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I have 3 questions about Australia particularly Brisbane.
1.) - Would $1500 to $2300 AUD be enough to live on per month excluding rent?
Also what type of lifestyle would this allow a single uni dude to live?
2.) - How is it being black in Australia/Brisbane? I'm African American and have heard all sorts of things from good to bad. I've heard that aussies are extremely accepting, laid black, all-round awesome people! I've also heard aussie ladies love black guys. (don't bite my head off, just what I've heard LOL)
On the other end of the spectrum I've heard about really bad racism and violence against foreigners and people of colour. Scary stuff! I'm not really sure what to believe so I figure what better place to ask than here!
3.) - How hard is it to get a part-time job to work on Saturdays for some extra money?
Also what type of Job would typically be available to a student?
Thank you loads for reading this! I hope I didn't sound like too much of an arse. xD
I'm an African-African male who didn't live there but have been there a few times and had a great time. I know an AA guy who moved there and loved it. You might want to check out the African-Americans in Australia Facebook page too to see what others' experiences have been.
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
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That's plenty if you spend responsibly. As in, no splurging on meals or when you go out on weekends. You probably don't want to be eating out every meal, so you'd want to cook some of the time. Public transport in Brisbane isn't too expensive, I'm not sure if you'll want to get a car.
I think most people will assume you are African on first sight. There have been a lot of Africans coming to Australia in recent years. While most are good people, I will say there has been news reports of unrest among the community. Of course they'll soon discover you're American, and most Australians will be curious/welcoming of you. I think being American might be an advantage in attracting the opposite sex lol.
I wouldn't say racism is really bad in Australia, especially compared to countries like Russia. The worst you will probably get is insults/name-calling but even that isn't all that common anymore. If you are mugged.etc while walking alone it's probably because you are an easy target not because of your race.
Thanks for the replies. I had a look at that Facebook page. :P
You say $2000 AUD would only be enough if you don't overspend/splurge which makes me think it's not enough to live comfortably lol. How much should I have per month after rent in your opinion to live comfortably? Also if you roughly estimate, how much does the average Australian university student have per month after rent?
You say that I will be viewed as an African when people first see me until they find out that I'm American. I find it really strange that Africans and African Americans are treated differently considering they are all black.
What type of racism am I likely to experience when people see me and think I'm African? (slightly scared now lol)
The Africans vs. African-Americans thing is not peculiar to Australia. It happens in Europe and elsewhere, too, going back to the days when so many black American artists/writers/jazz musicians were lauded in Europe while their homegrown minorities (Jews, gypsies, Middle Eastern and African immigrants) were sometimes met with scorn and discrimination.
Basically, African-Americans are relatively small in number and come as either tourists with money, students, corporate transfer, the military, athletes, or as the spouse of an Australian. To much of the world, we may be somewhat "exotic" and not seen as any kind of threat.
In any case, I wouldn't worry about it all that much, except to say that there are idiots on every continent. You can't let them deter you from doing the things you want to do.
I have 3 questions about Australia particularly Brisbane.
1.) - Would $1500 to $2300 AUD be enough to live on per month excluding rent?
Also what type of lifestyle would this allow a single uni dude to live?
Excluding rent for a single guy, absolutely. I think you could live very comfortably on that. We are a family of 4 and spend about $500 a fortnight on food, alcohol and occasionally eating out. I think I could do half that easily if I were single. Electricity is about $500 a quarter in winter, $300 a quarter in summer – a single person would obviously use less. Our gas is $132 a canister (you may not have gas) which lasts us about 4 months.
Fuel is quite pricey at $1.50 approx per litre, so your average small car takes about $80-100 to fill. How much fuel you use depends on where you plan to drive. Public transport in Brisbane is ok – the CBD area has free bikes and there are trains and buses that go to most places. It’s pretty easy to get around cheaply, but you may need to include a car in your expenses and if so you’ll need to factor in insurance and rego – budget about $2000 a year, though that’s a very generous estimate (it varies widely depending on the type of car – larger cars and sports cars are most expensive).
You’ll also probably want contents insurance which would be about $300-1000 for a housefull of stuff depending on how much you have and how much you plan to insure it for, and whether or not you want accidental cover (which is very useful – e.g. if you break your camera or spill wine on your laptop or if your wallet is stolen out of the house).
