The official OZ bashing thread.

[OzSucks]

OZ:Home of the World's Fattest People

http://pressmediawire.com/article.cfm?articleID=19890


Obesity Crisis Of Australia Creates Lucrative Fitness Oppotunities
Published 12/08/2008 - 1:20 p.m. EST

(PressMediaWire) - Alarmingly, in a recent survey Australia was found to have the highest incidence of obesity in the world that s right, we came out one per cent higher than the US; how scary is that? The silver lining of the dire state of our nation s health, however, is that there remains an abundance of work for educated, qualified and passionate personal trainers. The more unhealthy our population, the fuller the personal trainers books become!

Australia actually leads the way in terms of fitness education standards. Many countries around the globe are mimicking the set up we operate with, to ensure that educational standards are regulated and a professional registration scheme is in place. What this scheme ensures is that personal trainers are adequately qualified and insured to prescribe exercise to the masses. Even better, thanks to organisations like FISAF and Australian Fitness Network, personal trainers who become qualified in Australia are being more widely (and instantly) recognised in other countries, including Canada and the UK, allowing them to be immediately employable (visa conditions permitting of course) when they take themselves and their personal trainer qualification overseas.

So why sit in that dead-end job any longer? Change your career for one in a vibrant, dynamic and energetic fitness industry. Becoming a personal trainer is easier and more fun - than you think.

 

[OzSucks]

Oz Soars on Mercer Cost of Living Rank!!

p://www.smartcompany.com.au/Free-...expensive.html
Australia’s cities are getting more expensive
Thursday, 24 July 2008

Australia’s capital cities have leapt up the ranks in an annual global cost of living survey conducted by consultancy Mercer.

Sydney is Australia’s most expensive city to live in, coming in 15th on the list ahead of famously opulent cities like Vienna, New York and Madrid.

Melbourne comes in next in 36th place, followed by Perth (53rd), Brisbane (57th) and Adelaide (71st).

Across the Tasman, New Zealand’s cities have also grown costlier, but even so the most expensive Kiwi city, 78th placed Auckland, remains a cheaper place to live than the least costly Australian capital.

Most striking, however, is the rapid rise in the cost of living experienced by the occupants of many of Australia’s state capitals. While Sydney only moved up a relatively modest six places, Melbourne jumped 28 places, Perth jumped 31, Brisbane 29 and Adelaide 23.

Changing currency values is a key reason for the shift, according to Mercer’s Rob Knox. “A weakening US dollar coupled with the sustained appreciation of the Australian dollar, has really pushed Australian cities further up the ranks,” he says.

Moscow retained its title as the world’s most expensive city this year, ahead of Tokyo, London, Seoul, Oslo and Hong Kong

 

[OzSucks]

Rich Australians Run Away from Massive Oz Taxes!

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-f...,0,73840.story

Australian Beverly Hills mall mogul to testify before Senate subcommittee

By Roger Vincent, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
July 19, 2008
A Beverly Hills shopping center magnate whose family investments have been routed through a bank in the tiny country of Liechtenstein is set to testify next week before a Senate subcommittee in Washington conducting a probe of overseas tax havens at the request of the Australian Tax Office (ATO).

The committee has called Peter Lowy to testify Friday as part of its investigation into how financial institutions in Switzerland and Liechtenstein may be engaging in banking practices that result in "tax evasion and other misconduct," according to the panel.



* Peter Lowy Westfield America malls
Peter Lowy Westfield America malls

Australian-born Lowy, 49, is an American citizen and head of the U.S. division of Westfield Group, one of the world's largest shopping center chains. Ranked as one of the wealthiest individuals in Los Angeles, he is a major political donor and philanthropist.

The Australian company has 24 regional malls in California, including centers in Century City, Arcadia and Woodland Hills.

Lowy has hired prominent Washington lawyer Robert S. Bennett, who said Friday that his client would testify voluntarily. He stressed that the committee was probing the role of the offshore banks and not his client or the Lowy relatives, the second-wealthiest family in Australia.

