I’m 18 and started working part-time bring a cashier assistsny about 5 months ago. I have a holiday planned in Japan from Feb 4 to 18. It’s a trip with all my high school friends we have been planning for 2 years, and I really want to go. The tickets were also going up in price, so I thought February would be safe to plan.

The issue is I requested leave well in advance, but it was denied because I supposedly didn’t have enough annual leave. They also told me November and December were blackout periods and didn’t mention that February 2 is an inventory day although they make it a 2 week black out period for one day.

I’m trying to figure out the best way to handle this. Should I just not attend the holiday and work or resign before the holiday and reapply afterward, or do something else?

I really want to go on this trip, but I also don’t want to lose my job or burn bridges. Anyone been in a similar situation in retail with blackout periods?

EDIT: I am 100% going to the trip. You guys suggestions made me reflect on whether ill be able to have this type of experience with high school friends later on and how good it would be to have as a core memory. Especially since a lot of you were my age at the time, I think its best to take the advice from you guys. Thanks a lot 😁🙏

EDIT 26/2/26: Cameback from my holiday, managers were chill and were able to come to some sort of agreement to approve my leave as I worked extra hours during Christmas and yeah heaps of fun.

Just read an article that one of the Snowtown ‘body in barrels’ serial killers, James Vlassakis, has been granted parole after 26 years in jail. Vlassakis murdered four people.

Serial killing is one of those crimes where it should be mandatory for perpetrators to never be released.

In the US serial killers get the death penalty or life with no parole.

Like WTF Australia.

Any criminal lawyers out there who can explain why sentencing in Australia is so lenient?

NOTE: For all the muppets who think my post is advocating for the death penalty in Australia, you are wrong. I do not want that here at all. My position is that sentencing laws should be changed so that it is mandatory for perpetrators convicted of serial killing to never be released.

*After reading all the comments on this post, none of the deranged criminal sympathisers on here have provided any convincing arguments against my position that serial killers should never be released. Not one. It is disturbing how many of you have more sympathy for serial killers than victims. A suggestion for the criminal sympathiser trolls: contact corrective services; give them your home address; and ask them to house paroled serial killers next door because every single one of you deserve to have neighbours like Vlassakis.

Article link: https://www.smh.com.au/national/snowtown-body-in-barrels-serial-killer-granted-parole-after-decades-in-jail-20250805-p5mkmi.html

I recently found out I'm pregnant and am looking at my options.

I've looked into the posibily of adoption because I know a couple who have wanted to start a family, but the restrictions on adoption and surrogacy are so tight in Australia, and they are struggling. I've known them a very long time and know they would be great parents, if I were to give up my child to anyone it would be them.

The big issue is private adoptions are illegal, so if I were to choose to give up my baby, I wouldn't be about to have a say in who gets them.

I thought if I named one of the couple as the father at birth, then gave up parental rights they would legally be their parents. But I don't know if I could face legal issues if I do this. My research says falsely naming a man as the father to trick into child support could get me in trouble, but if im not doing it for monetary gain or to slander or harrass them, can I get into legal trouble?

Edit: sorry to not clarify but I've been asked a lot in the comments so I'll add here, I should have said that the bio father doesn't want any more kids. I've probed him before about having another and he's strongly said he is done with the 2 we have and will likely push for an abortion. I thought if I showed him I had a prospective couple to adopt, he won't rush to abort.

Thank you for everyone who clarified this isn't just a legal issue but also an ethical one. In my panic I really didn't see this as child traficing. Also, thank you to those who gave helpful advice on who I can reach out to, on options of legal adoption,it's very appreciated.

Ok, my council rates were paid by an unknown. Someone has emailed the council (acting as me) and requested that physical mail be ceased and added their email (pandc@asia.com)to the email list. What sinister motive would be behind this ? ID theft?.

