what don't you like about Aus?

[Bronwyn&Co]

Johnno I think probably the fact that you are self-employed also makes a difference to your/our views. But I can only speak for myself.

If I think about other self-employed people on the forum it is quite common for them to be less enthusiastic about Australia in general. We experienced it on a business visa too.

There is a huge amount of red tape to run a business here (yes, I know what everyone is going to say, at least everyone is safer & earns a living wage & saves for retirement), but it's not always so rosy or even possible for the person doing the employing.

Every single day for us was an uphill battle with forms, paperwork, the ATO, theft, useless bookkeepers, staff who didn't want to work at all, graffiti and vandalism, just...unbelievable stuff. The things they think up to create paperwork and waste time are really quite amazing.

It was very hard to make any money (but obviously some people are doing so).

You start to see things differently. This 'lucky country' thing is not even true. But this is a quasi-socialist country and so if you were not doing so great in SA you're going to love it. Imho.

But things are pretty bad now in SA. Australia is still safer. So we persevere

[Johnno]

Bronwyn&Co, I've been in Oz long enough to have adapted too and too understand the red tape and the challenges of running a business in Oz as well as benefiting from the opportunities. We're not really a small business we are what I call a "small-big" business. Small enough to care and also feel each punch but large enough to enjoy some of the "big business" opportunities without the limitations of AA/BEE/BBBE. We're certainly not big enough to absorb many of the onerous employment conditions put on employers nor are we big enough to compete with the salary demands when big companies throw money at staff to resource projects. We feel it when people take too many "sickies" and we feel it when a staff member goes off on carers leave or parental leave.

But here I am in my office in an industrial area, it's pitch dark outside and I'm the last one in the office for the day and I feel quite safe. I'd not hang around too long on my own after hours at my office in SA. A single car in the parking lot of an industrial area would make for an easy target. However we lived with that and planned accordingly.

I feel desperately sorry for newbies arriving in Oz and starting a new business or even buying a small business.....it's tough!!!

[Bronwyn&Co]

It might be tough in Aus when things go wrong, but it's tougher in SA if you land up here:-

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Tva8Wa5ZkDw

[miraclebabycaw]

The biggest thing I am beginning to hate about Oz is the medical. Medicare is all good and well....to a point. Same having private health insurance...to a point. One thing with Medical aid in SA..if you could afford a decent plan you didn't worry too much about out of pocket expenses but here in Oz it is killing us. That and given the fact that we were spoilt being able to see a doctor fairly easily, being seen by the x-ray department also easily etc, I am very far from impressed by the system here in Oz and realise what it must be like for most of RSAs people who can't afford private healthcare. My son has severe allergies..3 months to finally see an allergist. Her visits are free thankfully. ENT, $190 later, Medicare pays $72. x-rays for his sinus - 1 week wait $110 later..Medicare will pay $40. His medicine plus our 2 blood pressure scripts every month..$150 because every single item although PBS is still $36 per item..one med is not PBS so no benefit.. Medical insurance will only pay for non PBS and only after the first $36, so we get back $8 out of that whole lot. My son has a follow up with the ENT...$110, Medicare pay $42. ENT not interested in dropping prices. I twisted my knee Friday night...have had experiance with emergency at hospital..you can wait the whole night and never see a doctor so we chose to see the GP on Saturday rather...need to have an MRI done ... $250 if I want it done privately.. then I can get an appointment Tuesday morning otherwise not till Wednesday night..and this is an "emergency". Don't panic that you are in severe pain..tough. Nothing sticking out of the leg so they can't help till Wednesday night. Insurance doesn't cover any of these additional charges as they are not allowed by law to pay for treatment if Medicare pays for it. So far this month we have paid out of pocket nearly $500 in excess medical charges. Then $300 ontop of that for private health inurance. That is more than I ever paid for medical aid in RSA. On a normal month its $450 for private medical and the extras we have to pay for medicine.

Sometimes I have to remind myself why we are here. I wouldn't go back to RSA but seriously medical is killing me her...ok if you are fine and healthy...maybe I am doing something seriously wrong?

