Australia: News and Views

If you are an overseas Australian property investor you may have noticed that the Aussie dollar is hitting new highs against the US$ and quite a lot of other currencies too. So if you are planning on selling a property and bailing from Australia - now is a very good time to do it - the property market is showing quite strong signs of recovery in places - and more importantly the rate you will get for your foreign exchange is fantastic.

If you are on the other side - maybe and Ausralian expat looking to head back to Australia you are in a worse situation - you might want to delay your overseas currency excahnage in the hope that the dollar doesn’t stay at current levels of over 90c - though speculation is that it might hit partiy - mind you the last time that speculation occurred  - alittle over a year ago from memory - it hit 62c - so you never can tell with foreign exchange.

My advice would be to avoid large currency transactions anyway - drip the currency in or out over a few months - to limit your risk

If like I you live in Perth,WA - you have probably heard of the latest credit card fraud. Its actually EFTPOS cards as well and doesn’t effect just ATMs This is a new technology which has seen over $100,000 stolen from West Australian affected  fast food outlets and customers paying by card. The police and the banks have been coy about saying exactly where the thefts are occuring - which is pretty crap as far as I am concerned. So here is the current list which is circulating naming some McDonalds, Coles, Peak and BP service stations which have been affected. There is no need to shopping at these locations - just pay by cash for the next week or two.

Meanwhile you should be doing the right thing by regularly checking your online statements. If there is a problem you won’t be out of pocket but you need to report it ASAP to your bank and they may have to reissue your cards and account which is nuisence.

Card Fraud Affected McDonalds etc

McDonalds Canning Vale
McDonalds Maddington
McDonalds City
McDonalds Success
McDonalds Cannington
McDonalds South Perth

Coles Southern River
Coles Gosnells
Coles Thornlie
Coles Maddington
Coles Forest Lakes

Peak Service Station Bayswater
Peak Service Station Kwinana
Peak Service Station Maddington
Peak Service Station Mundaring
Peak Service Station Roleystone

BP Service Station Wembley
BP Service Station Carlisle
BP Service Station Manning
BP Service Station Osborne Park

I am seriously wondering if now is the time to make a bit of a move and actually buy some property in Queensland ? I really enjoy Queensland and if we end up living back in New Zealand Queensland is the best place to hide from the winter! I’ve always been put off by the sky high prices of apartments or townhouses - particularly as I’d really want to buy a property which was near new and of course had a swimming pool.

Until very recently that mean in the popular hot spots of Gold Coast or Port Douglas - you were looking at little change out of $1 million - ouch - especially when the NZ$ is weak. But now it seems that therereally is an over-supply and banks are taking the loss of the portfolios of several large failed property developers.  There are reports of top end million dollar plus Gold Coast properties selling for less than half their original prices.

Another option is property in Palm Cove or Port Douglas - again a large developer has gone under and holiday units are selling for a third of the price of 6 six years ago.

Australia has made good money in recent year by selling ther excellent education system to foreigners. Not only do Australian tertiary level (universtiies and TAFEs) set up campuses overseas, often in Asia, but many students come to study in Australia under student visas.

The publicity has been a bit ugly recently though with attacks on several Indian students in Melbourne leading to diplomatic level talks between Australian and Indian governments to try and difuse the situation. Then the collapse of a doubtful  training provider saw large number of Indian student potentially out of pocket -though it sounds like the various insurance and government agencies will sort this mess out.

The point really is that the Australian tertiary education system is just fine - the problem is the student visa system which strongly favours those who have a student visa if they then want to apply for permanent residency. This is not, by the way for people with advance engineering or science degrees - no this is more for cooking classes and hairdressers! Now I would rather have my Indian chef trained in Bombay rather than Bondi! The opening for abuse is obvious.

Maybe too that the Australian government should be looking to the future - teaching sells is huge - but not at a country level - but online and globally - for just how much longer are students going to be prepared to spend thousands of dollars and move to a foreign country when the same education is available onlne and often for much lower cost?

The future is huge and but its online and many traditional education providers really need to be looking more closely at what their online competitors are doing.

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The local Australia news is never-ending about the damage done to Australian’s superannuation investments with the property melt-down and share market implosion.  Now the job crises means that the poor  not-so-old, not-so-rich people can’t even get a part-time job!

Think out side the box people - a look north! Malaysia is one of the most pleasant countries in the region - a varied climate, nice people, modern infra-structure. It seems strange to me that people don’t take advantage of living somewhere so much cheaper for part of the year. And with Air Asia X’s flights from Perth starting at about A$100 its hardly expensive!

The Malaysian government’s Make Malaysia Your Second Home seems like a very good deal offering 10-year visas for self-sufficient retirees. Self-sufficient in Malaysia is a bit different from in Australia. The requirements for over-50’s in the program include:

• 150,000 ringgit (A$50,000) to be deposited in a Malaysian bank’s term deposit OR proof of 10,000 ringgit (A$3500) month pension/superannuation.
• After one year the deposit reduces to 100,000 - and difference can be used for buying a property in Malaysia or education or health expenses there.