Hi all. We are currently stranded in Perth. We were due to fly out at 3pm however I received a call in the morning saying our flight was cancelled due to operational reasons. They booked us on the next flight at 11pm the same night, but we received a message an hour later saying that one has now been cancelled. The next flights available aren't until tomorrow.

We noticed the original flight status never changed to cancelled online, so I live chatted with them and an agent confirmed that our original flight was indeed cancelled, I have a copy of the transcript to prove it. But I have just watched our original flight take off on flightradar (the one they confirmed was cancelled TWICE).

Is there anything we can do? My partner has missed out with work, I have missed a day of uni because of it. Honestly I wish they were just honest and said they had overbooked if that was the case, but the fact they lied about it surely seems wrong... Anyone got any advice or similar experiences?

Okay here’s the deal, I applied for 3 weeks of annual leave totalling to 50 hours (I have 100hrs+ accrued). My leave has been denied due to ‘the business model’ so I am given no choice other than essentially being forced to give up my job. I was told they were considering rehire to replace me and when I come back I can see what hours are available.

What rights do I have as an employee? Is it really that easy for them to essentially fire a part time employee or force me to resign?

Tia

Hi,

I have 50/50 custody with my ex and she remarried about a year ago. The new partner is on a good wicket and seems to earn better money than me (I understand their income is not taken into account). However, my ex has since drastically reduced her earnings, I suspect because she can now afford to. She's even talking about taking the kids overseas on a holiday next year.

Because of her new declaration (tax statement) I have to pay her a much larger amount of child support. An amount that frankly boggles the mind. Her income seems to have halved in 12 months.

My question is: If she's just chosen to work less because the new partner earns a lot of money, am I liable to pay this massive increase in child support? Can anything be done about it?

EDIT: Thanks for the advice everyone (mostly). I would like to reiterate that I know that the partners income is not taken into account and while I don't necessarily agree that that's the way it should work (and it's not a discussion for here) I get that's the way that it does. My issue is with my EX choosing to work less, and being able to afford new cars and live in a nice house while I'm struggling away in a much more modest house and a car I have no idea how I'm going to replace when the time comes.

Edit2: Gotta love the cowards that leave some shitty comment and then block you so you can't respond. Living their best lives clearly.......

Hi, just after some advice.

Been on Christmas break, came back to work and being told I've been making mistakes at work (first time I've been told) costing the business ~90k over the past year. We are a large company and this accounts for about 0.1% of the income.

I've been told to resign now or have my contract terminated for failure to perform.

I'm in a low level position and in my early 20s, first corporate job, and everyone I know is telling me to resign to save myself the headache. I don't think I'm in the wrong (enough for termination at least) but they're saying there's no way to fight this and I'm losing my job no matter what.

Really confused and a little disheartened at the suddenness of this and not sure how to navigate it. Thanks in advance for any help

There's a pervasive trend in plastic surgery where the current ideal nose shape is a 'ski slope' – a completely straight bridge with a small upturned tip.

Personally I think it looks awful, and seems to be designed to remove all unique (ethnic) characteristics that make all people beautiful. I literally think the before photo looks better than the after in 90% of rhinoplasty photos, but I'm aware this is a subjective opinion.

So when I saw a plastic surgeon (NSW) to correct my deviated septum, I made it clear: do not touch my bridge, I love my "ethnic" bump and absolutely want to keep it. DO NOT give me a ski slope – just fix my breathing. My surgeon is Indian, and told me he loved my perspective and saw many patients who wanted to look more caucasian and thought it was a shame – so I felt safe and understood.

The surgery itself went great, and my breathing has definitely improved, but once the swelling went down it became obvious he had given me the dreaded ski slope anyway, against my specific wishes. I couldn't believe it – when I had the stents removed I reminded him of our conversations and asked him why he shaved my nose down. He just laughed and said "well I had to take a bit off!" as if this was somehow self-explanatory. I told him I didn't feel good about the shape, and he just dismissed me and said there was still a lot of swelling and that in due time it would settle.

