Britons are flocking to Australia in enormous numbers to earn an income while enjoying the famously laid-back Aussie lifestyle.
Almost 50,000 Brits arrived Down Under on working holiday visas this year out of more than 200,000 applicants overall, a new record high.
The spike in ‘Poms’ heading Down Under has been boosted by a loosening of visa rules which increased the cut-off age for UK applicants from 30 to 35, permitted three-year stays and axed the requirement to carry out 88 days of farm work.
The prospect of more pay and other perks, such as improved work-life balance and sunny weather, draw British people to Australia, despite the country’s generally higher cost of living.
Among those taking advantage is content creator Kody Egan, who moved to Australia in August with her partner, Joseph Horrocks.
The couple, who are both 27 and formerly lived in Atherton, Greater Manchester, now live in Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. Despite only intending to remain in Australia for a short time, they now want to make a new life there.
‘We wanted a new challenge and to try something new after coming for a month of travelling the year before,’ Ms Egan told MailOnline.
‘We saved up and made the plunge – mostly to experience more of an outdoor lifestyle including the beach, surfing, hiking and all the amazing nature.
‘It’s a big change and we’d recommend doing what we did and come for a holiday first. We had no intention of living here at first, but wanted to after experiencing the people and the lifestyle! We’re so grateful for the Aussies, they’re great.’
Life in Aus doesn’t come cheap, with the average person paying A$2,715 (£1,344) per month on rent compared to £1223 in the UK.
Groceries are also more costly, with researchers at Edith Cowan University pricing a trolley of supermarket goods at £160 ($324) compared to £140 in the UK.
However, wages are more elevated in the ‘Lucky Country’, averaging $100,000 (£49,480) compared to £37,430 in Britain.
Despite loving the Aussie lifestyle, Ms Egan – who runs a YouTube account Eat Venture Vlogs – cautioned that the price of housing was a problem.
‘Like in the UK, there’s a housing crisis here, so rentals are really expensive – as are living costs in general. So it’s important to factor that in when budgeting for a move,’ she explained.
‘Coming over to live and work is very different from the holiday but we really are enjoying the experience. We’re big nature lovers so seeing all the new species of plants, birds etc has been incredible.
‘We started our YouTube vlog so our family and friends could see what we got up to daily as some of them really missed us when we left, but we’ve since reached a much bigger audience and the vlog is growing every day.’
Emily Brady, a 25-year-old nurse, headed Down Under last December with her 29-year-old partner Harry Bridges, a motor mechanic.
They quickly found well-paying jobs in Kalgoorlie, a mining city 370 miles east of Perth in Western Australia.
Ms Brady, who formerly worked on a paediatric oncology ward in Wales, now makes up to three times more than she did in the UK.
‘While I loved the job, it was very underfunded, very short-staffed and you could work as many hours as you wanted but you weren’t really given any recognition for that,’ she told The Times.
‘And I felt like it was just always an uphill battle. It was really exhausting. So I wanted to try nursing over in Australia where it was meant to be one of the best places in the world for nursing.’
The nurse said she particularly valued the better working conditions in Australia, adding that she and her partner now plan to stay and have children in the country.
While numerous newcomers have adjusted well to life Down Under, others have been less upbeat.
Earlier this year, Londoner Owen Willis took to social media to say he was ‘de-influencing’ fellow Brits by sharing his experience of living away from home.
‘Australia isn’t going to solve all your problems,’ he said in a video. ‘I’m not saying the UK is perfect but my idea of Australia in my head was this utopian paradise.’
Mr Willis, who said he lived in Australia in 2022 before returning to the UK, claimed ‘casual racism’ was a problem in the country.
‘I lived in so many places in Australia I feel like I have a round enough view to categorise the whole country as a racist country,’ he said.
The TikToker claimed that racism was less of an issue in major cities like Sydney and Melbourne but claimed that in Queensland he was ‘shocked by what people would say to me’.
His views produced a backlash from Australians, who branded him a ‘whingeing Pom’ – a popular nickname for Brits who criticise the country.
There were 213,400 people on working holidaymaker visas in Australia at the end of November – 72,300 more than before COVID.
Out of these, 47,000 were Brits, alongside 23,700 from France, 21,8000 from Ireland, 14,800 from Japan, 13,400 from Taiwan, 13,200 from Italy and 12,700 from South Korea.
Immigration has become a politically sensitive issue as Australia continues to suffer a housing crisis with the continued high number of international students also putting pressure on rents in Australia’s major cities.
The ruling Labour Party had aimed for a net overseas migration intake of 395,000 during the last financial year, down from a record 528,000 previously.
Abul Rizvi, a former deputy secretary at the Department of Immigration, estimated that 450,000 to 475,000 people were likely to have moved to Australia in 2023-24.
Meanwhile, government estimates this month showed 340,000 migrants arriving in Australia over the financial year 2024-25 – significantly higher than the 260,000 projection.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers blamed higher-than-expected immigration on too few people departing Australia permanently.
‘It has peaked, it’s coming down, it’s coming down slower than was anticipated in the Budget really for one main reason and that’s because there’s been fewer departures,’ he said.
‘The Treasury has been more or less bang on when it comes to arrivals, but departures have been slower.
‘People are hanging around for longer and that’s meant that the number is coming down more slowly and you see that updated.’
Australia is not better, it just appears better because it has a nicer vista, but if you take off those rose-tinted glasses…
People are fleeing the UK because our country is slipping into the dust of foreign ideology at speed, but we have to be here to change it – running away is just spinelessness and disgraceful.
UK government and its arrivals of boat people – it will be like Bangladesh in a few years. Oh, I forgot, it already looks like Bangladesh!
Everybody who whines about it should contain their snivelling and do something about it!
I’m not convinced Australia is a better country to live in, but I guess we can all be miserable in a warmer climate instead of a cold one.
The UK is on death row – everything is failing – policing, housing, health, education, defence, transport, environment, population, energy, fuel and food costs – oh, and don’t forget life expectations et cetera.
Our children can no longer afford their own home whilst most migrants are gifted homes, and record energy costs with record taxes for a declining quality of life. I’m not surprised people are fleeing the UK for a better life.
It is true that some adults are managing to purchase their own homes, but most have to privately rent and are living in one-bedroom flats with more than one child. Numerous people don’t believe what is going on, well, think again – your carer will be along soon to tuck you in! And I’ll have some of what you’re smoking.
There was also the recent piece of news where a recently emigrated Brit in Australia had to return to the UK because he suffered a stroke and couldn’t afford his rehabilitation in Australia, so he’s had to return to the UK to access our NHS. Life wasn’t too kind to him out in Oz.
And when will Starmer and Reeves accept that they’re in power? They have a responsibility, but our economy is flat-lining because of their incompetence. Tax and spend; that’s their motto.
It’s all about dilution and destruction. Our rulers do not care. They want us to vanish and make room for the new!
If our government were to deport everyone who came here from outside of Europe and the West, our country would become brilliant and our housing situation would likely end, or at least be much better than it is now, with much of the brutality and criminality gone.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 