Does Australia working hours include lunch break? anyone know?

Does Australia working hours include lunch break? anyone know?

NSW doubles FHB grant:
http://www.news.com.au/money/property/f ... 6392861922

$7,000 to $15,000. Let's see if they'll sell themselves into slavery for $8,000? There's also a time limit on it which should whip them into a frenzy, then it goes back down to $10,000.

Bricklayers, floor tilers and chemists will soon be taken off Australia's official skills shortage list and people with these trades won't be able to apply for permanent residency unless they are sponsored by an employer, the Australian authorities said.
The trades will be scratched from the list from the beginning of July because Australia has enough of these skills. That means it is now too late to apply for a visa because the application process takes several weeks.

there is more

WA's median mortgage repayment has soared 58 per cent in five years to nearly $2000 per month, while renters are paying almost double what they did in 2006, the latest Census shows.

At the same time, the median wage has increased by only 32 per cent, to $662 per week.


Read more: http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/censu ... z1ysV7duLk

I had a quick look at the census statistics for Australia and it said that the vacancy rate for housing came in at 10.7% nationally. Not sure how this compares with 2006 & 2001.

EDIT: Up from 9.85% in 2006. Household size remains unchanged.

It’s the tallest building in Australia, and the Q1 has recorded some of the steepest price falls over the past financial year.

Just one of the 28 recorded sales since July last year actually went up on its previous boom-time sale price.

The average price drop among the 27 price falls was 26% on its former boom-time sale.

The worst fall was 51% on the 57th floor, with a $970,000 mortgagee sale. It had fetched $2 million in 2006.

There were another seven sales reflecting declines of 40% or higher, three of which were on the upper floors with $1 million plus prices.

Just six of the sales were officially mortgagee sales.

The only apartment that went up was on the 23rd floor, and it was nothing special. It fetched $326,000 in January, having last sold at $321,000 in 2002.

The cheapest sale was $250,000 on the 12th floor, which was 21% less than its $318,000 off-the-plan sale price in 2002.

The priciest resale was $1.3 million on the 71st floor. It had sold at $2.32 million in 2003, reflecting an overall 41% drop, having also sold in the interim at $1.6 million in 2009.

There were also 28 apartment sales in the 2010-11 financial year with just one official mortgagee sale.

Q1 is ranked the world's third tallest residential tower after the 348-metre building The Marina Torch in Dubai won formal recognition as the tallest residential building in the world in April 2011.

''There's no reason for concern. The stock on the market tells you nothing about the fundamentals. It's underlying demand that matters. Melbourne's new homes market is in good shape,'' said HIA economist Andrew Harvey.