The U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations held hearings this week into the use of tax havens that cost the country an estimated $100 billion a year in lost revenue, according to the Treasury. The panel heard from witnesses who banked funds in Liechtenstein. Lowy was to be among them but he was out of the country then and so will testify next week.


The Senate hearings have focused on the Swiss bank UBS and a private bank, LGT, owned by the royal family of Liechtenstein. Levin said that Frank Lowy, Peter's father, set up a foundation with LGT in 1998 after telling the bank that he did not want Australian tax authorities to know about the money involved.

LGT took measures to hide the Lowys' ownership, such as routing incoming funds through an offshore corporation and using a Delaware corporation headed by Peter Lowy to name the foundation's beneficiaries, Levin said. In 2001, he said, the Lowys dissolved the foundation in Liechtenstein and moved about $68 million to Switzerland.

"These were charitable contributions," Bennett said. "Not one penny went to Lowy or his sons."

Bennett, who represented President Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky investigation, downplayed the significance of the $68 million banked by the Lowys. "For me, that's a lot. For the Lowys it's not."

The Los Angeles Business Journal recently estimated Peter Lowy's net worth at $880 million, down from $1 billion a year ago. He and his wife own a seven-bedroom house in Beverly Hills with an assessed value of almost $11 million.

Lowy's father was a Hungarian Jew who survived the Holocaust and fought as a commando for Israeli independence before moving to Australia. Peter Lowy has helped raise millions of dollars for Jewish causes and serves on the board of directors of American Jewish University and the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

Lowy has been a major donor to California state and federal politicians. He and his company, Westfield, also funded a major ballot fight over shopping mall development in Arcadia, spending $6 million on two local measures in 2006 to protect its position at its Santa Anita shopping mall against a planned competing center.

Lowy donated $44,600 in 2005 and 2006 to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's reelection campaign. In addition, Westfield gave the governor $44,600, and $10,000 to the governor's Democratic foe, Phil Angelides.

The shopping mall mogul and his firm also give heavily to federal candidates.

In the last decade, Lowy has given $365,000 to federal candidates and political parties. His largest donations have gone to national Democratic Party organizations: $53,500 to the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee; $35,000 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee; and $25,000 to the Democratic National Committee.

He gave $4,600 to Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign, and the Westfield political action committee gave her an additional $10,000.

 

[guy2100]

Re: NZ Cheaper, better than Australia!

43,000 and rising - the Aussie exodus accelerates
Monday, 21 April 2008, 3:26 pm
Press Release: New Zealand National Party

Hon Dr Lockwood Smith MP
National Party Immigration Spokesman

21 April 2008

43,000 and rising - the Aussie exodus accelerates

The number of Kiwis voting with their feet by heading permanently to Australia is a damning indictment on Labour policies that are making it increasingly difficult for people to make ends meet, says National's Immigration spokesman, Lockwood Smith.

The latest immigration statistics, released today, show the number of people leaving for Australia rose 19% to 43,419 in the year to March 2008.

"In March alone 4,152 New Zealanders packed up and pulled out.

"Even when you balance the figures with those who arrived in New Zealand, the figures are staggering. The net loss is up 28% to 29,892.

"And these are just the Australian figures. The exodus from New Zealand to all parts of the world is now 78,841, up 12% on 2007.

"These are people fed up with a Labour Government that has mismanaged the economy, over-taxed people while gloating about its surplus, and delivered the highest interest rates in the developed world.

"These are our tradesman and our university graduates - the future of this country is fleeing in droves.

"Michael Cullen claims that 'we're better off without them'.

"That may well be the refrain he is hearing on election night."

 

[redbull313]

Re: Its Official:Australia is only for losers

You heard it here. You read it here. Let there be no doubt. This is fact, people.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/ar...ectid=10545562

4:00AM Saturday Nov 29, 2008
By Jarrod Booker

Kelvin Lawson left Auckland for Sydney about 10 years ago expecting to encounter the "land of milk and honey".

What he found was the opposite - long working hours, higher taxes, higher cost of living and intolerance and poor attitudes among the people.

