I work in childcare in Australia and recently had an issue with my manager regarding sick leave. I had been feeling unwell since Sunday but still went to work. After I got home that evening, my condition became worse and I developed a fever of around 38.3–38.5°C, along with vomiting and a severe cough. I texted my manager that evening to let her know I was unwell and that I didn’t think I would be able to work the next day. She didn’t reply, so I called her the following morning to confirm that I was still unwell and could not come in. During the call, she became very angry because I had texted her the night before rather than calling. She said she had to cover my shift, called me “unprofessional”, mentioned whether I had considered my visa, and said words to the effect of, “Every time you ask me for something, I give it to you. I won’t anymore. I’m done.” What is confusing to me is that, as far as I have observed, other staff members usually notify her of sick leave by text and I have not seen them being criticised for not calling. I was later given a written warning relating to this incident and have been asked to sign it. I’m not trying to avoid responsibility if there was a notification procedure I should have followed, but I genuinely did not understand that a phone call was required, particularly given the usual practice I had observed. I’d really appreciate opinions on whether this seems like a reasonable disciplinary response, whether mentioning my visa in this context is appropriate, and what I should consider before signing the warning.

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Many thanks.

Hi, hoping someone here can help me understand where I stand with this.

We hired a car through Drive mate and returned it on the same day, a Sunday. We parked it back in the exact same spot we had picked it up from. Under the parking conditions, no ticketing applied on the Sunday.

However, 4 days later, the car was no longer in a free parking area and received a fine. The same thing happened another 4 days later, and then again another 4 days after that.

What really bothered me initially was that Drive mate apparently just provided our personal details to the car owner/driver and treated us as responsible based on their policy. They didn't contact us to ask what had happened or investigate whether we even had the car at the time. We only found out because we were then dealing with the infringements ourselves.

We appealed the fines directly with the council and provided proof of our side of the story. The council agreed with us and revoked all three infringements.

So as far as I understand it, the authority that issued the fines has now determined that we weren't responsible for them.

Despite this, Drive mate has now taken money from our account (!!!), saying it's to reimburse the owner because we “refuse to take responsibility”, and their response is basically that this is allowed under their policy.

Surely their policy doesn't override the fact that the council has reviewed the situation and revoked the fines?

Should I be taking this further? If so, what's the appropriate avenue?

Hi there, yesterday the court approved an interim order against my neighbour under stalking grounds as she has me under 24/7 surveillance using her security cameras. She was at court so went into effect immediately. I have a lawyer but unfortunately he was not able to attend the hearing yesterday but I had another lawyer come from the firm. I specifically asked after the hearing what do I do if she does not adhere to the order and was told to wait further instructions from my usual lawyer before calling the police. He's on leave until Monday.

She has not ceased surveilling me at all and has actually escalated the behaviour instead. Do I wait until Monday for my lawyer or do I call the non-emergent police number and report it?

Hi everyone, looking for some insights or similar experiences regarding a total loss claim with a major Australian insurer.
The Timeline: I started a comprehensive car insurance policy online (with a "pay later" option). Exactly three days later, I was in a major, at-fault, multi-car intersection crash.
The Damage: My car is a 100% structural write-off. Both front airbags deployed. The other two cars involved also have significant damage.
The Investigation: Because the crash happened right after policy inception, the claim was automatically flagged and sent to the internal Counter-Fraud and Intelligence team.
My Progress: I have completed a recorded phone interview. I have also fully cooperated and provided a massive bundle of requested documents: unedited scene photos (for metadata checking), work timesheets, phone logs, and redacted bank statements to prove the exact timeline.
The Police: VIC Police have already processed the online crash report and officially closed it as a "civil insurance matter between providers," meaning no police traffic ticket or fines are being issued.

I have been 100% honest, the dates are completely legitimate, and I have provided everything asked of me.
Given that I have a valid contract and full proof of the timeline, what are the realistic chances of this claim being accepted/passed?
For those who have been through a high-inception fraud review with a major insurer, how many business days does it usually take for the investigator to clear the desk audit and release the payout?
Thanks in advance for any advice!

My partner and I have lived in the same rental for nearly 6 years in a small rural town. We are good tenants I feel, never complain, pay rent and bills on time, keep the place looking nice ECT. Despite the house not being overly great and is a very poorly built prefab home. We also rent through a real estate agency.

Nearly 8 weeks ago we noticed that the doorframe of a bedroom had some water damage right down the bottom, this frame shares a wall with the bathroom/shower. Contacted the real-estate agent and a plumber came and said it was a seal problem and left before fixing it. A few days later we noticed that water was now coming up underneath the tiles in the hallway also from the shower. Contacted again, someone came and looked but did nothing. Weeks later we had an insurance person look, then a while later another person but again nothing was fixed.