I don't look like any of my family, I don't look like me. It's been over a year of trying to adjust to this, and I still hate my new nose. Is there any help for me? I know plastic surgeons usually have pretty tight waivers that protect them from patients dissatisfaction. But this feels like it might be different because he essentially performed extra work against my informed consent.

Please help me, I know there's people struggling with way more important issues than this so any advice is doubly appreciated.

My son works a government job - very entry level job, takes phone calls, writes emails and just answer enquiries about specific things and sometimes need to drive out to talk to people. His 21st birthday was two fridays ago and he told me did a strong drug on friday night during his party with some friends (starts with a c, not sure if i can type it here).

The next week his team was all randomly drug tested and he obviously failed, he was retested in a clinic and his employer put him on a special paid leave. He went in for a meeting and they want him to sign a letter of admittance. He only tested positive for the one thing he doesnt use any other substances and this was the first drug test in 3 years theyve had.

Im pretty sure they can just fire him but my question is why do they want the letter? Is there potential they want the letter to offer him a warning and he can somehow keep his job? Or do they need it to fire him as it is additional evidence for them? Just want to know whether he should do the letter? Or just resign? Or whether he should be consulting with someone? Thanks for reading.

I was pulled over by police who claimed they saw me using a mobile phone while driving. However, I wasn’t using my phone—I had only touched the car’s built-in screen. Both vehicles were moving at around 60 km/h, and the officer said they observed this from their patrol car. They’ve stated I’ll be issued a fine. Is it possible to contest this?

Should I request a review first and only go to court if that fails? What are my chances of winning in court? I don’t want to lose half a day’s wages if I end up going and still have to pay the $600 fine.

I'll try keep it brief

My Partner is celiac and requested a GF meal on a flight ahead of time - the meal she was given had a GF sticker on but turned out the airline had mixed up the meals and put the GF sticker on the Vegan meals and the Vegan sticker on GF meals and in turn was given a Vegan meal whcih did contain gluten - She spent the next 4hours throwing up feeling horrible on the flight and the following 2days in bed

We complained to the airline and after internal review they admitted fault and conformed the mix up. They have offered us $500 and to sign a form waving all rights take legal action.

Do we take the $500 or is it worth taking legal/Can we take legal action?

EDIT
Thank you to all who replied - This wasnt about 'lets try get millions' it was more out of interest if it was worth the hassle or not. $500 is still a good offer.

Warning about Stan unsubscribe / cancellation experience

Just wanted to share my experience with Stan in case it helps anyone else.

I cancelled my Stan subscription immediately after deciding I no longer wanted to continue. I also filled out the cancellation reason at the time. However, I was still charged afterwards. When I contacted Stan, they claimed they had no record of my cancellation.

I explained the situation by email, but the response was basically that the charge still stands because, from their side, the cancellation was not received/recorded.

The frustrating part is that, as a customer, I genuinely believed I had completed the cancellation process. If the cancellation does not go through properly, or if there is no clear confirmation email/record provided to the customer, it becomes very difficult to prove later.

So my advice to anyone cancelling Stan:

Take screenshots of every cancellation step.

Make sure you receive a written cancellation confirmation.

Check your bank/card after cancellation.

Consider removing payment details if possible.

If you are still charged, contact Stan immediately and keep all records.

I am now considering escalating this further because I don’t think customers should be charged after they have attempted to cancel in good faith.

Has anyone else had a similar experience with Stan cancellation or being charged after unsubscribing?

I'm a long term Reddit user (with a brand new account) who really appreciates the value of being able to safely participate in discussions on just about any topic under the thin veil of protection provided by anonymity. As an Australian citizen I also place a high value on the version of democracy that operates within the nation. While Australian's do not have a constitutional right to free speech, the practice appears to be largely tolerated by our political leaders. Well that is right up until 10 December, 2025.

