Hi just having a quick browse in your list. Its very useful and comprehensive.

Quick question. how long did it take to get the Tax reference number? My husband registered 2 weeks ago when we arrived in Perth but has heard nothing... His colleague said it took her 3 months to track down her reference number and she was taxed full whack until she got it. (btw we are on a 457 visa)

He tried to phone up the relevant department but has had no response....Not particularly chuffed at this as until we get the number all the interest on the deposit for a potential house etc... earnings are going to be taxed at the emergency tax rate. Apparently we dont get it back till the end of the tax year...


We went to medicare to find that the system was down and we couldnt get a temporary number....However we have finally received our medicare card this week.

When we activated our accounts in Westpac, they had the wrong date of birth for me and supposedly corrected on the spot. They didnt have our POS bank cards for us, just the credit cards. When it came to trying to activate the credit card to access both our everyday account as well as credit, they couldnt do it. Turns out that they didnt actually update my details properly and I was holding two different accounts under different birthdays....

Finally we applied to rent a property under my husband's name only but I had to provide details and references as well even though the lease wasnt going to be in my name; is that the same for every state or ws it the particular real estate agent we used?