Yahoo Finance Irish expat’s cost-of-living warning for those moving to Australia: ‘Sold this dream’
Shannon Sulliman said she is living the "best lifestyle" in Australia but there's some realities people should know before moving.
An Irish woman said moving to Australia was the “best thing” she has ever done. But she’s warning other expats there are some harsh realities, including when it comes to wages and the cost of living, they will need to be prepared for.
Shannon Sulliman quit her marketing job in Limerick to move to Perth with her partner in June last year. The 27-year-old told Yahoo Finance Irish people were often “sold the dream life in Australia” but she’s now learnt some parts of that are exaggerated.
“In Ireland, we’re sold this dream that we’re going to make so much money over here and that life is so easy,” Sulliman said.
“I don’t know what land we were living in but we literally thought that we’d come out here and we’d be able to socialise as much as we want and still have savings and still travel. But you have to make more of a sacrifice to move over here.”
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More than 21,000 Irish citizens were granted working holiday visas in Australia in the 12 months to July 2023, marking the highest recorded number in more than 16 years.
Sulliman said she had previously visited Perth and “fell in love” with the city and had always wanted to move over. She has now secured a full-time marketing job and has gotten sponsorship.
She said she is living “the best lifestyle” she’s ever experienced in Australia and loves the weather, the friendly people, the fitness culture and the access to nature and activities like hiking and camping. But she said the idea that you'd be flush with cash and savings wasn't quite right.
“I think before you come over, you need to be a bit more realistic about things. A lot of Irish call it ‘Peter Pan’ land,” she said.
“People think it’s very easy when you move over here, everything will work out but it’s a lot harder than people think.”
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Higher wages offset by ‘expensive’ cost of living
Sulliman said she initially thought she would be on a “magical wage doing an average job” but said this wasn’t the reality, unless you worked in the mines.
She said she has found you don’t earn that much more money in Australia compared to Ireland and because the cost of living is expensive, you aren’t able to save that much either.
“I think my wages [in Australia] match what I want to do living wise and [that is] the same as when I was in Ireland,” Sulliman told Yahoo Finance.
“So I’m not making any more than I should. Maybe I am making a bit more but it is matching the cost of living here.”
The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics data found the full-time adult average weekly earnings in Australia were $1,923.40 per week. In comparison, average weekly earnings in Ireland are €969.12, or roughly $1,602 per week.
Sulliman said she was "really lucky" to find a job in Australia but said it could be hard for people on working holiday visas to secure work. She initially tried her hand at traffic control work, before using recruiters to secure temporary work.
"It's a lot harder to get in maybe the career that you were doing back home in Ireland. But in saying that, I went into the job and I'm now just helping them as a shoulder manager, doing kind of admin work," she said.
Sulliman noted that Ireland had also become “extremely expensive” and she thinks the cost of rent and bills are now pretty similar to Australia.
In Ireland, average rents were at €1,595, or about $2,642 per month or about $610 per week, for new tenancies for the final quarter of 2023.
In comparison, Domain found average house rents were $650 per week across the capitals in Australia, while unit rents were $630 per week.
Travel is expensive, especially in Perth
Before moving over, Sulliman thought she would be travelling every two weeks but she said she has since realised how expensive that is, particularly in Perth.
“I think if I was in Sydney and Melbourne that would be a completely different story … I have to go to Sydney and I was looking at flights and it’s going to cost me $800 just to go for the weekend,” she said.
“But in saying that I do feel like Western Australia offers a lot more different kinds of holiday experiences … I love camping so we bought a swag and we’ve gone to all different places. There’s a lot more you could do by car here.”
Sulliman said she is trying to experience as much of Australia as she can and has done trips along the East Coast, as well as travelling to Bali and the Maldives. The downside of this is she said she hasn't been able to save as much as she initially thought.
“I am socialising and I am travelling and if I did make those sacrifices then I would be able to save a bit more,” she said.
“I know I have my two-year visa out here but circumstances could change so I myself love travelling and experiencing new things.”
She’s found eating out can be more expensive in Ireland, but the cost of going out and drinking was much more in Australia so she has now cut back on this.
But it’s all worth it
Sulliman said she’s happy she made the decision to move to Australia and hopes to secure permanent residency in the future.
“I would tell anyone that’s even slightly thinking about coming out here, just do it,” she said.
“It’s such an experience to have out here. There is a lot of opportunities out there if you are willing to work for it as well and the company I’m working for now is amazing.
“If you are moving out, just be open-minded. When you come out first, it’s the most stressful that it will be but after that everything falls into place.”
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