I think it's going to get a lot worse before it gets any better.

I find it worrying just how far their government has taken surveillance and police violence especially when in some respects Australia's laws are more draconian and overreaching but simply not as fervently enforced as in the states.

I hope that our stronger democratic institutions and process protects us from following in their footsteps but I really worry about what the typical Australians priorities are. I find it unbelievable how popular one nation is given the current US government being a living breathing example of what a militantly anti immigration government looks like.

Not sure if you're talking about America or Australia 🤣

What do you think of the violence in America?

Is this in relation to something specific, or just generally?

Also I am missing something what outlets or channels do you use to keep track of your countries.

You mean keeping track of Australian news, or keeping track of other countries?

If you mean for Australian news, you can take a look at the posts over on !news@aussie.zone or !australianpolitics@aussie.zone to see which outlets people link to. The majority of links posted there are for:

• abc.net.au
  • the national public broadcaster (i.e. government funded, but notionally editorially independent, unlike a 'state broadcaster')
  • YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ABCNewsAustralia
• sbs.net.au/news
  • partially government funded, with a mission of providing programming for minority linguistic and cultural communities
  • YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SBSNews
• theguardian.com/au
  • privately owned, but with a generally 'progressive' readership and editorial line
  • YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GuardianAustralia

America is in deep trouble and I wouldn't travel there if you paid me. We have our own problems with the surveillance state but despite their wishes our police are not as militarised and do actually face punishment for misconduct.... sometimes.

I tend to avoid anything owned by Murdoch so no news dot com do au and not link from me.

https://michaelwest.com.au/ - independent journalists

https://www.abc.net.au/ - state owned with a hint of independence. They've run stories damaging to sitting Governments before but aren't without bias.

We're just 20 years behind you.

But without the gun fetish.

Savage country with savage leaders

You have to be a permanent resident first, and Australia is really stingy about giving out permanent residency. Basically, you need to have the right skills, the right amount of money, or the right family member.

If you don't have them, paperwork won't help

I appreciate your thorough answer. We’re flying Qantas both into and out of Sydney. It seems like the Qantas transfer desk will be helpful to a degree, but the big bottleneck is customs. Naturally, we’re scheduled to arrive at 0605, so right in the peak of traffic. Plus, we’re moving, so we’ll have more luggage than we normally would, and we’ll have our 6 year old with us too. I’m sure it’ll be spicy.

Sydney airport is trickier than some airports. The domestic and international terminals are (iirc) 2km apart, so it's not like you can just hop over to the next terminal in a row. There is a shuttle. https://www.sydneyairport.com.au/info-sheet/get-to-your-next-flight

As far as Customs -- the queue will vary with time of day and how many flights are arriving close in time to yours. Probably your best option is to be intentional with your packing so that you will have nothing to declare. If that's not possible, declare everything. They don't usually need or want to pick through all your things; they will ask you questions and then either scan the bags, ask you to show them the things you're declaring, or just send you straight on your way (depending on what you have).

Food is the main thing. There are many trash bins between your arrival gate and Customs, specifically for the purpose of disposing of food you can't or don't want to declare. Get rid of anything homemade, open packets, fresh produce. (Sealed, store-bought processed food is generally fine.)

If you have bags to collect and re-check, your timing might be too tight. Baggage claim can be slow at any airport, and so can check-in/bag drop. If you're just travelling with carry-ons, it's probably doable.

The craziest thing is when a wire loom in a car gets wet. Capillary action can make the water travel up from where it’s getting in

^ This! Worked at a place that had a roof leak, there was a pipe in the false ceiling and the water leaked onto the pipe, then ran the length of the pipe dropping off at random points.

So we had this line of brown spots on the ceiling tiles, it looked like the whole roof was leaking, but it was just one leak following the pipe.

Tell me about it. I've fixed my fair share of leaky roofs and sometimes you just make an educated guess and hope. I hate getting up into the ceiling but sometimes it's the only way to trace the water from the end point to the source. With tiled roofs however, it can be nice and obvious with something like a cracked tile or a tile that's shifted out of place.

Finding the leak can be really hard. Water can travel quite a ways from its initial ingress point.

Never had a tiled roof, but I had an old house with a box gutter and it took replacing the entire roof and lining the gutter with rubber to stop the leak.

You don't want to fuck around with roof leaks get that shit fixed asap

Tiled roofs can be easy to fix especially if you have spare tiles, but you can also do repairs with silicone and/or flashtac. You'll find that the two main difficulties are accessing the roof and finding the source of the leak. If you're handy and willing to take on the (not insignificant) risk of getting on your roof you could consider doing it yourself, but otherwise you should get a professional to have a look at it.

If it stays wet it's possible the structural wood can get moldy and rot especially if it's warm. Patching the roof would be much cheaper than fixing anything structural. If the roof still looks like it's in decent shape id just patch the leak, they usually can go 20+ years between replacement. But it might be a good idea to get a look in the attic to see if it has been leaking longer than you've thought.

its past time to call a professional! any leak can cause issuea. Water damaged buildings can cause health issues too.

If it's leaking through, to a point where you need a bucket, yeah, time for a pro.

The hole in your roof is leaking on to the surface above the ceiling, which is saturated and now leaking through the ceiling.

Rot and mold are going to follow. You need to fix the roof AND everything hit by the water.

So far, trying to buy Australian-spec adapters in the US is like asking a fish for lasagna. I was barely able to find power cables for the few electronics we’re bringing with us. I briefly thought about getting a handful of travel adapters, but they’re silly expensive for what you get, and the others seem super sketchy.

I figured, worst case scenario, we’ll grab a couple at the airport or the local shop and order more from Amazon or something later

For the usb adaptors, why not buy online and ship ahead?

The prices in store are criminal

Thanks! We are very much looking forward to introducing our little one to the glory that is IKEA. We expect to furnish with a fair amount from there, initially.

No clue where coffee machines come from

You can probably get a cheap one from Kmart. But I'd recommend JB Hifi or Good Guys.

Never ever ever enter a Harvey Norman.
For anything. Ever.

JB Hi-Fi or Good Guys for a coffee machine perhaps