A news report said that Sydney is the 9th most expensive city in the world! It’s Australia’s most expensive city to live. The report revealed that “The cost of a loaf of bread in Sydney has almost doubled in the past decade in US dollar terms, while petrol prices have risen threefold and rice prices have almost quadrupled.” Read more here.
Is this the cost of living in a beautiful city?
Ten News posted this clip on their Youtube channel sharing practical tips on how to save and survive the costs of living in Sydney.
Residents of Wagga Wagga, New South Wales are facing a nervous wait today as flood waters continue to rise. News reports said that the Murrumbidgee River is expected to peak around 10.9 metres this evening.
Here’s an update from Ten News posted on Youtube.
FLOOD APPEALS AND DONATIONS
The Salvation Army has launched a Flood Relief Appeal to help the victims of this flood crisis. Donate online on the Salvation Army Website http://salvos.org.au/ or call 13 SALVOS (13 72 58)
To make a donation to the Vinnies Flood Appeal, please visit Vinnies.org.au, call 13 18 12 or send your donation to PO Box 5, Petersham NSW 2049.
Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced and dropped the bomb with his stunning decision to quit as Australian Foreign Minister in a media conference in Washington DC just after 1am local time (1700 AEDT), 22 February 2012. Mr Rudd indicated that He will return to Brisbane and will consult his family, the community, and his Labour caucus colleagues about his future plan. He has not made it clear yet, if he will challenge Prime Minister Julia Gillard.
Watch Kevin Rudd Speech as he resign as Australian Foreign Minister.
“We all know that what happened then was wrong and it must never happen again.” – Kevin Rudd “The simple truth is that I cannot continue to serve as foreign minister if I do not have Prime Minister Gillard’s support.”- Kevin Rudd “I therefore believe that the only honourable thing and the only honourable course of action, is for me to resign. And I do so with a genuinely heavy heart and after much personal reflection.” – Kevin Rudd
Video uploaded by token1984x on Youtube Originally aired on ABC TV’s 7.30 program (22/2/2012)
Here is another video shot of the Sydney New Year’s Eve fireworks Celebrations to welcome Year 2012. This time from a vantage point at East Balmain or the west side of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Here’s one of the major attractions that Sydney takes the world spotlight. It’s the massive New Year’s Eve Fireworks Display! December 31 is a absolutely a party time for Sydneysiders as many people camped on major vantage points around Sydney just to watch this multi-million ($6.5 million was spent) New Year’s Eve fireworks spectacular. Of course, millions of viewers prefer to stay home and watch the coverage of this popular attraction to officially welcome 2012!
This year’s theme for the Sydney New Year’s Eve Fireworks Display was dubbed as “Time to Dream.” The famous Sydney Harbour Bridge once again is the perfect venue for this event. Re-live the spectacular as you watch this video aired over Channel 9.
Have you been to the Sydney Central Train Station? Well, it’s a busy place especially during peak hours. Positive or not, Flash Mob Dancers invaded the main area. Oh yeah, some people loved it and probably some didn’t because obviously, they had missed their train and had to wait for another 15 to 30 minutes ’til the next trip!
Anyway, these Flash Mob Dancers did it for charity. It’s called ‘The Move Movement‘, a charity program developed by the Westmead Medical Research Foundation (WMRF) that promotes a healthy active lifestyle, in the prevention of disease. The ‘Make Your Move’ flash mob event was organised by the Event Management students from the Ultimo College and filmed by the Film and Television (screen) students from Randwick College, TAFE NSW Sydney Institute. Watch how they’ve done it.
The Australian debate on pokie machines reforms goes on. The other day, a Catholic Priest and Youth Off The Streets CEO, Father Chris Riley announced that he is against the Gillard Government’s poker machine reforms. He was concerned that clubs would donate less money to charities if they were forced to install a pre-commitment system. He said that the government should focus on counseling and education. Read the news coverage here from Daily Telegraph.
Last month, SBS Insight Program, hosted a debate on Pokie Machine Reforms that included MP Andrew Wilkie on the panel and a number of Australian Clubs Managers. It was a very interesting debate! They discuss among others that Clubs are getting huge revenues but only give a small portion to the community. Watch the video below.
As a background, just after the election last year, Tasmanian independent MP Andrew Wilkie gave his support to the Labour government to put forward this agenda of poker machine reforms. Labor agreed to introduce mandatory per-commitment technology, requiring poker machine players to preset a limit on how much they plan to gamble on high-stakes poker machines.
Have you heard about this so called Thrill the World event? Well, Wikipedia explains it “as an annual international dance event and world record breaking attempt, in which participants simultaneously emulate the zombie dance seen in the music video of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”, and the title of the event is an allusion to another of Jackson’s songs, Heal the World. The dancers perform in unison at locations throughout the world, and can range from pre-teens to the elderly. The idea came to fruition after a group of 62 zombies set a Guinness World Records for Largest Thriller Dance in one location, at a community hall in Canada.“
This Funky Zombie Dance didn’t spare Sydney enthusiasts. They gathered in front of Sydney’s famous Luna Park and displayed their moves. Here’s a video uploaded by ThrilltheWorldSydney in Youtube.
Channel 7 Today Tonight Show investigated the current status of Australia’s Refugee Program. It’s not a good news. The anchor stated “that the Department of Immigration and Citizenship report shows that the current government policy is effectively importing unemployment. Refugees and other migrants are not getting jobs. They are on welfare for at least 5 years or longer.” A very disturbing statistics.
It also mentioned that one of the major hindrances is the inability to speak the English language. It seems that integration is one of the biggest issues at hand. What do you think? Feel free to post your comments below.
2010–11 offshore visa grants by top ten countries of birth