In fact Malaysia is offering a much better deal to retirees than Australia does. There are incentives for the immigrants to buy cars. Other things that make Malaysia an attraction option includes:

• overseas income including pensions are tax free;
• there is no restriction on what type of residential home you can buy - unlike Australia you are not restricted to new properties;
• tax exemption on car purchase
• overseas income is free of Malaysian tax
• and a very attractive cost of living

Its certainly an option within reach for many Australians who would struggle to live on $3500/month in Australia would live very well in Malaysia for that amount.

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In a couple of days (21st July local time) it will the 40th anniversary of the Apollo moon landings. What is not as well known is that Australia was an important part of the NASA infrastructure that saw man walk on the moon. Being “down under” was critical because observatories in Australia could cover communications with the space missions while Florida was on the wrong side of the world to have line of sight contact.

Of the three original tracking stations in Australia: Carnavon, Honeysuckle Creek and Parkes - only Parkes radio telescope is still in operation, and well worth a visit if you are interested.

The other well known connection that Australia has with Nasa - is that Ausralia is where Skylab ended up-  parts of the space station broke up and hit earth in remote Western Australia - driving the Nullarbor you will see some of the remnants in roadhouse museums!

The clear air and wide open spaces still attract both amateur and professional astronomers to Australia - but he romance and excitement of the moon landings has long gone. What is sure though when man does land on the moon again - Australia will be part of the communications team!

Its all about perception people! According to the Guardian Britian is has declared a “level 3 heatwave ” - its gonna hit 32C - make sure you stay inside people.  Sorry but hello world? Mild is how Perth weather forecasters describe low 30 temperatures. To get a description of hot in Australia - it has to be over 40C. To make the newspapers it has to be over 40C either a)in Tasmania or b) for more than a few days- 10 was Perth’s record last Christmas.

The crazy thing is that the overnight minimum temperatures are only 18C - your house shouldnt be getting that hot at those temperatures - assuming the Brits know to open up all the doors and windows and night and keep them closed during the day - duh! Also avoid wearing too many clothes - why do you think Aussie women don’t wear nylons! Shoes and socks are a pretty bad idea too!

My number one tip - and this works when the overnight temperature is 25C - is have a cold shower - and don’t dry off afterwards - walk around naked. Or shower in your clothes - its called evaporation and it definitly works!

On the same day that Farrah Fawcett is dead at 62 from cancer, Michael Jackson is also reported dead - at just 50. Reports are that Michael Jackson died of a heart attack at his Southern California home.

Though long known for his increasing weirdness - Jackson had been trying to get his career back on track. Whatever you think about his obessions and bizarre plastic surgery there is no denyng that Michael Jackson was a musical genius.  From a child star in the Jackson Five through to his famous moon walking Michael Jackson could sing and dance and compose with the best of them.

Over his career Michael Jackson has had 13 number one hits including

Black or White

The Way You Make Me Feel

Man in the Mirror

Thriller

The tradegy of Michael’s short life seemed to be his inability to deal with life in the spot light and his obvious problems with his own identity. Whatever at the end of the day his music will live on a lot longer than his weirdness - at least I hope so.

Initial reports had Michael Jackson in a coma but the county coroner in LA has now confirmed his death. He is survived by his three children who are no doubt on their way to California. The house is under guard by local police.

Though not unexpected its sad today to read that ex-Charlie Angels star Farrah Fawcett is dead too young at 62. Farrah had been battling anal cancer and died at Santa Monica hospital on the 25 June. Its a bit less of a shock of the news that Michael Jackson is dead at 50 from a heart attack.

Stunningly beautiful in her prime - Farrah Fawcett made long, blond-waved hair the trademark look of the 1970s when she starred in the original Charlies Angels TV series. Although she left the series after only one season and subsequently starred in more serious movies - it will be the image of her in a clinging catsuit which will be the image she is remembered for by an entire older generation.

Ryan O’Neal has been her great love and chief support since the cancer diagnosis in 2005. Although long time lovers Ryan O’Neal and Farrah Fawcett had never married, Ryan did however say on Larry King this week that Farrah had finally agreed to marry him. Whether there was a deathbed marriage is at the time of writing unclear.

It seems so unfair that someone who obviously took a lot of time and effort to live a healthy lifestyle and be fit and healthy should be dead so young. There is no guarantees in this life people - you just have to go for it and live every day as it might be your last - you just never know

Poor Queensland has been suffering even more flooding recently. Water damage is widespread in southern Queensland and northern NSW. Queensland must have the biggest flood cleanup bill of any state for a longtime. Finally the rains came to northern Queensland in January which saw towns such as Normanton isolated for weeks. Now that’s not disaster - its just the climate up there - its just that it hasn’t happened for a few years so the newsmedia were all over it.

And now Brisbane’s drought is officially over as the whole SE of the state got absolutely drenched with storms which have also created a fair bit of coastal erosion.  Quite a number of coastal mansions are under threat. Northern NSW is also pretty wet for this time of the year - and given that the storm was no respecter of state boundaries its pretty much can be said if you want fine weather - head north!