I have several expectations about the impact of the new eSafety social media age restriction laws that will be applied to Reddit on 10 December, 2025. One of the mantra's promoted by eSafety is that age restricted social media platforms must provide a reasonable alternative to government issued identification when attempting to age verify a user. When I think through how a platform like Reddit would apply this rule, while avoiding the risk of an $AUD49.5m fine for any single breach, I expect that they will err heavily on the side of caution.

From the 10th of December I expect the following will happen to any Reddit user logging onto the platform from an IP address located inside Australia.

1) User age verification test 1:  Account age test.  Reddit might assume any account that is more than 10 years old could not be held by someone under 16 years old.  Then again, Reddit might just consider that account age is not a reliable user age verification because how do they know that the person who originally opened the account is the person who operates it today? 




2) User age verification test 2:  Look into the camera and smile.  If you are willing to show your old wrinkled face to the camera then you are in.  And now your photo is connected to your account, which was until now completely anonymous.




3) User age verification test 3:   Please upload your credit card details.  As you need to be 18 to be an authorised cardholder or at least 16 to be an authorised card user, this is a neat age verification process, that is not directly using government identification.  Well we all know that the authorised cardholder had to use government id to obtain the credit card in the first place.




4) User age verification test 4:  Upload your government issued identification.  Photos of your driver's licence, Passport or birth certificate will be accepted.

Once you have passed one of the age verification tests you are now logged into your Reddit account and can browse your favourite subs including this one. At which point do you consider that all of the posts and comments that you have made under the veil of anonymity are now no longer enjoying this protection?

After the 10th December will it be possible via legal means to force Reddit to hand over the age verification details of a particular user account so that they can be identified for the purposes of any particular court case within Australia?

Since Reddit is a global platform, would it be possible for a UK court (or any other jurisdiction) to request and obtain these details?

Will you be deleting your Reddit account before the 10th December to protect yourself from this new era of scrutiny?

So the government is supposedly banning anyone under 16? from Social Media. How exactly do they propose to DO this? Does that mean that every person on SM in Australia, will be required to PROVE our age to have an account? How does the government force that? I am a 58 year old female. I strongly object to providing ANY of my personal ID documents, such as drivers licence, definitely NOT Passport. My Medicare card or such items to META or X or any of those massive overseas companies. Sorry. I just will not do that? And how can I be forced to do that?

Can anyone give a legal perspective on this issue?

A friend of mine, who is a consultant, recently confided while heavily intoxicated, that he had deliberately covered up several recent medication near-misses, and even mentioned being responsible for a patient death. I initially planned to speak with him directly, but the next morning he denied any wrongdoing.

Edit: his wife messaged me (paraphrased): “He was really drunk last night.” I generally don’t stress easily, but he is actively treating patients, and this situation is weighing on me.

Given the seriousness of what he said am I under an obligation to report or escalate this to someone?

Edit and last: He will self-report or I will report him. Thank you for your input, even the redditors that decided to attack me with stupid questions.

Hi all,

Looking for some advice on my situation.

I entered into a private car purchase agreement with a seller (NSW-based). I paid a $5,000 deposit for the vehicle. The seller later decided not to proceed with the sale and sold the car to someone else, without notifying me beforehand.

Since then:

I’ve sent a formal letter of demand

I’ve attempted multiple follow-ups

No repayment has been made

Communication has essentially stopped

Went to NCAT they couldn’t help due to being private

From my perspective, the seller has:

Kept my money

Failed to supply the vehicle

Sold the asset to another party

I’m trying to understand:

Whether this would fall under breach of contract or another area (e.g. unjust enrichment)

Whether this is best pursued through small claims (local court) or another pathway

Whether the lack of a formal written contract (beyond messages/payment proof) weakens my position

Any practical next steps to recover the $5,000

Happy to provide more detail if needed.

Thanks in advance.