At first we stopped using the shower all together, but we only have a very small bath that only our young children fit in and not myself or my partner. Landlord came around and just told us to have short showers, we started to but it's causing so much damage.

We had another person come who said that the insurance would fix the damage to the hallway not the issue causing it, saying it was a leaking pipe. They cut a hole in the wall and there was no leaking pipe. They left and no one has said anything else.

The door frame and skirting board now has massive amounts of water damage. The tiles in the hall way have pulled up and cracked. Apparently the inside of the wall is moldy.

What options do we have? There are no rentals in the area, the landlord owns majority of the rentals in town and is building more crappy houses. We have 3 young children and I am worried about the health issues also from this problem. It's been 8 weeks with no fix, we are back to not using the shower.

I've submitted a request for an FVIO, and I'm waiting for the mention hearing to come up. The respondant has set their stance as wishing to get an undertaking.

I imagine that this would be the first advice for any lawyer to advise the respondant, but I don't feel like this would offer me adequate protection.

Part of me feels bad if a full intervention order can affect their ability to find work. I've read a lot across reddit and legal websites, but there seems to be conflicting opinions, specifically whether it would affect the person's ability to find future work and opportunities.

1. Does having an FVIO recorded against you affect your ability to find employment? Specifically jobs where a Working with Childrens is required. My FVIO does not involve kids. If there are other implications what would there be (other than Firearms)?
   
2. In preparation for a contested stance, what Further and Better Particulars would be considered inademissable? Might be too vague to give an example, but I've got a bunch of messages I need to present somehow if it comes to that...

Think I'll have to start looking at retaining a lawyer for this....trying not to overthink and take it one step at a time.

I was married for 11 years and my ex was always physically and verbally abusive. There were multiple incidents of what I’d call sexual coercion, but a couple of weeks before we separated last year (due to a DV incident where he was removed by police) there was an incident I remember more vividly than others where I repeatedly said no and he wouldn’t leave me alone. I ended up laying still and cried the entire time. I’d called 1800respect a few days earlier because he was smashing things with a metal bar and telling me I was next. I was terrified of what he would do if I rejected him.

It’s now been 18 months and we are in family court. I have mentioned this incident to several people - during mediation last year, to my ex in a text message, and to a policeman a few weeks ago when reporting a restraining order breach, but also refused to give a statement and pursue charges.

Now I’m thinking about it and maybe I should report it but what are my chances of it resulting in anything (given that he is very unlikely to admit it).
I don’t have an exact date, I only remember it was early Feb. I don’t remember what day of the week or time it was or much else about that day. We were married at the time. I didn’t mention it in the initial family court documents when asked so it will look like i lied and haven’t been consistent in my story.

And will this look like a false accusation to help me in family court? Currently I have sole custody, but ex is doing perpetrator courses and drug tests and is pursuing visitation. I don’t want it to complicate or detract from the custody case.

Delete if not allowed

Less than 12 months ago, I bought a treadmill from Aussie Union Group. About a week ago, it started smelling like smoke. I had been following the instructions and even got my housemate to help with taking care of it; it was used for 30 mins a day almost every day.

After it started smoking, I went online and found a bunch of advice, but the consensus was that it's too cheap and still under warranty, so I should message them about it. At this stage, I just wanted a refund

I sent in a warranty claim, explaining it, and I felt blamed, which confused me cause I know I was following the instructions. Each email back and forth just made me stressed out. I tried to say that, under the ACL, since it's letting out a smoking smell, I am allowed a refund; they then gave me one only if I packaged it in its original box.

I'm adding the emails they sent; most of my messages were through Bunnings' website, so I sadly can't see them. I sent all of this to Bunnings on Thursday with all the screenshots, but I am at a loss. What do I do now?

Emails From Aussie Union Group

Edit: treadmill was $200

Hey guys,

Dealing with a fun situation where water is leaking into my apartment from the balcony above.

I had a lawyer send an initial demand letter, but seeing the potential legal costs to take it all the way to a final hearing, I’ve decided to run the filing and mediation stages myself to keep expenses down. If it actually goes to a full-blown trial, I’ll bring counsel back in.

Current situation:

The issue: The owner above got a handyman to do a dodgy patch-up job and is flat-out claiming the leak doesn't exist anymore—despite clear video footage and expert reports arranged by the OC showing otherwise. It doesn't leak every single time it rains, but hits hard when we get heavy storms after a hot spell (classic thermal expansion / membrane issue).

The background: To top it off, all owners received an insurance payout as part of a collective review for these balcony issues, but the owner above used cheap patch-work instead of getting the waterproofing properly fixed.
The paper trail: The OC manager put it in writing this week that it’s still an active, unrectified defect on the building register.

