as voting goes as it is done in person only you can take whoever you want with you. therefore if you can't understand english that the forms are printed in then you can have someone there to help.

As for government forms (and in hospitals) some do come in different languages. There is usually a free interpreter service available which is encouraged to use as they are trained to not be biased in interpreting. Often due to cultural reasons or family history family members who interpret leave things out when talking to health professionals.

 

[Montalban]

As someone who actually hands out 'how-to-votes' at election time (you can guess which party ), I can tell you that the two main parties - ALP and LP/NP have instructions on the reverse of the form in many different languages.

Driver's licence information can be obtained (here in NSW) in many different languages. I'm not sure if the test is only in English though.

The 'Road Users Handbook' is available in various languages, including Spanish, here

 

[Tahoenite]

I am sorry let me clarify, the question of languages arose due to my wife's looking into being an international student. The colleges she looked into were very specific in their interest of how well someone used the English language, I was curious if that was a college specific thing or if it was nationwide.

The secondary part of my question with the language was do most of the people moving to Australia try to integrate into society or do they seem to keep their identity and live in Australia?

 

[Nooj]

The secondary part of my question with the language was do most of the people moving to Australia try to integrate into society or do they seem to keep their identity and live in Australia?

We're not that much different from America.

If you move here, you should know that ANZAC Day is an important holiday in Australia. Some would say it's become the most important, certainly over the last decade. It's a day when we remember the dead in wars.

 

[Montalban]

I am sorry let me clarify, the question of languages arose due to my wife's looking into being an international student. The colleges she looked into were very specific in their interest of how well someone used the English language, I was curious if that was a college specific thing or if it was nationwide.

The secondary part of my question with the language was do most of the people moving to Australia try to integrate into society or do they seem to keep their identity and live in Australia?

We have what is called "Multi-Culturalism"

In my state we have the Community Relations Commission

Certainly Anglo-Celtic culture dominates.

 

[Tahoenite]

Ok have another question, we have been hearing about some of the new changes in Aussie politics, which made me end up looking into your government. Something that I found interesting was your Governor General. We don't have anything like it in the US and seems like a great way to counter bad politicians or laws being passed.

My question is, does the Governor General have that much power and if so do they use it? I only saw a couple times in history where it seemed to come into play. Once in the 1930s and again in the 1970s, but I am much more curious in your views.

On a side note only took three weeks to get our passports and my wife should have college applications in shortly.

 

[ebia]

Ok have another question, we have been hearing about some of the new changes in Aussie politics, which made me end up looking into your government. Something that I found interesting was your Governor General. We don't have anything like it in the US and seems like a great way to counter bad politicians or laws being passed.

My question is, does the Governor General have that much power and if so do they use it? I only saw a couple times in history where it seemed to come into play. Once in the 1930s and again in the 1970s, but I am much more curious in your views.

On a side note only took three weeks to get our passports and my wife should have college applications in shortly.

The G.G. represents the Queen, and execises (on her behalf) more or less similar powers to the Queen in England. Which means in practice what power there is is strictly limited in theory and even more in practice. Most of the time G.G. acts as a kind of figurehead and a mechanism for operating a democratic parlimentary democracy.

 

[nolongerhome]

Ok have another question, we have been hearing about some of the new changes in Aussie politics, which made me end up looking into your government. Something that I found interesting was your Governor General. We don't have anything like it in the US and seems like a great way to counter bad politicians or laws being passed.

My question is, does the Governor General have that much power and if so do they use it? I only saw a couple times in history where it seemed to come into play. Once in the 1930s and again in the 1970s, but I am much more curious in your views.

On a side note only took three weeks to get our passports and my wife should have college applications in shortly.

The Governor-General is simply the represenatitve for the Queen of England. 99.999% of the time they are nothing more than a rubber stamp for legislation or someone to show up and cut the ribbon at the innauguration of a moment or other such ceremonial duties.

While the position theoretically involves the power to disolve parliament, block the passing of bills into law and appoint and dismiss ministers, they will really only ever do as and when the government of the day advises them to do so. In the last month the ALP had a leadership election and Gillard was the winner - the GG had to officially swear her in for that to be made official. Gillard wanted to call an election - she had to go to the GG who on her request disolved parliament and set a date for the election (which the GG did, including setting the election on the same date as Gillard requested).

So, in practice, the GG provides no counter to bad politicians or bad policy. They are not designed to do so and they don't attempt to do so.

The major controversy involving the Governor General was the constitutional crisis of 1975. you can read the history of that here:

1975 Australian constitutional crisis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The issue was less with the use of the GG's power and more with the manner in which the GG interacted with the various leaders. After the reaction towards Kerr, I would be highly surprised if any GG in the rest of our country's history (and we shouldn't have too many more as we should become a republic sooner rather than later) ever acted in a similar way again.

 

[Montalban]

Ok have another question, we have been hearing about some of the new changes in Aussie politics, which made me end up looking into your government. Something that I found interesting was your Governor General. We don't have anything like it in the US and seems like a great way to counter bad politicians or laws being passed.

My question is, does the Governor General have that much power and if so do they use it? I only saw a couple times in history where it seemed to come into play. Once in the 1930s and again in the 1970s, but I am much more curious in your views.

The incident in the 1930s was when a state's Governor (sort of like the state's equivalent of the national Governor General) Sir Phillip Game dismissed the NSW Premier Jack Lang.

In the 1970s the Governor General John Kerr dismissed the Prime Minister Gough Whitlam

The Governor General has what is called "Reserve Powers" that is, powers that can only be used in certain situations.

The situation in the 1970s is probably the most controversial moment in Australia's political life.

In an election the Australian Labor Party (ALP) was returned to government but with a bare minimum in the Senate (the upper house).

Bills have to be passed through both houses of parliament. During the parliamentary term an ALP member had to leave his position in the Senate. By convention the position would be filled in such circumstances by an appointee made by the state from which that Senator came from. As it happened the person came from Queensland and that state's government broke with convention by nominating a person who was not pro-ALP. So suddenly the ALP lost their very slim majority in the Sentate meaning that all their bills were blocked - because the Senate was in deadlock

In this situation the Liberal Party leader went to the Governor General and said that the government couldn't govern and should be dismissed. The Governor General agreed and dismissed Gough Whitlam and appointed the Liberal Party leader Malcom Fraser as 'caretaker Prime Minister'.

So it was a 'crisis' engineered by the conservatives who broke with long-standing convention - interestingly enough when they got into government they changed the law on how such a senate position could be filled in the future.

Liberals point to the fact that a number of months later, when an election was held they were swept to power.

It was in fact a 'coup' that was later 'legitimised' by that election.

The GG represents the queen. The queen as well as being Queen of the United Kingdom, is Queen of Australia (and of New Zealand, Canada, and a few other places).

Thus we are a monarchy. Land owned by the government is called "Crown Land". When the government prosecutes you in a criminal trial it's not "The People -v- Tahoenite" but "R -v- Tahoenite" (R for regina - the queen). Instead of the APCA we have the RSPCA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Aninmals). The air force is the RAAF (Royal Australian Air Force) etc.

On a side note only took three weeks to get our passports and my wife should have college applications in shortly.

Good luck

 

[Tahoenite]

Thank you for helping me understand the Monarchy relationship in Australia.

Why would becoming a republic be preferable to the current government?

On paper the parliamentary system seems like it should work well.

 

[Tahoenite]

Separate question, do you all get much if any campaign adds for politicians and lobbying?

In the last US presidential election we had well over a year of political adds for primaries and candidates before the election. That does not include all the state/local issues and politicians that take up TV time, junk mail flyers, and automated phone calls.