Hi OP. I am Australian, in Australia and (like a lot of other Aussies) have spent time in England for work reasons.
Agree with the poster above who mentioned it was worth thinking about the particular industries you and your partner work in, as something like the arts (as poster mentioned) is really bad here at the moment.
Also second the sentiments of @Ozgirl75 who nails everything I wanted to say, really.
It is a fantastic place for kids to grow up, by and large. Australian cities are very multicultural - not quite London of course, but far more integrated than somewhere like New York.
The current education system varies from place to place. The coalition have done their best to tear tertiary education to shreds. Not sure of comparison with UK. I do note that an Australian friend who did a third-year exchange to a London university some years ago, found that course learning objectives were the same as she'd covered in first-year in Australia. (Guess we're not that stupid after all). So perhaps don't freak out about that.
The vaccine will roll out in the next eight weeks, though our present community transmission is almost zero since November. Yes interstate borders are opening and shutting constantly, but we're all sort of getting on with it.
This isn't directed at you Op, but - like other posters have mentioned - the attitude of some mumsnet posters to 'silly little colonial outposts' like 21st century Australia are ridiculous and frankly, xenophobic.
As you (unlike many of the posters here) would know OP, many Australians have experienced living in Europe, Asia and elsewhere in the world. Many of us work with Indigenous Australians and migrant groups on a daily basis. We're hardly a cultural backwater. We have
40 000 years of history, a fact conveniently forgotten by British posters ironically complaining of racism in Australia.
Yobs of dickhead Australian tourists are matched by mobs of dickhead British tourists that can be found in various parts of Europe and Asia. Some of their boomer British parents can be found continuing the colonial legacy by feeling entitled to settle in places like Portugal and Spain, or wherever else they feel like being at the time while enjoying a British pension and NHS. (pity the locals don't enjoy the same privileges).
@Kaiken, your notion that Australia has 'no culture' compared to Europe is xenophobic and ignorant. The notion that we don't do enough to represent Indigenous culture would have been a valid criticism ten years ago but things are really changing.
Here in Western Australia, our state museum has just reopened and is totally centred in Indigenous perspectives. Meanwhile the British museum is still hoarding stolen Indigenous artefacts and arguing over legacies of British slavery.
There are multiple Indigenous cultural centres, social justice groups, and tourism/education activities throughout WA. They welcome new participants from all communities. I suspect it's the same elsewhere in Australia. What are you doing to support Indigenous social justice movements?
Yes, Australia is racist, as the UK continues to be. At the same time, anyone who's done any scrap of imperial history can tell you the chief beneficiaries of white supremacy in the colonies was the English ruling class. Along with wealthy settler Australians, white British middle and upper classes continue to benefit from these legacies.
Yes mining is a problem, but look where the royalties go. (Apart from a handful of Australian billionaires, most of the wealth goes to Europe. Especially Rio Tinto - the queen is a 49% shareholder). Where were the protests in Europe over the destruction of the caves? Why did British people not take to the streets over the Queen's profiting from the continued destruction of Indigenous lands and culture in Australia? There were plenty of these protests in Australia. Did you attend any?
Also - If it is taking your cleaner five years to save enough to visit her family, maybe you should pay her more?
Rant over: @Pepvixen, If you're not happy about climate change, come over here and fight with us to change it. 77% of Australians believe it's a problem; our politicians are way behind community and corporate expectations. The first ever Green party was created in Tasmania and our conservation activism has been world-leading in many respects. Come and help us out
!
Anyway, good luck with your decision. I know many people who have returned to Australia this year from long stints overseas and are generally happy with their decision. It's a wonderful place, getting more progressive at a community level each year. And it's frigging beautiful!