[Bronwyn&Co]

Miraclebaby I wanted to say, you must keep all of your medical slips because if you spend over a certain amount you can claim a portion of it back on tax.

I went to look up the relevant details for you and found that this benefit is unfortunately being phased out...here we go:-

"The net medical expenses tax offset enables those who have medical expenses once rebates have been applied, above the threshold of $2060 for the tax year 2011-12, to claim back 20 per cent. Under certain circumstances, residential aged care expenses can also be included.

From 1 July 2013, those taxpayers who received the offset in their 2012-13 income tax assessment will continue to be eligible for the offset for the 2013-14 income year if they have eligible out-of-pocket medical expenses above the relevant claim threshold. Similarly, those who receive the tax offset in their 2013-14 income tax assessment will continue to be eligible for the offset in 2014-15. This will be the last year you can claim the offset."

Here's a full link http://www.yourlifechoices.com.au/news/net-medical-expenses-tax-offset

It sounds like you are having a bad run of it. What I dislike is the red tape that goes with it, for eg you need a dr to refer you to a specialist every 12 months. And when you see one they are pretty unimpressive

Edited June 2, 2014 by Bronwyn&Co

[chzaau]

In South Africa we do have a similar medicare health system or state system, it just does not work as well. You can go to the emergency at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, I'm note sure how many days/months you will wait to be seen.

Look one needs to face up, Australia is really a socailist country, that is how it works. South Africa and the majority of Africa is capatalist, if you have the money, you can have the service. But somewhere in between that you need to find a balance because the system in SA works until you no longer have any money.

I'm sorry to hear you are not having a good time of it at the moment.

Here is an example to think about, maybe somebody can provide some input how this works in Australia. In South Africa if you go to the pharmacy with a prescription they charge a dispencing fee for each item. This basically covers the "admin" to print out a little sticker to tell you how much of the medicine you need to take. Now an interesting thing is that not all of the medicine on that prescription requires a prescription to obtain. Therefore if you just dispense the medicine that requires the prescription and purchase the other items as over the counter you can avoid the dispensing fee which could save you some money. In the case of medical aid in South Africa, I have a hospital plan, so all medicine etc is paid for by us in any case, there are no real medical aids that pay for medicine besides cronic stuff. Not sure if that will work at all, be interested to know if that is similar to how it is done here in South Africa.

[Sunnyskies]

Agree we never really felt the cost of the gap payments in SA. Granted we had top Discovery plan so had cover for almost everything. I find the referral system here crazy. Why do I need to see a GP 3x before they will give you a referral. Best comment I received when I queried was why am I concerned as Medicare picks up most of the tab. At the time we were on a 457 so I had to pay for each visit as private didn't pick up GP cost.

The excessive charges of private hospital for emergency are what prompted me to sit in emergency in public with my son when he had a suspected wrist fracture. I just couldn't afford the $400 fee we would be charged to go private. I pay a bomb on private here for private and it is supposedly a top medical, but I pay that for dental,allied health professional, optical, braces and freedom of choice on providers. It doesn't help absorb the cost of GP copayments (never mind Tony's $7 co payment, I'd pay that with a smile of that was all it was, but I have to pay the difference between Medicare and dr charges and now also the copay).

Now I don't know what the dispensing fee is in SA anymore but I would be surprised if it is R360 per item.

Unfortunately in Australia we pay for a first world health service that we cannot really afford because our population is too small. We also pay the cost of the minimum wage. On the upside the care you receive when you are really ill is generally good. There are also doctors, physios, dentists, podiatrists and optometrists on every corner. Being a GP is a great career option here. You can work part time and earn really well.

[Mara]

If you have to have x-rays done or go to radiologists for anything else, please google and check if there are radiologists that do bulk billing. If you are in Melbourne you can use Capital Radiology, I have never paid anything, it is all bulk billed. Not all of their offices do everything, so you need to ask where it is done.

I just did a google search for Adelaide, and found the following:

https://www.google.com.au/search?q=capital+radiology&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=fflb&gfe_rd=cr&ei=r_eMU9uEMauN8QfTxYBI#channel=fflb&q=bulk+billing+radiology+in+adelaide&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official

[AndreaL]

Aside from finding out which services offer bulk billing, you can (at least with Medibank private) see on of their preferred providers and pay less of a GAP fee, fine if you live in a city, not so great if you don't.