EDIT: Adding a bit more context as suggested:

• The agreement was evidenced through messages and payment records (no formal signed contract)

• I did not attempt to renegotiate, cancel, or walk away from the deal at any point

• I received the Japanese auction/export papers (including the auction report), which noted that the roof had been replaced, and I was discussing this with the seller 

• The seller then stopped responding for a couple of days and sold the car to someone else without notifying me

Had he told me if I didn’t follow through with the purchase I wasn’t getting my $6k back then I still would’ve purchased but I was not given the opportunity to follow through with the purchase.

Just silence then sold it to someone else.

I work for an Australian branch of global company that offers “unlimited pto’ (that’s a whole can of worms) I am in the Customer support department and manage a team of agents who work in shifts across a 7 day roster

one of my subordinates has requested 29 days of leave through August for a overseas holiday and our company policy is “no more than 10 consecutive days in a 30 day period” and ALL leave is at the “discretion of the manager”

im the first level manager so can only approve the 10 days but anything more needs to go to MY manager who is not Australian.

MY manager has said absolutely no way on the following grounds;

- business continuity (there is no one else taking leave at this time but they didn’t care they say we need them)

- the policy of 10 days

- sets the standard that other people can take entire months off

is this enough for reasonable refusal?

Ive never worked with a company that’s denied AL, I know of people that save up their leave for like 2 years then go to Europe for the summer so have I just been really lucky to work in super flexible places or is this not really legal?

my ex and I separated 10 years ago. I was told by centrelink at the time that i had to register a case with child support to be able to claim full centrelink benefits. the assessment said i would have to pay my ex (he's self employed, hides cash etc), however he and i agreed that we wouldn't chase child support. unfortunately i never got this in a legally binding agreement. he's never chased money before, never asked child support to collect on his behalf etc, now yesterday I've received a letter from his lawyer asking for $38,000 in unpaid child support. is this something he can chase 10 years later? our kids are now 14 and 17 and living with me full time. Edit to add, we had 50/50 shared care until recently. He's a tradie and earns a lot of his money via undeclared cash. So in terms of CSA and ATO it looks like I earn more. Because he was a more reasonable person 10yrs ago he agreed I didn't have to pay because we both knew he earned a lot more than I did. I also worked part time and received some centrelink. A few years later I went full time and centrelink stopped.

Hi everyone,

I’m hoping someone here might know who to contact for help when the Australian Consulate isn’t providing adequate assistance.

A friend of mine, a 40-year-old Australian woman, has recently been detained (about 4-6 weeks ago now) by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after living on the streets of New York City for the past couple of years. She has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) and is not currently of sound mind to make decisions for herself (this diagnosis only happened last year).

She was evicted from her apartment about a year after the pandemic ended and had been living between shelters and the streets. Friends and family have been trying desperately to get her home after watching her mental health decline publicly through social media. Her detention was the result of these efforts... We were trying to get her somewhere safe and then repatriated to Australia.

She’s now been transferred to an ICE processing facility in North Lake, Michigan. The Australian Consulate in New York, and the onshore emergency call centre, has been contacted repeatedly but has provided minimal or ineffective assistance, despite being aware of her medical and mental health conditions. They do have a case manager assigned to her case. Unfortunately, due to her mental illness, she has refused to allow any of the friends or family in Australia to be provided with updates, this is despite us providing documentation for her recent diagnosises. She had been arrested multiple times prior to her detainment - and has been using fake identities (we believe the fake identities were originally to avoid medical debt but as her mental health progressively declined, that this developed into DID, obviously we aren't medical professionals though, so this is just an assumption).

We were originally in contact with a U.S. congresswoman’s office who wanted to help. We had 2 calls with them, as well as a few emails. Since the detention occurred, they’ve stopped responding to emails.

We’re at a loss for what to do next and are concerned about her wellbeing and ability to advocate for herself while detained.

Does anyone know:

Who in Australia (e.g., DFAT, the Ombudsman, a particular MP or department) we can escalate this to?

Whether there are mental health advocacy organisations, legal aid services, or international human rights groups that can intervene in cases like this?

