Ken

A fee on a $500,000 transfer might only be $10 but an exchange rate difference could easily be $10,000.

I really don't see the British government making any unilateral changes however illogical the situation might be. They want the Australian government to pay a larger share of the pensions of Australians in the UK in return for their paying a larger share of the pensions of Britons in Australia. The Australian government aren't willing to do this (because they'd have to do the same for Australians worldwide) so nothing is going to happen.

You've hit the nail of the head there. In investment terms it's "diversify your portfolio" or as the old saying goes "don't put all your eggs in one basket". But do remember this discussion is about transferring money it's not about depositing it somewhere so it's not actually going to be sitting in an account anyway.

Since we are talking about the proceeds of a house sale I would expect it to be over the amount of the government guarantee. Just leaving it all in one bank is therefore exposing you to risk. By transferring some of it you are mitigating that risk.

Money that is held in a client account is 100% still the property of the clients if a business goes bust and can't be used to reimburse other creditors. Of course when a firm that is supposed to keep client money's in a client account goes bust what you sometimes discover is that the firm has been siphoning funds out of the client account. There's always a tiny risk (no matter how well run and audited they've been in the past) that a firm will start doing fraudulent things. But that applies to Banks and Solicitors not just to money transfer companies. Technically you can't say there's no risk from using a money transfer company, but what you can say is there's no more risk than using a Bank.

If Raul is a migration agent perhaps he could clarify whether or not a 187 is a permanent visa as the OP claimed. Based on the comments he's made it appears to only be a provisional visa.

Superfunds and their equivalents elsewhere in the world are still receiving contributions and they have to put it somewhere (no point leaving it in a bank account earning zero interest).

The other important piece of info is that the contribution must be in your Super Fund by 30th June to be used for that tax year. Unless it's already underway I really don't think you have time to get the paperwork sorted for FY2020.

I've seen advise telling people to leave at least 6K in their Super (because the funds can close the account and transfer the balance to the ATO if it falls below 6K) but I don't where you got 20K from. It may of course be a rule from your own Super fund.

No more than a tourist visa would and an immigration agent has apparently already suggested using a tourist visa (presumably before COVID-19 came along).

That doesn't mean you have to remain with the same employer.

Although your employer needed to nominate you to get your permanent visa, once your permanent visa has been granted there's nothing tying you to your employer other than your contract of employment. Sure they can try to hold you to a 2-year contract but I've never heard of an employer being successful against Fair Work for that length.

Our mate is only available in tiny jars so works out very expensive compared to the large jars in the UK. Consequently if you've got space (and weight) in your luggage it makes sense to bring it with you, but if you have to pay shipping or excess luggage charges for it you'll lose all the saving.

SevenSeas https://www.sevenseasworldwide.com I've only used their move cube but they also do just boxes and individual items (such as rocking chairs).

Can't help but wonder if the fact that ME Bank is owned by the Industry Super Funds who are desperately looking for liquid cash at the moment (so they can pay out all these Coronavirus permitted early withdrawals) is somehow related to ME Bank having to suddenly "correct" their formula?

It makes a difference if this is a temporary change during the COVID-19 crisis. In normal circumstances this sounds like constructive dismissal might apply, but Fair Work have relaxed a lot of conditions for the duration. Employees receiving Job Keeper can basically be asked to perform any task they are able to perform regardless of whether it's in their normal job description or not. Naturally all Health Safety in the work place and minimum pay rates still apply though.

Yes you can see the logic of people not wanting the uncertainty of a bank guarantee where your money might get bailed in during crisis and instead wanting the certainty of no bank guarantee where your money will definitely get bailed in during a crisis!

If you have a 187 visa that is a permanent visa. Permanent visa holders are eligible for JobKeeper. Looks clear cut to me.

If you are on a temporary visa they're foreign income and so exempt from tax, but if you are a permanent resident or citizen then do remember that premium bond winnings are not tax free (I know HMRC think they are but they're not the ATO so their opinion doesn't count). Children can each get up to $416 a year of investment income tax free, but after that it goes on their parents tax return.

A 187 visa is a permanent visa, so that ticks one of the boxes. However there are other criteria. If your employer had to cut your hours then he's presumably suffered the necessary reduction in turnover. You say you were working full time. One problem arises if the employer treated you as a casual employee despite you working full time. A casual employee needs to have been employed since 1st March 2019 while for a permanent employee it's only from 1st March 2020. A second problem is that employers don't have to sign up to the JobKeeper program, and if your employer chooses not to then the fact you are eligible is irrelevant.

It depends entirely on what sort of suburbs you like. Taste is subjective. There are a lot of new suburbs around Ravenhall - it's practically on the doorstep of Caroline Springs. Some people love the new and hate the grotty old suburbs, others think the new suburbs are hell of earth and that the old suburbs have character.

The one benefit you can get on a temp visa is tax free access to your Super ($10,000 this financial year and $10,000 next financial year - assuming you've worked long enough to have built up that much). For most people it's not really a benefit as you're just borrowing your retirement savings but if you're on a temp visa (unless you are certain you will get PR one day) it's actually a very good benefit because the only other way to access your Super on a temp visa is via the very heavily taxed DASP.

AFEs = Acronyms For Ever!

They only have two different paths for applying for an adult passport. It's either your first adult passport or it's a renewal - so there can't be any time limit on it being a renewal because it's not your first passport if you once had one of those big blue ones.

One of the listed conditions is where the trustee is given a release authority (eg for the release of excess contributions) making it fairly easy for the government to allow a release where it wants to do so.