06 February 2009

"Osama bin Laden" applies for Australia's best job

In Tourism Queensland's latest effort at marketing their holiday sanctuary the Great Barrier Reef, they have invited the world to apply for a "the best job in the world".

The job requires the lucky applicant to work as a live-in caretaker of a luxury beachside villa on Hamilton Island for six months, with the biggest responsibility being to write a weekly blog of their holiday.  The princely salary would be sitting at a cool $150,000.

The organisers have had over ten thousand video applicants trying to prove their worth in the most creative of ways, with the most recent being an imposter of Osama bin Laden.

According to the Associated Press, a video showing a bearded al-Qaida leader was speaking with subtitles to translate into English why he felt he was perfect for the dream job.

"I enjoy the outdoors and sandy areas," the subtitles read.  "I've got experience with videos, delegating tasks and experience with large scale event coordination."

The video has been flagged as a hoax but it is hoped the media attention from it would further add to the success of the $1.7 million campaign to boost Australian tourism, which has seen more than 2.3 million people visit the Tourism Queensland website.

If the lucky person to score the dream job is a national other than Australian or New Zealand, they will have to apply for an Australian working visa, unless Queensland Tourism sponsors them under the skilled migration programme. 

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The Australian Visa Bureau is an independent consulting company specialising in helping people with emigrating to Australia.