New South Wales

The biggest choice in Australia — and the sharpest arithmetic

A guide to living, working and settling in Australia’s largest state — written for healthcare professionals, by the team who help them move.

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15 chapters Updated August 2026 Free

Welcome

The default answer, examined properly.

One Australian in three lives in New South Wales. Sydney is the country’s biggest city, its main gateway and its deepest healthcare job market — and behind it sits a state of surf coasts, wine valleys, world-heritage mountains and the outback.

The public system here is the largest in Australia: fifteen local health districts running more than two hundred and twenty hospitals, with the deepest tertiary concentration in the southern hemisphere in Sydney and busy referral centres across the regions. Registration is national; hiring is local. Which district you choose decides your daily life.

The cost is Sydney’s housing — the most expensive in the country, concentrated exactly where most people first want to live. This guide treats that plainly, and gives the Hunter, the Illawarra and the regional cities the attention the arithmetic says they deserve.

Welcome to the harbour state.

Warm regards — the Ethicare team

New South Wales, in short

The five-second version

~8.5M

People in the state

220+

Public hospitals

2,100 km

Of Pacific coastline

1st

Gateway for flights home

Where

The south-east corner — Sydney on the harbour, the coast either side, the range and plains behind

Climate

Humid summer coast, four-season tablelands, hot dry plains — and real snowfields in winter

The system

Fifteen local health districts; the deepest tertiary concentration in the southern hemisphere

Getting home

Sydney is Australia’s main international gateway — one leg shorter than anywhere else

Contents

What’s inside

Fifteen chapters in five parts. Nine are written for New South Wales; the rest are national and live once in Moving to Australia, so you only read them once.

Part one · Deciding

01 Welcome to New South WalesThe harbour state in nine numbers — and six things you only learn once you’re here Read now → 02 Why New South WalesThe arithmetic, a typical week, and where else we might point you Read now → 03 The state at a glanceCoast, range and plain — and what humid summers and cold houses mean Read now →

Part two · The state

04 Healthcare in NSWHow the fifteen districts work, where the tertiary depth sits, and what to ask at interview Read now → 05 Where clinicians liveThe several Sydneys, the commuter coasts and the regional cities — fifteen places compared Read now → 06 Getting aroundLive on a train line, budget the tolls, and fly home one leg shorter Read now →

Part three · Money & home

07 Cost of livingAustralia’s most expensive city, — and where in the state the numbers relax Read now → 08 Living in AustraliaRenting, utilities, banking and the practical first months — the national playbook Shared · national 09 Pay & conditionsHow awards, allowances and salary packaging work — and what to verify before signing Shared · national

Part four · Everyday life

10 Food, shopping & the everydayThe country’s best table, suburb by suburb — and the rhythms of the NSW week Read now → 11 Beaches, mountains & wine countryOcean pools, the Blue Mountains, the Hunter, the Snowies and the outback Read now → 12 Schools & educationHow Australian schooling works — and the visa fee question every family must read Shared · national

Part five · Belonging

13 Finding your feet & your peopleCommunities, faith, sport and how friendship works here Shared · national 14 Eligibility & registrationAhpra, English evidence and assessment — the national process, once Shared · national 15 Visas & the moveWhich visa, in what order, and how the timeline runs Shared · national

Sophie’s insight

Everyone asks me for Sydney, and my first question back is: which one? The harbour hospitals are the hardest jobs in Australia to land, and an hour west the same role is recruiting all year with a caseload that will teach you more. The Hunter and the Gong are where I place the most contented families in this state.

Sophie Careem

Founder, Ethicare Resourcing

When you’re ready

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