Posted in Local News, tagged "icing on the cake", $, $820000 win, 50's, 820000, claim, couple, earlier, family, friends., Lotto, Lotto draw, numbers, prize money, purely, Quinns Rocks, retire, Saturday, secret, weekend's, win. on August 22, 2009| Leave a Comment »
A Quinns Rocks couple in their 50’s have wasted no time coming forward to claim an $820,000 win from last weekend’s Saturday Lotto draw.
The couple said that the prize money is the “icing on the cake” and will allow them to retire earlier than they’d expected.
They have decided to keep the win a secret from all family and friends.
The winning ticket was purchased at Ocean Keys Lottery Centre in Clarkson.
Posted in Local News, tagged 15, 1963, A$62 ($50), Albany, avoid, busy, capital, capital Perth, coast, come on board, Commercial whaling, crowds., cruises, decades, early, every year, faster, growing, head south, Hillarys, Hillarys Boat Harbour, hurry, Local News, numbers, Oz, perth, population, season, sightings, three-hour cruises, Tourism peeps, tourist, two-hour trip, underway, unlikely, WA, wallowing, West Oz, western australia, whale population, whale watching season, Whale watching trips, whale-watchers, whales, whales showing up. on June 26, 2009| Leave a Comment »
The coast of Western Australia is getting busy: the whale watching season is underway and early sightings suggest that not only has the season started early, but there are more whales than there’ve been in decades. Commercial whaling in Western Australia finished up in 1963 with just 500 humpback whales left in the waters, but estimates now put the number of whales that will swim the 8,000 miles from Antarctica to the north of the state at around 17,000. Good work, whales!
Whale watching trips run all up and down the coast and from the capital Perth, too – grab a two-hour trip from Hillarys Boat Harbour for A$62 (
$50), or head south to Albany for three-hour cruises that let you come on board again in the unlikely event of no whales showing up.
The only thing that seems to be growing faster than the whale population is the population of whale-watchers. Tourism peeps in West Oz say tourist numbers are growing by 15% every year so you need to hurry to avoid the crowds.
Source : www.jaunted.com
Posted in Local News, tagged $13 million, $13185273, $8.70., 10 months., 12-month expiry, 2008., A PERTH university student, Beechboro, bundle, charity, commas, costing, decimal, draw, dreams, expiry, family’s, father, finances., fulfil, gift, informed, jackpot, July 22, jumping, Local News, Lotto tickets, Mum, Newsagency $50 million, numbers, OZ Lotto, perth, presented, prize, remained, research, richer, shopping centre.”, Slikpik, student, Systems 8, ten months, ticket, tickets, unclaimed, unexpected, university, up and down, WA, week, windfall., winning ticket, won Lotto, worried on May 28, 2009| Leave a Comment »
The Perth Student received the ticket as a gift from her father, purchased from Beechboro Newsagency in a $50 million OZ Lotto jackpot draw on July 22, 2008.
The winning ticket was a Systems 8 Slikpik costing $8.70.
At first glance, the woman thought she had won just over $13,000 but was later informed that it was actually $13,185,273. 
“I checked the commas and decimal places and then realised,” she said.
The prize remained unclaimed for 10 months.
The woman said she only decided to check a bundle of tickets because she was worried about her family’s finances.
She was unaware of the 12-month expiry on Lotto tickets in WA.
“Something made me think to check the tickets and I thought that if I win something, then I could help Mum and Dad out,” she said.
“I always remember Mum telling me that if I won Lotto, not to start jumping up and down in the shopping centre.”
She is yet to decide what to do with the unexpected windfall.
“The people close to me will be looked after and I might give some to research or a charity of some kind. It’s nice to have this much to fulfil my dreams and the dreams of the people around me,” she said.
Posted in Immigration News, tagged (GFC), 000, 115, 2009/2010., 457 visa, 8%, agricultural, Aussie, Australia, Australia’s budget, Australian workers, clerical, conditions, countries., current, desirable, diminished., figures, financial, global financial crisis, grabs, granted visas, gurus, higher, Immigration News, indicate, industries, jobs, next, number, numbers, occupations, Paradoxically, period, place, predicting, preference, professionals, program, recent, relocate, removed, skilled migration, skilled workers, slashed, submit, the government, threatens, tough, tourism, trimmed, twelve months, unemployment, visas, year on May 18, 2009| Leave a Comment »
Yes, certainly, owing to the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), skilled migration numbers will be slashed in Australia’s budget year of 2009/2010. 
The government says this measure has been taken make sure that Australian workers get preference for jobs in a period that threatens higher unemployment. Paradoxically, recent figures indicate that Aussie unemployment has actually diminished.
