Workers across the UK are being promised the dream of 3,200 hours of sunshine a year – which does sound quite tempting right now.
Western Australia has launched a cheeky new bid to encourage some of UK’s best teachers, police officers, nurses and doctors to make the move Down Under.
The nation’s jobs market is currently very open and there are more than 30,000 positions that need filling.
A delegation of Australians will visit London on February 25 in the hope of bringing some of the capital’s key workers back with them.
Paul Papalia, police and defence industry minister, isn’t playing down their intentions.
He said: ‘We are here to steal your workers. Our wages are higher and our cost of living is lower. Our health system is world class. You will be taken care of.
‘Many of our ancestors were sent from the UK to Australia as convicts. Now, it would be a crime not to make the move.’
It’s sure to be an attractive offer to some public sector workers, with many having been on strike in recent months over pay and working conditions.
Teachers, nurses, paramedics, teachers and postal workers are just a few of the groups who’ve been on the picket line already this year.
Britain has seen the biggest wave of industrial action in more than a decade.
More than 2.4 million working days were lost to strikes last year, the most since the tally of 4.1 million in 1989 when Margaret Thatcher was in power.
In December 2022 alone an estimated 843,000 days were lost – the highest since 997,000 in November 2011, revealed the Office for National Statistics.
‘Transport and communications remained the most heavily affected area, but in December there was also a large contribution from the health sector,’ ONS director of economic statistics Darren Morgan said.
Issues such as the cost of living, inflation and NHS chaos are all sure to make the possibility of a move to Australia a more attractive one to some people.
For example, nurses are able to earn, on average, 60% more in Western Australia (£49,085) than in the UK (£30,586).
And it could soon become even easier, as post-Brexit free trade agreement between the two nations is set to come in later this year.
This could mean the introduction of much more straightforward visa arrangements.
Jobs fairs will also be held in Edinburgh, Bristol and Dublin to try and tempt workers overseas.
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