Private health cover is unnecessary but can be useful. Medicare covers everything you could need, but PHI (there are several companies – iselect is a website that compares them) can allow you to avoid having to wait for non-essential surgery. As an example, if you want to get a knee reconstruction but don’t need one urgently, you may need to wait a year or so to get it for free, but PHI will cover it now. PHI also offers ‘extras’ cover which is cover for dental (none of which is covered by medicare) and optical etc. PHI is useful as it can be a tax break as you need to pay a higher medicare levy if you don’t have it, so when I was a single gal earning $45k I basically got PHI for free when you factored in the tax breaks.
Keep in mind furniture and goods and food are more expensive here, so be prepared for that. However, the wage you describe should allow you to live comfortably. For a family wage it would be in the low-mid income range (obviously there’s a big difference between $1500 and $2500 a month).
2.) - How is it being black in Australia/Brisbane? I'm African American and have heard all sorts of things from good to bad. I've heard that aussies are extremely accepting, laid black, all-round awesome people! I've also heard aussie ladies love black guys. (don't bite my head off, just what I've heard LOL)
On the other end of the spectrum I've heard about really bad racism and violence against foreigners and people of colour. Scary stuff! I'm not really sure what to believe so I figure what better place to ask than here!
Australians aren’t really any more racist than any other country. You don’t see directing much racism at black people specifically. In fact if you ask someone about black people in America they would probably have no idea of any overt racism/social divisions towards blacks existing in the US nowadays and might even assume it’s no different socially/economically/otherwise being black or white. We see a lot of well off black people on TV. There is definitely racism here, of course. Aboriginies experience quite a bit as people often perceive them as ‘freeloading’ or ‘drunks’ (there are some complex issues in play, but being Aboriginal is not the cause of those – it’s more a tendency to live in a low income environment).
Other examples of racism centre mostly around recent immigrants from very different cultures – there were some big riots a few years back in racial violence between bogan idiots and Lebanese young men in Cronulla. This riot was basically incited by the media. Watch shows like Today Tonight and A Current Affair and you’ll see how these target the sort of bogan (see the hilarious website Things Bogans Like – a bogan is a bit like a redneck) stupidity that likes to express opinions such as ‘immingrants should learn ****en English’ or ‘**** off we’re full’. Those race riots were shameful but built on tensions in the years following terrorist attacks in New York, Bali etc and some very high profile rapes committed by a gang of young Muslim men, and also some egging on by some extremist Muslim clerics. The overwhelming majority of Aussies and certainly any intelligent ones do not express these stupid opinions (I think you already have to be racist to be incited to violence by anyone’s comments), so it’s correct to say there are racist people in Australia, but it’s certainly not universal. I definitely think Aussies are accepting and laid back.
Gen Y (and Gen X to a lesser extent) in particular has grown up with a lot of exposure to common sense and I think tends to be less racist and much more tolerant. Most teens have people of all different races among their friends and interracial relationships are very common. I know many people in mixed relationships and no one really thinks twice about it (or no one but the occasional moron – a friend of mine is Asian and she was called a mail order bride by some drunk old weirdo when she married her caucasian husband). There are some very big enclaves of African refugees in Brisbane so don’t be too shocked if someone assumes you’re Sudanese if you decide to live in Annerley. Overall though I really don’t think anyone will batt an eyelid or that you’ll experience any racism at all because you’re African American.
On the ladies loving black guys I wouldn’t say they specifically do, but as I said interracial relationships seem to be more commonplace here than in the US. I don’t think being black will be disadvantageous.
3.) - How hard is it to get a part-time job to work on Saturdays for some extra money?
Also what type of Job would typically be available to a student?
I don’t think you’ll find it very hard to get a job – there are plenty out there. I’d start with sites like Seek or CareerOne which have heaps of job ads. Common student casual jobs are retail, supermarkets, service industries, call centres etc. There are very good conditions and in fact within a year or so the low income tax threshold is changing from about $6k to $19k so low income One good way is to contact a recruitment/temp agency if you want something more frequent – examples include Drake, Integrated, Manpower (there are many others). These places are good for hooking up to data entry jobs, and are especially useful if you want a particular sort of job (e.g. if you are getting an IT degree they may be able to get you an IT related job and so on).
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
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Quote:
Originally Posted by iwilleatyourface
Thanks for the replies. I had a look at that Facebook page. :P
You say $2000 AUD would only be enough if you don't overspend/splurge which makes me think it's not enough to live comfortably lol. How much should I have per month after rent in your opinion to live comfortably? Also if you roughly estimate, how much does the average Australian university student have per month after rent?