He and fiancee Denise Laing moved back to Auckland a couple of months ago to be closer to their ageing parents and friends, and are relieved to be back home.

"I believe a lot of New Zealanders are going to get there and they are in for a shock," Mr Lawson said.

"Australia has been painted out to be the 'grass is greener'. It's not. Unless you are making a simple lifestyle choice as in, say, weather... then there's no other reason to go."

Although Mr Lawson, 48, might have earned more in Sydney "it's not a lot more". And he was hit with a 48 per cent tax rate on overtime he was expected to do working in installing and monitoring communications.

Then there was stamp duty for home ownership and higher costs of car ownership.

Back home, Mr Lawson and Ms Laing were amazed at how much cheaper they found basic food items.

Mr Lawson was also left with an impression of many Australians he encountered not being accepting of other cultures. Being from NZ was not so bad, but "if you're from other any part of the world, mate, they can make it really hard for them".

He was also unimpressed at the lack of sportsmanship shown by Australians, illustrated most recently by their reaction to the Rugby League World Cup loss. "If they win at ping pong, you are going to hear about it. If they lose, it's like it never happened. It's unbelievable."
Reply With Quote

How very true.

Australia is a ripp-off!

 

[redbull313]

Re: Axe168,QXD,IWC2006 Bad Behavior Make life in Melborune Hell

dont say i didnt tell you people. you heard it here, saw it here. just see the very bad behavior of subprime ex-singaporeans on this forum and see exactly why you should avoid melbourne, one of the most expensive cities in the world, and australia in general.

Axe168, QXD, and IWC2006, not only are you stupid - you have no class!

i love being right. imagine living anywhere near you morons.

hee hee

http://travel.asiaone.com/Travel/Globe+Trekkers/Wanderlust/Story/A1Story20081213-107585.html

S'poreans' habits abroad make me grind my teeth


By Belle Charlene Kwan

HERE'S a riddle: How do you spot a Singaporean overseas?

Never mind the accent or our obsession with wearing slippers to just about anywhere.

The biggest tell-tale sign is our eyebrow-raising habits.

I spent the last year studying in Melbourne and this once-proud Singaporean now cringes at the sight of her fellow countrymen going about their highly embarrassing ways.

Here'a an example: After a delightful evening at Wicked The Musical watching the story behind the Wizard of Oz unfold at the Regent Theatre in July, audience members file into the washroom to freshen up.

An Asian woman walks towards the paper-napkin dispenser after washing her hands. She's on her handphone, and her accent is distinctively Singaporean (come on, who else says 'Neh-mind' but us?).

She proceeds to pull a napkin out. She goes for another, and another, and yet a few pieces more.

A quick dab of her hands and she tosses the thick wad of napkins into the bin.

A Caucasian lady standing in line behind me asked her friend: 'Why did she just empty half the napkin dispenser?'

Another example: When Singapore Day came to Melbourne in October, Singaporeans thronged the festival grounds looking for a taste of home away from home.

And food, it seemed, was the top priority.

While standing in line for hours for a free plate of chicken rice, Gurmit Singh and gang entertained the crowd with Phua Chu Kang humour.

The Caucasians laughed and cheered, but the Singaporeans rolled their eyes.

'So lame. Not even funny, lor!'

'Wah lau. Go home, lah!'

Overhearing these comments coming from Singaporeans left me flabbergasted. So much for showing Australians our pride in homegrown culture.

And of course, our kiasu-ism follows us across land and sea.

Free giveaways on university campus will see Singaporeans flock like sea gulls to a basket of fish and chips.

Whether it is fruit juice samples, notebooks, or even fashion hair bands, a stream of Singaporeans is inevitable.

'Wah! Free ah? Take some more.'

'Wait, call friends. Sure also want.'

Now, why four guys would need 12fuschia pink non-slip hair bands is beyond me.

And there's more...

Then there are the public transport incidents.

Mothers putting their bags on the seats beside them just so their children can sit when they're tired of playing 'catching' on the tram and causing a racket.

