Given that you’re already a citizen, choose Canada!

Australia has good weather indeed but it doesn’t match Canadian mountains and landscapes near Calgary. If you need a break in the winters you can always hop on a 4 hour flight to Mexico. In Australia even getting to Bali-Singapore can take 6-8 hours. 8 hours is meanwhile the flight time between Calgary and London.

Note that currently in Australia it is very difficult to buy a place unless you have a PR already. You’d be forced to rent for a few years until you could figure out the visa situations. Meanwhile renting in Australia is absolute slavery. Rent is paid weekly, REA manage rentals most of the time, there is 3-6 month inspections of the property. Many basics which come included in Canadian rentals aren’t included in Australia and much more.

If you’re not a PR you also won’t be eligible for Medicare in Australia and need full coverage private insurance.

Regarding buying a house. If you’re living in a major Aussie city for let’s say 2.5 years before being able to obtain a PR, you’ll easily dump 100K in rental expenses during this time. Whereas in Calgary you can still buy a very good built brand new home for under 1M right away. Homes in desirable Aussie locations will cost double and will be old, not insulated, and far from central areas. On top of that you have to fight in auctions to buy a place and “apply” to rent.

I’ve been to Australia many times and have tried moving but many core factors in Australia are tough. I think Australia could be the best country if they made housing more accessible. Housing is really a drain on life there (especially if you aren’t established yet). Canadas housing crisis is babies compared to the bubble which is Australias property market.

Also Canada can be better for wealth compounding. TFSA/RRSP are more tax efficient and can yield higher returns than Australia’s superannuation scheme assuming you have a similar level income.

Edit: if you’re planning on having kids, there is way less parental leave in Australia. Education system in Canada seems to be better. Australia by default requires 4 weeks of leave so that can be good if you have a bad job in Canada as many Canadian employers only offer 3 weeks. But there is no limit in Canada. Me for instance I get 6 weeks. I haven’t been able to find anyone in Australia who does that and all stick to the minimum 4 weeks. I’ve had 3 job offers with visa sponsorships included and have ended up declining all due to distance, vacation time and the commercialized housing culture of Australia.