Still, most gurus are still predicting up to 8% unemployment during the next twelve months. But this does not mean skilled workers and professionals who see Australia as a desirable place to relocate should give up and submit to the tough conditions in their current countries.
While the government has already trimmed the number of skilled workers to be granted visas into Australia next financial year there are still 115,000 of those visas up for grabs. For the time being, occupations in the tourism, clerical and agricultural industries have been removed from the 457 visa program.
Furthermore, a higher level of ability in English language have been set. This measure has been taken to make sure that the 457 program provides the skilled workers that Australia needs most and who readily can be integrated into workplaces.
Posted in Immigration News, tagged academic, academics, Amid the fallout from the global financial crisis, baby-boomer, briefing paper., chris evans, competition, ease, economy, exodus, globally, government, immigration, Immigration News, improved economic conditions, large, lecturers, lobbying Immigration, looming, migration, Minister, numbers, offshore, overcome, professors, recovers., recruit, restrictions, retire, rising, shortage, skills shortages, Social Web links, The ATN, the Government in March moved to cut the permanent skilled migration intake. But universities, universities, workforce on May 11, 2009| Leave a Comment »
UNIVERSITIES are urging the Government to ease immigration restrictions on academics to help head off a looming shortage as large numbers of baby-boomer professors and lecturers retire.
Amid the fallout from the global financial crisis, the Government in March moved to cut the permanent skilled migration intake. But universities, which see migration as a way to overcome looming academic skills shortages, are warning that the move could leave the economy short when it recovers.
universitiesof five universities, said in a briefing paper.
“In fact, it has the potential to see the economy left wanting precisely at the time we expect to see improved economic conditions.”
The ATN is lobbying Immigration Minister Chris Evans to ease restrictions on academic migration to make it easier to recruit offshore amid rising competition globally for academics.
Between 1994 and 2006, Australian universities employed more than 7000 academics from overseas on permanent or long-term arrangements.
“This figure will need to grow expotentially to replace the exodus of academics leaving the workforce in the next 15 years,” the ATN said.
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All the latest NEWS from Perth 
Retail hiring jumps on spending hopes
Posted in Jobs and careers, tagged ABS, according, anticipation, April, ARA, Australia, Australian, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian Retailers Association., bigger retailers, boosting, cash, casual employment, commentary, confidence, consumer, consumer emerges, consumer spending, David Jones, debt, delivery, demand, employed, employment, Executive Director, fear-filled, Federal, female, fiscal, forecasting, fuelled, Government’s, grow, high levels, hiring, improvement, increase, jumps, Mother’s Day, negative, numbers, package, paying, period, preparation, proportion, rate, rebound, reported, reporting, retail, Retailers, Richard Evans, rising, sales, sector, sharp, shoppers, shopping, skilled, skilled staff, spend, spending., staff, staffing levels, stimulus, stimulus package, surveys, tendency, trend, underutilisation, unemployed, Workers, workforce, working on July 8, 2009| Leave a Comment »
Retailers are boosting staff numbers in anticipation of an improvement in consumer spending, according to the Australian Retailers Association.
The industry group’s executive director, Richard Evans, said surveys of association members showed a 12 per cent jump in employment for small and medium-sized retailers this month, painting a much more positive picture than figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics earlier this month.
The number of people employed in the retail sector fell by less than 0.1 per cent last month compared with February, on a seasonally adjusted basis, but the ABS also reported an increase in underutilisation—the proportion of the workforce that is either unemployed or not working as many hours as it would like.
The rate of underutilisation among female workers was 9.1per cent last month, compared with 6.4 per cent for men, which the ABS attributed to the larger proportion of women working in industries with high levels of casual employment, such as retail.
However, Mr Evans said most retailers were holding on to skilled staff in preparation for rising demand, with 68 per cent reporting no change in employment levels in the past quarter.
“A further 16 per cent of retailers actually increased their number of staff during the same period,” he said.
“Retailing works in cycles, and although the sector has experienced a downturn, good retailers are doing their best to hold on to skilled staff as consumer confidence continues to grow and a new type of consumer emerges.”
The same trend was in play among the bigger retailers, with David Jones boosting staffing levels around the Mother’s Day shopping period after the delivery of the federal government’s fiscal stimulus package in April led to a sharp rebound in sales.
Mr Evans said the stimulus package and lower interest rates meant most consumers had more cash available to spend, but “negative and fear-filled commentary” had fuelled a tendency among consumers to cut discretionary spending in favour of saving or paying off debt.
This meant shoppers would be in a better position to spend when confidence picks up again—with the ARA forecasting an improvement as soon as the September quarter.
Source : www.careerone.com.au
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