These are also the same mothers who scream at the said children at the top of their lungs in full view of 60 other shocked commuters.

'Oi! Sit down before I slap you!'

I shake my head, and wish they did not sound so obviously Singaporean.

Perhaps a more neutral accent might help lessen my embarrassment.

Singaporeans seldom hesitate to point fingers and bad mouth foreigners for their eccentric ways.

Perhaps it is time for us to hold our tongues, and first examine the image we display when overseas.

Let's show some class, people.

Oi! You listening or what?

How true!

I am sooooo happy I am not in Australia, and there are no Singaporeans here.

 

[IWC2006]

shockshit=Ozsucks=RedBull313=busy123=Loser

get the point?

 

[Satan]

Re: Shockshit desperate: Jobs dive in Oz, gov helps, Job losses in SG: Dive onto MRT!

Shockshit after this Oz Pr got rejected

Shockshit BBBBWWWWAAAA.... Mummy, my Oz PR got reeejeeected.
Shockshit's mother: then apply for a US greencard.
Shockshit: But I too stupid to qualify.
Shockshit's Mom: Then try Canada and use it as a backdoor to US.
Shockshit: Canada also cannot. Because I have no qualification, no experience and no money. The only thing I can do is to post rubbish in SBF.
Shockshit's mom: Then I'm afarid you are stuck in Singapore for good.
Shockshit: *Sniff* *Sniff*. Like that how? I don't want to stay in Singapore. Eveyone call me a loser.
Shockshit's mom: Then I suggest you go and jump MRT. I am ashamed to have a loser cockroach like you as my son.
Shockshit: BBBBWWWWAAAA....

 

[Satan]

Re: shockshit=Ozsucks=RedBull313=busy123=Loser

get the point?

Its a well known fact. But I still don't understand why is it that the papayas would hire someone as stupid as him to post all these rubbish here.

 

[Aussie Pete]

Re: shockshit=Ozsucks=RedBull313=busy123=Loser

Least we can do is report to Leongsam. Perhaps he might do something, especially when Ozsucks is clearly shockshit, spamming the front page with crap that shockshit posted before.

I believe in the interest of moving issues along, Leongsam would prefer to have individuals bickering over nothing (as in the Friendly Coffee Shop Talk) as compared to this forum where one idiot spams with clones.

As mischevious or cryptic as Leongsam may sometimes seem to be in his posts, I don't think any forum host want to see this level of spamming and thread hijacking.

On our part, we can keep off the attacks on one's family or relations, personal attacks are already as bad as they come, but to insult one's innocent family members, as how shockshit has been doing to Aussie Pete, that's already gone too far down the drain in terms of ethical conduct.

Hi mate - thanks for the wise words. I put all of his user IDs on block a few days ago, so don't know if he's still been attacking - it's so nice not to have to look at it.

 

[axe168]

Re: Shockshit desperate: Jobs dive in Oz, gov helps, Job losses in SG: Dive onto MRT!

Shockshit desperate: Jobs dive in Oz, gov helps, Job losses in SG: Dive onto MRT!

Haha haha!

 

[shockshiok]

Re: Shockshit desperate: Jobs dive in Oz, gov helps, Job losses in SG: Dive onto MRT!

No wonder shockshit desperately wants to migrate to US, kenna rejected by Oz, so bo pian have to go backdoor to Canada to tikam tikam.

Probably the first on everyday on the welfare queue!!!

oh my. you seem angry and agitated. must be because the truth hurts.

hee hee.

 

[shockshiok]

Re: shockshit=Ozsucks=RedBull313=busy123=Loser

get the point?

yawn. boring.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

 

[shockshiok]

Re: NZ Cheaper, better than Australia!

ttp://www.stuff.co.nz/4592585a19716.html
The grass isn't greener across the Ditch
Sunday Star Times | Sunday, 22 June 2008
Email a Friend | Printable View | Have Your Say
Sunday Star-Times

OZ BOUND: Thousands of Kiwis hop across the ditch every year in search of a better life in the Lucky Country - but don't expect the grass to always be greener, says recent Melbourne migrant Elinore Wellwood (with Loti, 3)

Australia lives up to its image in many ways.