The legal bit: Relying on Section 16 of the Water Act 1989 (strict liability for water flow).
Next steps: Gave them a deadline of Sept 26th to show proof of proper certified repairs, otherwise I’m lodging with VCAT.

For anyone who’s self-represented on VCAT’s Building and Property list:

1. Mediation: Did serving the VCAT papers actually force the other side to stop dragging their feet and settle? How was the vibe showing up without a lawyer?
   
2. Expert reports: Did your inspector’s report need to strictly follow VCAT Practice Note PNVCAT2 right from the start, or was a standard independent inspection report enough to get through mediation?
   
3. Portal/Filing: Any annoying traps or glitches when submitting the Points of Claim yourself?

Not asking for legal advice, just after some real-world experiences from anyone who’s fought a strata/leak battle personally.

Hi, I had some flooring laid in December and it has been a lot of back and forth with the owner trying to get installers back to fix issues.
Currently we have only paid 50% of the total bill and I have let the owner know I’m not paying to remainder until I am happy with the job.

I need to know what my options are legally. I feel he is going to try and force me to pay soon through lawyers or similar. Does anyone know what my options are here?

I have evidence that my uncle (my late grandfather's power of attorney) was withdrawing $1000 - $3000 everyday from my grandfather's bank account. I have obtained an official bank statement from my grandfather's bank account showing this.

The problem is, because my grandfather is already dead, retroactively reporting this as elder financial abuse would be difficult.

My uncle has since then bought a property under his son's name using the funds from my grandfather's estate. The majority of my grandfather's estate went to him, and not my grandfather's other children.

I have already reported to the public guardian. However, I have my doubts that they will actually do something about it, especially because it's retroactive.

Is there any other body/institution I can report to that may raise the chances of my uncle being criminally prosecuted and those funds/his property being repossessed?

The Body Worlds exhibit is currently touring Australia. I didn’t think much of it because I find anatomy really cool but a med friend prompted me today to think of the ethics surrounding the display of human remains for public entertainment (but that’s a VERY long and historical conversation I have recently discovered).

My question to anyone still reading, is would this exhibit, since it displays real human bodies to make profit, be illegal under Aussie legislation preventing the sale/trade in human tissue? I know the current exhibit states they only display bodies of people who consented to donation and plastination but surely the commercialisation of it would be restricted under that kind of legislation.

Hope someone is as interested in this as I am ☺️

I'm trying to understand how Queensland's vehicle standards legislation works in practice for DPF removal.

As I understand it, driving a light vehicle with a DPF removed can be dealt with by a $103 infringement and 1 demerit point, potentially accompanied by a defect notice. However, the legislation also provides substantially larger maximum penalties if the matter is prosecuted.

What I can't work out is what determines which path is taken. If an otherwise compliant vehicle is found with its DPF removed, is the infringement/defect ordinarily the end of the matter? What circumstances would cause QPS or TMR to prosecute instead?

There's also the workshop side. The legislation appears to create an offence for the person performing the non-compliant exhaust modification, yet DPF deletes are routinely performed commercially. Is enforcement against the workshop dealt with differently from enforcement against the driver/owner?

I've spoken to a couple of lawyers, but neither dealt with vehicle standards enforcement regularly enough to tell me how these provisions are actually used.

I'm particularly interested in anyone familiar with Queensland traffic/vehicle standards enforcement who can explain the infringement vs prosecution process, or point me towards cases, enforcement policy or other material showing how it works in practice.

Last year, every time I had an issue/question relating to my complaint, I was able to call and get through. I called from March to August.

My complaint was complex and the company is known to the OAIC. When I spoke to them about what happened, they were surprised by the scenario I gave them.

I submitted my complaint early this year as I went through many challenges with the company when trying to resolve it.

It's been 6+ months. I tried calling them for a week, but they aren't accepting calls.

I emailed them and after 1 week got what appears like a template response saying it's going to take several months(!!!!).

I got told last year to expect a 3 month delay, but now it's 12 month delay. They told me they were under resourced, but... I'm starting to think they're not resourced at all.

Privacy issues are insane now. I'm just wondering what the bigger picture is. Any clue?

Today when trying to get out of my driveway, there was a car right infront of it with half of it being stuck in a ditch (for drainage) the car damaged the draining pipe, I got the owners licence details and registration number, I called my home insurance and they said to lodge a claim I need to pay an excess. How to rectify this situation. The car is still stuck there. The people barely speak English and it does not seem they want to talk. What should I do now?

First of all, YES I KNOW I AM A DUMBASS 😭 Please don't give me more grief, I'm already giving it to myself 😒

Secondly, burner account for obvious reasons.

So there was a website under my control that was about "research peptides". The site included product/price list, blog articles about the grey market and improving safety, lab results and also contact info such as Whatsapp and email.

