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A former Metropolitan police officer decided to uproot his family and move to Perth, in Australia, to ensure more opportunities for his children and a better way of life
A former Met police officer has made the life changing decision to trade the rainy London beat for the sunny coasts of Western Australia to provide better opportunities for his children.
Stuart Grace, 47, a former Met and City of London police officer relocated to Perth, Western Australia, back in August 2024 after realising his children would have more opportunities and a better way of life, than living in the UK.
“We looked into relocating to Australia for a number of years, in the past we unfortunately just didn’t have enough points to make emigration possible. But, since we heard police officers were in demand, we applied and it took about ten months before we were settled in and moved,” said Stuart. After seeing multiple recruitment drives by Australian states, the then serving Met officer, felt the opportunities for his wife and children vastly outweighed anything the UK could offer them.
“We’re [Stuart and his family] now based in Perth and everybody just seems really laid back. I’ve found the police are generally a bit more supported by the public here, at the end of the day criminals will be the same wherever you go, but here I really do get a sense of a more supportive attitude towards policing.”
Many states, including Queensland, have been actively recruiting officers from CANZUK (Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom) for a number of years. They offer competitive holiday and salary packages, and also a fast track to citizenship (Queensland Police Service).
Relocation expert and executive director of John Mason International, Simon Hood explained: “Since Labor entered government in 2022, many visa restrictions for particularly skilled professionals have been lessened. The creations of a new Targeted Core Skills Occupation List has provided new opportunities for professions like policing which might’ve fallen under the required points system before.”
The recruitment drive for police officers has certainly been regionally based, with states and territories down under being devolved enough to make their own decisions on certain visa conditions.
Speaking about the opportunities, Stuart added: “The new Labor government here relaxed many of the visa rules recently, ridding lots of the age limits on visa types. If you had a trade in the UK – you’d have no problem in getting a visa.”
His decision follows the thousands of Brits who also emigrated out of the UK in 2024, with many citing the rising cost of living as one of their main motivations for the move.
But for the former Met officer the primary driving force behind the move remained his children’s future prospects: “In Australia, there aren’t days where you’re stuck inside and debilitated by the weather like you are in the UK. There seems to be a lot more you can do, the kids can go to the beach, the pool, everything is there for them. In truth the move was really for them, it’s only been a couple of weeks and the kids seem exceptionally happy.
“We pre-registered the kids into schools before we arrived in Australia, and it is slightly better here than in the UK. Once we arrived, we toured the school with the Headmistress and the buildings are better, the kids seem to be more engaged and just generally up to more.”
Reflecting on his first couple months down under, Stuart and his wife recently saw in the New Year at their new home in Perth, stating: “We’re still pretty fresh to Australia. Between the sun and beaches Christmas just didn’t feel too Christmas-y — there’s something to be said about having a cold Christmas. But I have been keeping up with the weather reports back home and it looks pretty grim, so safe to say we haven’t been missing it too much.”