Miraclebabycaw, the only thing I can think of is that you try and claim back the cost of some of your medications through your private health scheme, and you have a look at the medicare safety net threshold, although they generally send out a letter to you if you are approaching it, http://www.humanservices.gov.au/customer/enablers/medicare/medicare-safety-net/medicare-safety-net-thresholds

Chzaau, if you buy OTC non prescription medication here, you just get charged the price of it, i.e. my voltaren tablets are about $11.

The PBS has a list of medications of varying prices, the fee for these meds is set at $36.90 no matter what they might actually cost, or $6 if you are on a concession card.

Once you have reached a threshold of $1421.20 in the calendar year, the rest of your meds will be free, or $360 for concession card holders

[miraclebabycaw]

Thanks all

Andrea - thank, yes the ENT was a preferred provider but there is still a huge gap. The GAP fees are usually only for in hospital expenses for that Provider so if he operates he might waive or reduce the GAP fee if he is a preferred provider. This is just the visit. Twice in one month not good..original and follow up for results. Private health care will only pay for non PBS medicines which is only one of my son's scripts and only above the $36.90 PBS threshold, so the first $36.90 we pay anyway irregardless. The other is anti histamine meds which of course are OTC and $15 a bottle - he has 3 bottles a month.

Mara - Yip thanks I know this..but as I said if I want to pay privately I can get an earlier appointment..if I want no co-payment you need to just wait it out until they have an appointment with no co-pay which is why I can only have my MRI on Wed night. They could give me an earlier appt if I was willing to cough up $250. All good and well if it's not a major issue, but when you are in tremendous pain it's not nice. My son's was a case of he could be seen a week later for the x-ray if we paid extra..but it would have been 2weeks if we wanted them to bulk bill. This is ridiculous. One of the radiologists on the list you provided is Benson - that's the one we used for my son's x-rays. The others are all North of the city..we live South.

Chzaau - The dispensing fee in RSA is per script isn't it? Can't remember but it was around R40 max per script when we left. Something like 7.5% up to a max of R40 was what you paid. Therefor the more meds on the script the better. Here the $36.90 is per item, so if you take chronic meds and have 10 items per month between the members on your family it's a whack. And of course if you have non PBS meds then they don't even go towards the threshold

Anyway no sense complaining..it is what it is, but people must just be aware of this and not think they are coming to a brilliant medical state where medicare is everything. UK medical is much better. On the flip side though, the care yes is brilliant in hospital. I ended up having my gall bladder removed 3 months after arriving and the care was awesome (apart from the fact that I got kicked out the same day..had my op around lunch time and was kicked out about 6pm - public). I can understand why a lot of people don't do the private health insurances though because if you pay that and then have all of these things as well you are truly out of pocket.

[Bronwyn&Co]

If you don't have pvt cover you pay the premium in penalty tax anyway, Miraclebaby. It usually doesn't make sense to cancel your cover. You should sit down with someone at your pvt insurers and go through your actual claims and see if there is a better plan for your family's requirements (not always more expensive) . It is a complicated business which I still don't fully understand. We paid far too much for years because we rarely need a doctor, so this year we reduced our plan. Should have done it years ago!

[Johnno]

Back to hooning. Not a weekend goes by without someone out of control speeding hoon crashing into a house narrowly missing the occupants or causing a major accident. This past weekend, despite it being a doule demerit points long weekend was no exception!

https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/latest/a/24094838/hoons-have-resident-hopping-mad/

and to think some people think that because it does not happen in their street.....it does not happen at all!

[Bronwyn&Co]

Johnno I think you must move to Brissy!

[Donovan83]

I don't like that this kind of thing sometimes happens.

If people move here and behave like this, then they clearly do not belong here and should be sent back to the hole they crawled out of.

Edited June 3, 2014 by Donovan83

[Fish]

Johnno I think you must move to Brissy!