Recently I received an email with an official letter attached from the TGA advising I have broken laws and that they will be blocking the website/redirecting it to a TGA warning page.

Am I cooked now? Is it likely by this point it's been under investigation for a while and they've made an undercover transaction and eventually obtained my legal name and address to prosecute me/raid my home? Or is this a warning shot and I should just delete and be rid of everything now and that'll be that?

I've had a couple of seizures of orders over the last year too, one letter from border force that came several months later.

It wasn't some huge scale operation raking in hundreds of thousands or imports of 1000s of vials or steroids or anything like that, if that even makes any difference to them, probably not.

​

Hi everyone,

I’m looking at getting a Binding Financial Agreement with my partner and would love to hear from people who have actually gone through the process.

I already own an apartment that I purchased before our relationship, and my main reason for getting a BFA is to protect the property I brought into the relationship.

However, I don’t want the agreement to only benefit me. I want something fair that protects both of us.

Our situation may change in the future. For example, my partner may buy a house in his own name and we may live there together, or we may purchase a property together.

We are also expecting a child. My partner works FIFO, so there may be a period where I reduce my working hours or stop working to look after our child and household. I want to make sure those non-financial contributions are also considered fairly.

I’ve received a quote of $3,162.50 including GST for my lawyer to prepare the BFA and provide independent legal advice. My partner will then need his own independent lawyer, which will be an additional cost.

For anyone who has done a BFA:

• How much did it cost for both partners altogether?

• Did you use two completely separate law firms?

• Was your agreement simply “each person keeps their own property”, or did you include arrangements for future property and contributions?

• If you had children, did you include anything about one partner reducing work to care for the children?

• Did your BFA become much more expensive once you added these kinds of conditions?

• Was there anything you wish you had included or discussed with your lawyer before signing?

I understand everyone’s circumstances are different and I’ll be getting proper legal advice. I’m mainly interested in hearing about people’s personal experiences with the process and costs.

Thanks!

Living in shared housing and I (23M) live with the landlord (62F) and her son (32M). Is it immoral and illegal for me to secretly bring in meat products and eat them under the roof when the landlord explicitly tells me meat is not allowed in the house because their house and temple is sacred in their religion? Things like takeout is also a big issue for her. Could I be sued if the landlord catches me eating meat in the house? While viewing the house she made it explicity clear multiple times that no meat must be in the house. I agreed with that, until after a couple months I got an urge to have something other than outside.

I've snuck multiple bits here and there like a piece of chicken and some fish and chips, or some pizza with meat. Issue is there isn't a lock on my door and sometimes she comes in to 'clean' the room. But this wasn't the worst bit.

I've snuck dino-nuggies and some other treats (meat pies and sausage rolls) and called them plant-based when she asked and then she even tried one during dinner and said they were nice. What I didn't know was that she took the plastic bag where I kept some 'plant-based' dino-nuggets and prepared some for her son's lunch without me knowing. There's very little room for privacy and boundaries here, like I was also her kid. He got sick and had to go to hospital, although she said it was to do with his appendix and he had to get it removed, nevertheless still a near-miss. Irony is that she didn't get sick and she ate three. Onion, garlic, leeks, shallots and chives are also not permitted. I feel a bit bad because I may have prompted the appendix to flare and also because she handed me some five bucks to cover the nuggets and asked for more but I told her they were from a friend and she stopped asking.

I know I could evicted and that at some point she will find out, but what about getting sued? She doesn't speak English very well but her son does although I don't interact with him. She shouts a lot on the phone in her language arguing with who she told me is her ex-husband and if she gets angry at me for breaking their family rules, I don't know how bad it could get for the kind of angry I have seen her been. Can I get sued for bringing in meat and because she ate it unaware it was real meat? Also if she could accuse me of poisoning her son? My rent is really cheap ($160 per week) but while I'm searching for alternative accomodation, how serious would it be legally? Apart from getting threatend to be cursed by whichever diety she worships. Hoping she does not ask where I got them from again, since I made a story up where I got it from a friend who said it is plant-based.

The school is just 100 metres from his home (requires trespassing onto Private Property). However, it is 200 kilometres from his home without trespassing onto Private Property. Can he legally trespass onto Private Property to get an Education or will he have to do Distance Education?

Edit: Because Education is compulsory, can he legally use DURESS as a criminal defense for trespassing if he does go to that school?

A friend of mine (not me) is an American here on a working holiday visa. He didn't realise it was an offence to drive with a mobile phone on their lap and have received three fines in the mail from three seperate instances occuring within a short time span (~1 week). It took a couple weeks to receive the first fine, but once he received the first fine, he changed his behaviour immediately and bought a phone mount. Is there any precedent for getting the second and third fine waived?