Australian info please

Gentlemen,

My 18 year old son has just told me that he will be moving to Australia in 3 weeks with his girlfriend. They will be living in Ballarat near Melbourne. Apparently she has been offered a job on a farm working horses which comes with furnished accommodation.

My son has recently completed a course on basic building skills and he says he will be looking for jobs working on building sites etc.

Do any of our Australian brethren have any knowledge of this area, what sort of jobs might be available etc?

Thanks.

Roy

For what's it's worth, I'm only a tourist around here...

I've been to Ballarat once. Apparently bigger than Melbourne itself, it's expanding. I do not know how the employement rate is going over there but if it's expanding, it shouldn't be a problem for your son. Best of luck!

Luc can anyone just show up and work? Is there a permit for non-Aussies?

Luc said:

For what's it's worth, I'm only a tourist around here...

I've been to Ballarat once. Apparently bigger than Melbourne itself, it's expanding. I do not know how the employement rate is going over there but if it's expanding, it shouldn't be a problem for your son. Best of luck!

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That's good to know, thanks Luc!

Ballarat is certainly expanding... There is quite a demand in the building industry at the moment.. I currently work for a hire company who hires out builders equipment and we are making record profits... So the demand is certainly there....

If he is looking at getting into carpentry (through an apprenticeship) then he has a plethora of options...

It might pay to look at http://www.agaustralia.com.au/ for further info...

Jim said:

Luc can anyone just show up and work? Is there a permit for non-Aussies?

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NZ citizens do not need a special permit to work in Australia. Since 1973, the Trans-Tasman Travel Arrangement has allowed Australian and New Zealand citizens to live and work in each other's country without restrictions. On arrival in Australia, most New Zealanders are automatically granted a Special Category Visa (SCV), subject to meeting health and character requirements. This visa allows the holder to remain and work in Australia indefinitely.


In regards to Roy's question I don't live in Oz, but have family in NZ who did work at various times in Oz. The problem with building work in Oz is that right now alot of other folks are looking for the same thing as some of it can be pretty unskilled. It depends if your son has a specialism he can try to sell to construction sites, like tiling, bit of plumbing etc, etc. Otherwise hes going to be going up against locals for the same jobs and that's always tough, potentially. Until recently the Oz construction economy was booming and jobs were not hard to get with wages way better than NZ, but from what I have been hearing (at least from my Kiwi mate in currently looking for work in Perth anyway. Of course it may be totally different in Ballarat) it has been slowing down a fair bit for that unskilled stuff.

Ballarat is a large regional town. It's about 90 mins or so drive from Melbourne. I've got a few friends that live in the area. It's quite a nice place. I couldn't really comment workwise but like most regional town, jobs like cashiers, kitchen staff etc should be available. It's an old gold rush area so it's got alot of quite large and splendid old buildings.

RF1963 said:

Gentlemen,

My 18 year old son has just told me that he will be moving to Australia in 3 weeks with his girlfriend. They will be living in Ballarat near Melbourne. Apparently she has been offered a job on a farm working horses which comes with furnished accommodation.

My son has recently completed a course on basic building skills and he says he will be looking for jobs working on building sites etc.

Do any of our Australian brethren have any knowledge of this area, what sort of jobs might be available etc?

Thanks.

Roy

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Several points:
1. If your not quite daughter-in-law is getting a job as a strapper - I hope she's mentioned that she needs accomdation for two, not just 1.
2. Even the richest bloke in Australia has "rather basic" accomodation for his strappers.

Take all that with a pinch of salt if she's not coming here to be a strapper.

3. Construction - Certainly in Sydney, there are plenty of en-zedders working. I would never accuse them of displaying favoritism to their countrymen. But it might help your son if he finds a fellow kiwi working in the trade (ideally, before arriving in Ballarat).
4. "Near Melbourne" is not quite the same as "Near Wellington". Although, you can be a lot more km from Melbourne and be closer travelling time than the same distance from Sydney because the roads in Victoria are fantastic compared to NSW.