AirAsia kicks off big sale

AIRASIA recently launched its Big Sale promotion by offering three million seats for both domestic and international destinations. The booking period for both sectors during the Big Sale campaign is only until Sunday. Bookings are for the travel period from Jan 11 to July 31 next year. The flights are available from its eight hubs – Kuala Lumpur, Johor Baru, Penang, Kota Kinabalu, Bangkok, Jakarta, Bali and Bandung. Guests can fly from Kuala Lumpur to domestic destinations such as Penang, Johor Baru from as low as RM9. Popular international destinations such as Jakarta, Yogyakarta, Bangkok, Phuket are offered from as low as RM49. Ho Chi Minh, Phnom Penh, Bali and Bandung are offered from RM69 and the highly in demand “Kangaroo Routes” in Australia such as Gold Coast, Melbourne and Perth are offered from RM149. The airline is also extending the promotion to its recently launched routes such as Colombo, Taipei, and London from RM89, RM99 and RM479 respectively. “This ‘Big Sale’ promises to be the sale of the year for AirAsia,” said AirAsia Group regional head of commercial Kathleen Tan. “I dare say that it is even better than the free seats offered in the past as guests now save on administration fees and fuel surcharges as we have abolished both charges,” she said, adding that guests can now enjoy greater savings of up to 70% from the Big Sale. “For example, with the past free seat offer, guests paid RM53.50 for Penang now they only pay RM9, Kuching was RM78.50, now RM29.  For international sectors, guests paid RM142.50 for Bali, now RM69. Singapore used to be RM122.50, now it’s RM29, Gold Coast was RM354, now RM149,” said Tan. Promotional seats are limited and available exclusively online via www.airasia.com and mobile.airasia.com. Source  :  www.thesundaily.com

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Retail hiring jumps on spending hopes

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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How to become a £10 Pom with a working holiday visa

Get your visa, get registered and get in line for once-in-a-generation fares.                                                                           

To be in with a chance to become a £10 Pom you need to follow these simple steps and you’ll soon be on your way.

1. Get yourself a Working Holiday Visa
The £10 Pom fares are intended for people who are serious about having one hell of an adventure on a working holiday in Australia, so you will need to have a Working Holiday Visa to be eligible. You can apply for a visa at any of STA Travel’s 44 branches, or click here to buy it online.
Eligibility: You must be a UK passport holder aged between 18 and 30 years old inclusive.

A working holiday visa allows you to live and work in Australia for a period of 12 months. You can work for one employer for a maximum of 6 months, so it gives you time to travel around Australia topping up your funds as you go.

There are all sorts of jobs available so you will definitely find something to suit you. Click here to see what kind of roles are on offer right now.

To make it even easier for you to get your working holiday visa sorted in time we’ll also be sending our Mobile Visa Van around the country throughout July. Click here for schedule and pics!

2. Register online
It’s not essential to register online, but we suggest that you do. It means that you’ll be eligible for one of the 5 extra ‘golden tickets’ to be drawn once the first 145 £10 fares are sold out.
Click here to register now.

You’ll also get some exclusive gifts when you book with us on the 5th August whilst stocks last. Be first in the queue to get your hands on the newly released Rough Guide worth £16.99! 
Click here for more info on the exclusive gifts.
 
3. Get to one of our selected promotional branches by 8am on Wednesday 5th August.
There will be eight special STA Travel branches around the country selling the £10 fares on the day. They will be the only branches where you can get them and once they’re gone, they’re gone. So line up, camp out, rent a flat next-door … do whatever it takes to make sure you get there before they are sold out.

The branches are:

Belfast, 92/94 Botanic Avenue BT7 1JR
Birmingham High St, 222-224 Corporation Street B4 6QB
Bristol, 43 Queens Road BS8 1QQ
Glasgow, 122 George Street G1 1RF
Leeds, 88 Vicar Lane LS1 7JH
London Victoria, 52 Grosvenor Gardens SW1W 0AG
Manchester, Albert Square 86 Cross Street M2 4LA
Southampton, 6-8 Civic Centre Road SO14 7FL

Source  :  www.statravel.co.uk

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Australia work visa holders get wage increase

Effective from 1 July, people moving to Australia on a temporary skilled work visa will be entitled to a higher minimum salary.     

The minimum salary that must be paid by Australian employers taking on foreign workers holding a temporary skilled work visa (457 Subclass visa) has increased by 4.1 per cent. The increase brings the minimum salary in line with the rise average wages since the previous wages review of August last year. The 457 Subclass visa entitles Australia immigration workers for a period of between three months and four years.

In addition to the changes in minimum salaries, the English language ability standards for trades people moving to Australian were also adjusted on 1 July. Previously, trades people were required to demonstrate a ‘vocational’ level of English. Under the new regulations, they must be able to demonstrate a ‘competent’ level of English. This brings the trades, such as carpentry, bricklaying and cookery to the same level in terms of English requirements as the other occupations listed as ‘in demand’ by the Australian immigration authorities.

The Skilled Occupations List includes all the occupations that are suffering skills shortages in Australia. Trades included in this list include a wide variety of professions e.g. fitters, hairdressers, cabinetmakers, landscape gardeners, electricians and locksmiths.

Source  :  www.globalvisas.com

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$50 million revamp for Morley

Morley is set to get a revamp – with the $50 million Coventry Square development now out for public comment.                                      

“This is a great step forward for us,” said Greg Poland, the principal of The Strzelecki Group development company that plans to build the project.

“Once the six-week public consultation period has finished we can then start transforming the old Coventry’s warehouse into the ultimate tourist and shopping precinct.”

As well as being built in the heart of Morley – beside the Centro Galleria shopping mall – Coventry Square will be a major part of the new town centre for the City of Bayswater.

If approved, the development will house more than 200 specialty stores, selling everything from fashion, to local arts and crafts.

Mr Poland said the development would include restaurants, cafes, a microbrewery and a fresh food section dedicated to organic produce.

“At a time when the economy is slowing down, Coventry Square will be a real shot in the arm for Morley and the City of Bayswater by creating hundreds of new small businesses and jobs for about 1000 people,” he said.

The Strzelecki Group hopes to open Coventry Square in April next year.

Source  :   www.watoday.com.au

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First-homebuyers urged to take mortgage help on board

An innovative house and land finance package developed in Perth could help more first-homebuyers to secure a home loan reduce their loan repayments. 
  
Based on a four-bedroom, two-bathroom home using part of the home as a rental, therfore allowing first-homebuyers  to afford a buy, part of the home is sealed off from the rest, creating a rentable one-bedroom, one-bathroom home.
  
The rent is taken into account when assessing borrowing capacity and surplus income can be used for bigger mortgage repayments.
  
Housing Edge director Dennis Ward-Fay said the new approach would bring home ownership within the reach of many more first-homebuyers.    
  
“Every application has to be assessed on its own merits but as an example the top four banks would require a couple borrowing for a house and land package valued at $380,000 to be earning an average salary of $63,275. The same couple applying for a Housing Edge loan would require a combined salary of only $56,510.
  
“The home can easily be converted back to a standard four-bedroom, two-bathroom home at a later date if the owners wish,” he said.
 
Homeowners are advised to use a property manager to handle the rent collection and tenancy details.

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Don’t give up on taking your skills to Australia!

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.

www.liveinaustralia.com

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