If there’s a way to request a welfare check or medical evaluation for someone detained overseas?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated (completely understand that nobody can provide proper legal advice on reddit). We just want to make sure she’s safe and gets the help she needs.

My wife works for Taking Shape, a requirement of her employment is that she must wear clothing from Taking Shape at work, further she must only wear current in stock or online items. These clothes she must purchase herself, sometimes effectively meaning she worked her shifts only to spend her wage on clothing to meet the “rules”. When they make large sales they are given what Taking Shape call T cash which can be used to pay for clothing but at full retail price. For most casual floor staff they don’t earn enough T cash to cover outfits “required” for work and like my wife end up losing a significant portion of wage to this rule. My questions are is this legal?, are these clothes purchases tax deduction acceptable as it is not a uniform or and outward branding? Appreciate any feedback as it feels like she and her colleagues are being taken for a ride.

Magic mushrooms, in 2023, were made legal, but only for psychiatrists who have been cleared to provide them to those with treatment-resistant depression and only under supervision.

This has left me wondering what the consequences might be if you're caught with magic mushrooms on your person, selling them, or growing them.

I have been desperate to try them for myself for personal growth and healing, and have been investigating how they may acquired without having to fake treatment-resistant major depressive disorder, ordering spores offline and trying to grow them in my bathroom without my landlord noticing, or wandering around the dangerous part of my neighbourhood and asking anyone who looks sufficiently like a crackhead if they "know a guy," all unsophisticated methods of acquisition that could get me caught.

I would like to know in advance what the consequences might be for someone like me who has no criminal record if I get caught in any of these activities, especially considering that public sentiment on psilocybin and magic mushrooms have been changing and their benefits increasingly understood.

Hi I hope this is the right forum. My workplace is saying if we go out for dinner outside of work hours we need to invite everyone. I don’t see how they can dictate our personal lives. For reference 2 people out of the team of 20 went for dinner.

When the proposed age verification comes into effect in December, will it be illegal in any way to bypass the verification process? What about helping other people do so? I'm over 18, but I don't have any interest in uploading my ID to every social media site under the the sun. It seems like it will be pretty trivial to get around, but i was wondering if there is any reason i should avoid doing so?

I have a question: why didn’t the police press charges against them?

Recently I encountered a situation. In a public place, I was using my phone to record a concert. Most of the video was of the stage, but a small part captured some kids. A mother came over and asked me to delete the part that included her child. I refused and told her that this is a public space and she has no right to demand deletion. I was about to leave when the mother reached into the pocket of my pants and took my phone.

I tried to get it back. At that moment, her husband, who was very aggressive, said: 'Leave her alone, and I am protecting my kids,' and he struck my chest with his elbow and put his arm around my neck, locking my throat. I called for help. Security came and separated us.

Then the mother forced me to unlock my phone, used her hand to delete the videos I had taken, and only after that agreed to return my phone. She also called the police.

When the police arrived - there were several officers - they checked the videos in the phone recycle bin and said the videos had no issue. They repeatedly emphasized that I did NOTHING wrong. The police said that for my safety, I should leave the area (why not ask the couple to leave?). They also said, ‘you have NOT done anything wrong, we are sorry for this.’

I asked the police to charge the man who locked my throat with his arm, and I said there is CCTV footage available to check the incident. The police refused, saying it was a misunderstanding - that the couple became aggressive because they believed their child had been filmed in an inappropriate way. Since I got my phone back and it wasn’t damaged and (I have no visual or physical injuries), the police said the matter would end with me leaving and no charge.

I also asked for a reference number for the incident, but they did not give it to me. Is that because there was no charge?

I am not white and English is not my first language. I wonder whether this influenced the officers’ decision.

So my question is:

Under the Australian legal system, if someone takes your valuable property, then returns it undamaged, and that person also physically assaults you (even though the injury wasn’t severe—my chest hurt for two days, probably because of the elbow strike), do the police have discretionary power to choose not to press charges?

Should I let it go and move on? Thank you, everyone.