Kiwi migrants to Melbourne, for example, can read the newspaper as though it's a novel, its fanciful descriptions of gang wars and restaurant assassinations, corrupt police passing names of police informers to gangland contacts, who call in the hitmen.

Even as you shrug off the language differences as background noise thongs for jandals, doona for duvet, a child's fluffy is a babycino, you will smile at the Italian grandmothers who stop polishing their iron railings to run a wrinkled hand under a three-year-old's chin and thrust a gold coin into the mother's hand. "She is beautiful. Buy her something with this."

At the large neighbourhoods of those who still regard themselves as Italians and Greeks even though their grandparents left those cultures behind when they were barely out of their teens.

So, at Easter, the local baker sells specialties like melomakarona (walnut cookies drenched in syrup) and kourabiethes (moonshaped almond shortbreads covered in icing sugar). And all year round, locals go to the brilliant tapas bars in the alleys which produce their own top-selling cookbooks, and the farmers' markets sell beef you can trust the rural folk have known it since it was a calf.

These are reasons to move to Melbourne, to Australia. The food, the warmer weather, the broader multiculturalism.

Just don't expect it to be cheap.

Despite salaries reported to be 25 per cent higher on average, middle-income professionals won't earn that much more than in New Zealand in the same job, says Kiwi lawyer Jo Davidson. She's been Tasman-hopping moving to Melbourne, then back to Wellington, before returning last year to Australia to a dream job.

She loves the gourmet food in and around the city. And for her, the weather is a relief. The summer in Melbourne is warm, the seasons actually change, it's always dawning fine and even when it rains, it's gentle.

She didn't return for the money, though. "I felt significantly better off when I moved back from Melbourne to New Zealand. As a single woman [in Australia] I would never have contemplated buying a house. I went back to New Zealand and within six months bought my own home."

Food, she says, is also much more expensive in Australia. Everyday items such as milk and bread will cost you more. Woolworths' chief executive even admitted to a national inquiry that the company charges shoppers more in Australia than in New Zealand.

"And the quality at supermarkets is appalling. I used to be able to go to New World in Wellington and buy every single thing I wanted, and it was delicatessen standard."

Even if your pay packet is larger, the money quickly disappears. Teacher Mike Arthur, who recently moved from Wellington, says he earns about $4000 more than in New Zealand. "But the higher cost of living here eats that up."

Houses and cars are the big unaffordables. Advertised prices do not include tens of thousands of dollars in stamp duty when buying a house or vehicle. "Our car was far more expensive here, and then we had to pay stamp duty on it, plus about $700 to register it," says Arthur.

Some things cost less. Furniture because of superstores like Ikea and electricity (80 per cent generated from coal, the green-minded should note) are far cheaper, he says.

Presuming you don't earn less than $A25,000 ($31,100) taxes are not too different from New Zealand - about $2500 less in Australia on average but 9 per cent of wages is taken for compulsory superannuation, a figure hidden in the salary packages that lure unsuspecting Kiwis across the Tasman (salary "packaging" to cut your tax burden is big business). Tough if you wanted to pay off the mortgage first.

That's if you can afford to buy. To live within 4km of Melbourne's centre, expect to pay well over $600,000 for a house. The house will be semi-detached, unrenovated, have a tiny courtyard and probably be next to a big highway.

If you can't afford to buy, finding lower-end rental accommodation may be difficult, with an inner-city rental crisis in Melbourne. Chris and Carly, who just moved over from New Zealand, told the Age newspaper they had "been to four inspections in four days. The perception from home is that there are plenty of places to rent, but when you get to a place, 30 people turn up".

Renters are being forced to offer more rent to beat the competition, or pay eight weeks in advance instead of four.

If you are going to go, do it when you don't have kids. Mother-of-one Jocelyn Prasad, who moved to Sydney last year from Auckland, says life in Australia seems harder for families. "If you're single, there's a lot more opportunity. I think the higher cost of living really kicks in when you bring a family here."