You say that I will be viewed as an African when people first see me until they find out that I'm American. I find it really strange that Africans and African Americans are treated differently considering they are all black.
What type of racism am I likely to experience when people see me and think I'm African? (slightly scared now lol)
Well it depends on what your idea of 'living comfortably' is. For me, I can easily live on $2000 comfortably. I find it enough for food, the occasional entertainment, transport.etc. Again as long as you don't spend say $20 a day on food every day (which is easy to do if you eat out all the time) then you should be fine. I'm assuming this does not include the cost of utilities etc as part of your accommodation? When I was a uni student I didn't work most of the time, and I had the luxury of government benefits, and I got by fine. I have no idea what the average is, it depends on whether they work/how much.
I think most people might be prejudiced before they meet you, but once they meet you and find out you are a nice person (which hopefully you are!) they will warm up to you, whether you're from Africa, the US or anywhere else. I've heard a couple of negative comments towards Africans, for instance that they aren't afraid to openly hit on women, but since African migration to Australia is new most Australians don't know much about Africa or African culture. Honestly, there's a lot of African uni students and while I haven't spoken about racism with any of them, I've met a few and they seem happy/get along fairly well with others. I wouldn't worry too much over it.
1) Depends which part of the country you're staying in. You won't struggle that much with that amount.
2) No. Don't believe what you hear. There are on average more crimes committed against Australians by non-whites. There are just as many "racist" coloureds as whites (if not more). It goes both ways.
3) In general part-time is probably harder to find then full time.
Brisbane is awesome - you will love it! How long are you staying, for your whole degree?
The money will be plenty - especially if you're a student (hanging with other students) they will have budgets too.
Racism is everywhere and in every country but most Aussies are progressive and try really hard to give everyone a fair go. We are no or more less racist than any other Western country.
I have had good luck finding part time work throughout the years - in clubs, doing deliveries and cleaning.
If you're serious about finding work you should have no trouble finding it.
I have 3 questions about Australia particularly Brisbane.
[/b] - Would $1500 to $2300 AUD be enough to live on per month excluding rent?
Also what type of lifestyle would this allow a single uni dude to live?
Yes definitely, excluding rent you could probably get by with half that amount. It's enough to live very comfortably.
Quote:
2.) - How is it being black in Australia/Brisbane? I'm African American and have heard all sorts of things from good to bad. I've heard that aussies are extremely accepting, laid black, all-round awesome people! I've also heard aussie ladies love black guys. (don't bite my head off, just what I've heard LOL)
On the other end of the spectrum I've heard about really bad racism and violence against foreigners and people of colour. Scary stuff! I'm not really sure what to believe so I figure what better place to ask than here!
Australia is an immigrant country and a melting pot. It's a country where people are used to being around people of different races. For example, 26% of the people in Brisbane, were born overseas! (though in Sydney that figure is higher, at 39%)
Sure some people are racist, but I don't think you'll find people are any more racist than in America or Canada.
Be advised though, the racial make up here is mostly white and asian, with some muslims and indians too. It is a country that is diverse, but has very few black people, so you are not going to see many people that look like you. That could work for or against you depending on the people you meet, I mean supply and demand works in your favour with the ladies. But employers might be less used to black people, though I doubt that will be much of a problem it's a tolerant multicultural country.
Quote:
3.) - How hard is it to get a part-time job to work on Saturdays for some extra money?
Also what type of Job would typically be available to a student?
Shouldn't be too hard and largely depends on your work experience.
Note that the minimum wage is $15.51 an hour. Students typically work minimum wage jobs, unless they have good experience under their belt.
Also you would need a student visa, see this. Note there are some restrictions to employment on this visa. Higher Education Sector: Temporary Visa (Subclass 573) - Assessment Level 1
Quote:
Originally Posted by iwilleatyourface
You say that I will be viewed as an African when people first see me until they find out that I'm American. I find it really strange that Africans and African Americans are treated differently considering they are all black.
It's not really, Africans and African Americans are totally different people, same race but totally different culture. You will be seen as an American first when people hear your accent, which is a good thing as Australians generally quite like Americans and feel they have a strong common ground.
Last edited by Mornnb; 12-30-2011 at 08:31 AM..
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But employers might be less used to black people, though I doubt that will be much of a problem it's a tolerant multicultural country.
