Hello From Aussie land

Cheleen Koekemoer(Pretorius) · October 04, 2008, 12:28:16 PM

@ Bertie - Hier is darem so paar suid afrikaners saam met wie ons kuier...ons maak die aussies warem as dit by kuier kom...die areme siele...shame...dink hulle weet alles...Ons is STERK!!!!!!

DUNJA WRBKA · October 04, 2008, 01:51:43 PM

Where in Aussiland are you Cheleen?

Cheleen Koekemoer(Pretorius) · October 05, 2008, 12:30:45 AM

@Dunja - we live in Kalgoorlie Western Australia...real nice place alot like omund.

DUNJA WRBKA · October 05, 2008, 05:06:25 AM

Yes had a look on the map... East of Perth :-)

Carl Wrbka · October 05, 2008, 05:59:55 AM

A weird place, this Australia. They cry buckets full all over the internet job sites that they have a drastic shortage of skilled technical workers, and basically beg you to immigrate. All fine and well, untill you apply that is.

I believe their immigration system needs a couple of good bitch slaps! It's not as if people are queing for miles to go there, like the USA for example, where they have to resort to military tactics to keep immigrants out.

Then they insult you even further by making you undergo an English proficiency test before even looking at your visa application????? Come on! Somebody immigrating from South Africa, where English is the first language spoken and used in commerce, education and industry...now lets see...I wonder if they speak English well enough to enter our country?

I think I'll stay here in SA, where my skills, education, and 18 years experience in a specialised industrial environment means something, and doesn't make me a second rate citizen getting paid peanuts while my Australian colleage doing the same job smiles all the way to the bank on payday.

Just my 2c worth.

Cheleen Koekemoer(Pretorius) · October 05, 2008, 11:18:44 AM

@ Carl...I understand completely what you are saying, and yes it's a shlep doing all the english tests and so on, but it is all worth it. Most countries have to do the English test and yes it takes hell of a long time to get all sorted and them satisfied with what they want. I do agree with the bitch slappin part though, they seriously need to do something bout the way they work things.

Namibia will always stay my country, but our future did not look too bright!!!!! My hubby had to move twise in one year because they (the company) did not do their homework so they had to move a whole bunch of guys, and had they not moved them they would have lost their jobs

...and another thing, I agree with you, bout you getting payed peanuts...EXACTLY one of the reasons we moved...Our money is not worth anything...where as here, one can do so much more with you money...WHY NOT immigrate!!!! If it means that you and your family will have a better life, I can not see a problem, but then again, every person has their own oppinion...That's MINE...

Any more COMMENTS????

Michael Alexander · October 05, 2008, 06:14:36 PM

My opinion, was the mine was mismanaged..... and is coming right now....the new GM has kicked peoples butts and the carat call is on the up with a special 60% bonus being paid to all workers this wednesday .... the general moral of the workforce is up.... and in general over the whole of africa investment in mining is growing exponentially..... boom time for africa is on the way...... crime and problems, with corruption are not just an African problem...... it';s a world issue.... and the way the world economy is going at the moment with all that corruption on the stock markets of the 1st world..... the 3rd world economies of africa are better protected from that nightmare.... I like africa...it;s a big place, plenty of water and untapped resources... Australia is beautiful, but from the people I know there, including my cousins and right now I have an Australian visiting here...in my kitchen in fact.... , reckon that they also have their problems.... lack of water a major one..... crime on the rise, drugs on the rise......

So at the end of the day...it's what you make of what you have.... I live well in Omund..... I braai and kuier every weekend, I work 2 minutes away.... my kids go to a great ever improving school..... and we have a shipwreck...... I am staying in Africa..... "suddenly Johnny Clegg and juluka jump to mind....I'm searching for the spirit of the great heart under African skies!"

Bertie Horak · October 06, 2008, 02:10:53 AM

And some diamonds in the soles of your shoes Mike?

Sheena · October 06, 2008, 05:43:05 AM

Mike,
you forgot to add to your list of advantages that I live here as well. What would this town be without someone like me????? chicken3

Carl Wrbka · October 06, 2008, 06:03:32 AM

Hi Cheleen, thanks for the response.

My posting wasn't aimed at running anybody down for wanting to emmigrate to Australia, but at the Aussie immigration system. I agree it might be better once u'r there, but geez what a shlepp. I was seriously considering making the move, but the whole immigration process put me off the idea quite quickly.

Cheleen Koekemoer(Pretorius) · October 06, 2008, 12:22:59 PM

@ Carl - no offence taken.....

Malcolm Bertoni · October 07, 2008, 01:22:13 PM

Hi all

I work at the university here in Hobart and I coordinate all the post graduate overseas students - we have about 200 students from China, India, Malaysia, Korea, etc. The red tape involved getting the student visas sorted out is a nightmare. It takes about 6 months of tedious paperwork and bureaucratic nonsense. Once they are here they have to study full-time and if they fail a unit then they have to re-apply for an extension. Even if they leave to go back to their home country on holiday then they have to do more paperwork.

The whole immigration process is getting more and more difficult and its as if the Aus government is putting more and more barriers into place to prevent people from getting into the country. And you are right - there is a big skills shortage here.

That the way of the world now.