She's also found that private schools are not just a luxury for the privileged. Kiwis who would never dream of using anything but the local high school at home, scrimp and save to avoid the Australian government school system and put their child through private education.

Education experts such as Richard James, director of Melbourne University's Centre for the Study of Higher Education, says the middle class here has lost confidence in government schools and moved its children to private schools, blaming funding cuts and closures under the previous state government.

In Victoria, last year, only 58 per cent of Year 12 students went to state government schools (which often lack sports fields and language options). Private school fees are often higher than in New Zealand.

It pays to go private. Seven out of 10 Melbourne University students were recruited from private or academically selective government schools, according to an Age survey of 2006 Year 12 students.

And the quality education quest starts early. In parts of Melbourne, even to get on a kindergarten waiting list you have to pay $A100 ($125). School waiting list fees can top $800. And forget picturing your kids growing up running under the sprinkler. Thanks to water restrictions, the grass definitely won't be greener for them.

New Zealanders moving to Australia s

yes, and this is why australia is the worst country in the world.

 

[shockshiok]

Re: Australian Job Market "Falls off a Cliff!"

oh this coming year will really hurt.

hee hee.

 

[shockshiok]

Re: Drunk Australians Beat up Asians!

July 29, 2008
Four men beat up M'sian student in Melbourne

MELBOURNE - A MALAYSIAN student who was walking to his cousin's house was badly beaten up by four men here last Friday.

Mr Kevinra Joseph, 19, son of Binary University College vice-chancellor Prof Joseph Adaikalam has emerged from a coma and is recovering from severe head injuries at the Royal Melbourne Hospital.

Police said that Kevinra, who arrived here just a month ago for his studies, was walking alone in Little Lonsdale Street at 2.50am on Friday when four men assaulted him.

Kevinra suffered head injuries and was found by passers-by lying unconscious on the footpath in nearby Russell Street.

The RMIT engineering student was walking to his cousin's house when he was attacked.

'Surgeons have found bleeding in Kevinra's brain. He has memory loss and is confused and traumatised,' said Prof Adaikalam, who arrived here on Sunday with his wife and daughter.

He said that his son, who was new to this city, had lost his way.

'He was talking to his cousin on the handphone when the attack took place. His cousin was still on the phone and could hear the screams and the whole attack,' added the father.

Police have CCTV footage of the assault and hope to catch the attackers soon.

Vicious attacks are becoming common after dark in the central business district here, and local police have repeatedly reminded the public to move in groups at night.

Most of the attacks are drug or alcohol-induced.

why is it white australians are so violent?

 

[shockshiok]

Re: New Racist Party Formed in Australia-Asians Banned

tsk tsk tsk. australia is truly fit for the subprime singaporeans.

 

[shockshiok]

So Many Angry Shockshiok Threads. Thank You for the Attention.

i just wish to show my appreciation to the subprime singaporeans here with their numerous threads directed at me.

i am flattered by your response to my posts. thank you.

i am hoping for many more fruitful months of posting ahead, and unfortunately for the subprime singaporeans here, my favorite subject is how bad australia is - or more to the point - has become today.

lets face it, people, its not my fault australia has gone from a great migration destination to the worst migration destination in the last few years. i am simply not responsible for this mess. but i sure love to point it out to the rest of the world. hee hee.

and i understand your anger, rage, disgust, and all other negative typical singaporean behaviors to the reality australia is the worst country in the world. i know its painful for you, suffering in silence.

how to face the truth?

i understand your dilemma.

hee hee.

 

[shockshiok]

Re: Axe168,QXD,IWC2006 Bad Behavior Make life in Melborune Hell

How true!

I am sooooo happy I am not in Australia, and there are no Singaporeans here.

just read the article. and see the behavior of the subprime singaporeans in this section.

and you have the sad truth. singaporeans overseas dont know how to behave.

its a fact.

 

[shockshiok]

Re: Its Official:Australia is only for losers

How very true.

Australia is a ripp-off!

this is my favorite article on australia.

hee hee