About Us
New Life In Australia is a practical guide for international students, new migrants, and anyone starting again in a country where they do not yet know how anything works.
Moving countries is exciting and genuinely disorienting. In your first month you are expected to understand rent and bond, suburbs you have never heard of, a transport card with its own rules, a tax file number, superannuation, Medicare or private cover, and a job market that reads résumés differently to the one you came from — usually all at once, often while jet-lagged and on a budget.
This site exists to make that first year less expensive and less confusing.
What we publish
- What things actually cost — rego, insurance, dental work, solar, a bathroom renovation, a wedding — with the figures broken down by state, because the national average is nobody’s real price
- Student life — universities and TAFE, grading, accommodation, and settling in
- Work and money — work rights, Fair Work basics, résumés that land here, TFN, payslips, superannuation
- Getting around — Opal, Myki, Go Card, buying a used car without being taken advantage of
- Everyday living — suburbs, groceries, halal food, bills, and the small things nobody warns you about
How we try to be different
Search almost any of these questions and you get one of two answers: a government page that only covers its own state, or a company page that only covers its own product. Both are accurate and neither is much use when you are comparing.
So our guides are built to do the thing nobody else does — put all eight states and territories side by side, name the actual figures with the date we checked them, and say plainly when something is a bad deal.
- Specific. Real numbers and real steps, not “costs vary”
- Sourced. Traced to the department, regulator or provider that sets the rule or the price
- Honest. Trade-offs included. If the cheap option is the right option, we say so
- Maintained. Dated and re-checked, because Australian rates change and 1 July moves a lot of them
Our Editorial Policy sets out exactly how guides are researched, updated and corrected — including how we use AI tools and where the money comes from.
Who runs this
New Life In Australia is published by Shoumya Chowdhury, a sole trader registered in Australia (ABN 70 716 218 890), based in Victoria.
It is independent — not affiliated with any government department, university, migration agent or education agency, and not funded by any of them. Nobody pays us to recommend them. As at July 2026 the site carries no advertising and no affiliate links at all.
What we cannot do
We are not registered migration agents, tax agents or licensed financial advisers, so we cannot advise on your individual visa, tax or financial situation — and we will not pretend otherwise. For decisions that matter, check the official source or pay a registered professional. Our Disclaimer has the detail.
Get in touch
Spotted an error, or want a guide that does not exist yet? Those emails genuinely shape what gets written next.
Email: admin@newlifeinaus.com.au
Or use the contact page
Thanks for being here. We hope it makes the start a little easier.
