Living and Working in Australia
David Hampshire
Living and Working in Australia, first published in 1998 and now in its 6th edition, is the most comprehensive and best-selling book available about daily life – and is essential reading for newcomers. What's it really like Living and Working in Australia? Not surprisingly, there's more to life than barbies, beaches, beer and bronzed bodies. This book is guaranteed to hasten your introduction to the Australian way of life, irrespective of whether you're planning to stay for a few months or indefinitely. Adjusting to day-to-day-life in Australia just got a whole lot simpler!
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Other guides for Australia
Extracts from the book…
Employment Conditions
Employment conditions in Australia are among the best in the developed world and are regulated in most fields of employment at federal or state level, where legislation covers such matters as annual and special leave, discrimination, occupational health and safety, redundancy procedures and payment, and workers’ compensation.
In 2005, the Australian government amended the Work Place Relations Act, 1996 and introduced the WorkChoices law, which came into force in March 2006 and is to be implemented over a five-year period. The new legislation, which is the most comprehensive reform of workplace relations in almost a century, was ostensibly designed to ‘protect’ workers and to encourage more family-friendly working arrangements, and it included provisions for young people, women, outworkers and people from a non-English speaking or indigenous background. In effect, however, it made employment (and dismissal) more ‘flexible’ and consequently employment less secure.
Among other things, WorkChoices established a body known as the Australian FairPay Commission (AFPC, www.fairpay.gov.au) to supersede the Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC), established the Australian Safety and Compensation Council (www.ascc.gov.au) to oversee occupational health and safety standards and handle workers’ compensation claims on a nationwide basis, increased restrictions on industrial action, increased the maximum length of Australian Workplace Agreements from three to five years and, most controversially, exempted companies with fewer than 101 employees from unfair dismissal legislation (i.e. allowed them to ‘hire and fire’ at will).
Before the 2005 Amendment, all new certified agreements (now called collective agreements – see below) were subject to a ‘no disadvantage’ test, whereby their terms were compared with those of previous agreements applying to the same workers to ensure that they would be no worse off. WorkChoices scrapped the test and introduced the requirement for employers to provide employees with ‘five minimum entitlements’, covering maximum ordinary working hours, annual leave, parental leave, personal/carer's leave and minimum pay scales. These five minimum entitlements are referred to as the Australian Fair Pay and Conditions Standard. They don’t relate to any previous agreements, so in effect employers are free to set their own employment standards.
Not surprisingly, WorkChoices law has met with considerable opposition (over half the Australian population is said to be against it), and the Australian Labor Party, elected to govern in November 2007, has vowed to repeal it. In May 2007, the then current government officially abandoned the ‘WorkChoices’ name, though without proposing a new one – nor any changes to its legislation. (In fact the WorkChoices website, www.workchoices.gov.au, was still operational in October 2007!)
Further information about employment conditions and workers’ rights can be obtained from the Australian Industrial Registry, Level 42, Nauru House, 80 Collins St, Melbourne, VIC 3000 (postal address: PO Box 19945, Melbourne, VIC 3001, local call rate 1300-799675, www.airc.gov.au) and, with regard to regulations in New South Wales, the Office of Industrial Relations, 1 Oxford Street, Darlingshurst, NSW 2010 (131-628, www.industrialrelations. nsw.gov.au).
Customs
After you’ve cleared immigration, you proceed to the luggage claim area to collect your bags. When you have all your bags, you go to the customs checkpoint, where you hand your IPC to a customs officer.
All airports in Australia use a system of red and green ‘channels’. Red means you have something to declare and green means you have nothing to declare, i.e. no more than the duty- or tax-free allowances, no goods to sell, and no prohibited or restricted goods. If you’re certain that you have nothing to declare, go through the ‘green channel’; otherwise go through the red channel. Customs officers make random checks on people going through both red and green channels and there are stiff penalties for smuggling. If you’re caught trying to smuggle any goods into Australia, they can be confiscated and, if you attempt to import prohibited items, you may be liable to criminal charges and/or deportation.
When you enter Australia to take up temporary or permanent residence, you can usually import your belongings duty and tax-free. Personal and household goods that you’ve owned and used overseas for over 12 months can be imported free of duty and sales tax, although proof of length of ownership may be required and this concession doesn’t apply to alcohol, motor vehicles or tobacco products. Any goods not owned and used overseas for over 12 months may be subject to duty and tax at varying rates, depending on where you’ve come from, where you purchased the goods, how long you’ve owned them, and whether duty and tax have already been paid in another country. If you need to pay duty or tax, it must be paid at the time goods are brought into the country. Payment may be made in cash, by travellers’ cheque (in Australian dollars) or by American Express, Bankcard, Diners Club, MasterCard or Visa card.
There’s no limit to the amount of Australian or foreign banknotes and coins that can be brought into Australia, but amounts of $10,000 or more (or the equivalent in foreign currency) must be declared on arrival. On the other hand, in accordance with the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006, travellers entering or leaving Australia must disclose to a customs or police officer, if asked, whether they’re carrying Bearer Negotiable Instruments (BNIs) which include promissory notes, travellers’ cheques, cheques, money orders and postal orders. This disclosure will be made by filling out a Cross Border Movement-Bearer Negotiable Instrument (CBM-BNI) form. This is as well as declaring the amount of cash carried.
Australian Customs publishes a variety of information for travellers, including a booklet entitled Customs Information for Travellers, available from Australian customs offices (see Appendix A for a list). General enquiries should be directed to the Australian Customs Service, Customs House, 5 Constitution Ave, ACT 2000 (1300-363263 within Australia or 02-6275 6666 from outside Australia, www.customs.gov.au).
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PRICE: £14.95
PUBLICATION: May 2009
EDITION: 6th
PAGES: 396
BINDING: paperback
SIZE: 230mm x 155mm
COLOUR PHOTOS: over 150
