Hi again Terry
It sounds as though they may bring you out on a 457 Temp Visa then (thats how we got here). Australia and the UK have a reciprocal agreement RE medical care which means that you would be covered for 'medical emergencies' only during the time you're on the temp visa. As soon as you're permanent residents though you have full cover. The two years relates to being able to claim benefits such as unemployment etc (you can claim child benefit as soon as you have
PR though). We didnt get insurance as we found the reciprocal cover was enough for us. It may be worth speaking to the company who will sponsor you and ask if they will pay for private health insurance if they are sending you out of a temp visa - its very common for the company to cover that (although ours didnt!).
If the company are willing to then it is much better to come out on Permanent Residency (and sometimes doesnt take much longer). When you're on a temp visa you pay the same tax as everyone else but you dont receive the benefits.
Check out
Department of Immigration and Citizenship for more info - do a search on 457 Visa and you should find out all you need to know.
It would also be worth asking the company if they offer LAFHA (living away from home allowance) - this can make a huge difference to your salary - it isnt compulsary though and needs to be negotiated before a contract is signed.
We live in NSW and before we came out I was **** scared of spiders etc. Now I'm just used to them and they really dont bother me (even to the point where I put my hand up an outdoor tap a couple of months ago to pull a web out only to find that it was a female redbacks web - with eggs in!!! I didnt even think about the danger - thats how much you get used to them. No big deal honestly and you really dont see much of them.
If you've got any more questions feel free to ask
Rach xxxx