Would all depend where wouldn't it? Could move to some outer suburbs where same thing would happen sometimes.

[Johnno]

Johnno I think you must move to Brissy!

LOL Bronwyn&Co, we lived in Brissy for 2 years. We had a lovely waterfront home in Raby Bay but the humidity and lack of descent local beaches was a real downside. I did not like inner Brisbane either and the traffic was a killer!

Like this area Fish?.....Brisbane is not without its anti social behaviour....

Edited June 4, 2014 by Johnno

[Bronwyn&Co]

The clips of the 'Africans' banging on the doors must have been terrifying for those Aussies. They are SO not used to it. We went to rugby in Brisbane and there was a group of about 8 or so black South Africans singing 'Shosoloza' etc. up in the stands, and we were sitting just below them. They were just enjoying themselves, but one by one the Aussies around us packed up their stuff and moved off to other seats. They were clearly freaking out.

Edited June 4, 2014 by Bronwyn&Co

[Fish]

Like this area Fish?.....Brisbane is not without its anti social behaviour....

I don't think any city is totally immune really...all a matter of degree...definitely that area...even though that incident was at the rarer extreme end I wouldn't be surprised if the incidence of hooning was higher out there...probably out where you lived in bayside and up outer north might suffer sometimes as well but only guessing as not witnessed it personally.

[Johnno]

I'm still on about this hooning "thing". I went to fetch my daughter from a study group at 9pm yesterday evening when a powerful UTE came sideways around the traffic circle doing what was a very well executed burnout showing immense skill but right in front of law abiding citizens and on a public road. I said to my daughter, "someone is going to get killed. this hooning is out of control!" I was saddened to open the online news paper this morning and see that a 19yr old has died in another high speed hooning incident last night which could have easily killed more people. The amount of cars that smash through houses is staggering!!

https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/24178674/man-dies-as-car-crashes-through-wall/

[funtobeaussiechick]

Hey Johnno I have been here since 2008 and have not had one burn out near my house where I live. Maybe I live in a good suburb. Where do you live so that we can be sure to never move there

[Eva]

LOL funtobeaussiechick, good point! Definitely don't want to live near Johnno and his hoons! I have never heard hooning near my house, but I have seen tyre-tread left on roads so assume when I am tucked up in bed fast asleep and too far away to hear it, something happens.

[AndreaL]

If I remember correctly, there was usually a story on the news every couple of weeks in Perth of a car that had run off the road and into a hous or even the swimming pool.........................there could be a number of reasons, badly built roads with houses very close to the road, higher proporption of cashed up young people with powerful cars................who knows, can't say I see too much of that particular thing on the news over here in Queensland, but we seem to have had a lot of murders, where the husband has murdered the wife................OK, maybe I mean about a dozen in the last year or so.

We seem to have a lot of tourists getting into road accidents.

[HansaPlease]

Yep, Andrea, I've always maintained that hooning is prevalent because so many young people have access to very cheap, powerful, rear-wheel drive cars.

[Johnno]

Hey Johnno I have been here since 2008 and have not had one burn out near my house where I live. Maybe I live in a good suburb. Where do you live so that we can be sure to never move there

Hey funtobeaussiechick, I lived in SA for 35yrs and never got robbed, murdered or hijacked I must have had a good neighbourhood or does that not mean it does not happen.

Read the article that I posted with open eyes!! Over 200 cases of cars a smashing into houses over last 2 years in WA alone!! That's just accidents of out of control cars hitting houses, no to mention the other accidents and near accidents caused by hooning. Are you denying that hooning is a an issue of huge concern to the Australian authorities or you simply don't believe it because it does not happen in your road? I'd be keen to hear your thoughts?

LOL funtobeaussiechick, good point! Definitely don't want to live near Johnno and his hoons! I have never heard hooning near my house, but I have seen tyre-tread left on roads so assume when I am tucked up in bed fast asleep and too far away to hear it, something happens.

LOL Eva, now that's a fine way of looking at it.......I did not see it happen so it does not happen, maybe! hahahaha!!

[Bronwyn&Co]

Maybe Andrea has a point. Too many cashed-up youngsters in Perth??