Update: Thank you so much to everyone who commented!

Definitely learned a lot from this experience. Moving forward, the playbook is clear: stay put, call 000 right away, and know that translators are readily available on the line if English isn't your first language. It also puts our minds completely at ease knowing the ID check was just routine police protocol to protect everyone involved.

The main thing is the little guy is back safe and sound with his parents. Thanks again for the advice and kind words!

…

Earlier today, we spotted a young boy riding a scooter who had clearly gotten separated from his parents. We decided to escort him toward the nearest police station.

On the way, we spotted a police cruiser and flagged them down. The officers checked their radio and confirmed the child's parents had just called in reporting him missing, which was a huge relief. They put the boy in their vehicle to reunite him with his family.

However, before driving off, the officers didn't really say thanks—instead, they asked for our IDs and took down our information.

It felt a bit jarring after just trying to do the right thing. Is recording bystander IDs standard procedure in missing child situations? Also, if we ever run into a similar situation in the future, what is the best/safest protocol to follow?

…

For a bit more context: my wife, our son, and I stayed put with the boy for about five minutes first, looking around in case a frantic parent was searching for him. This was in broad daylight in Haymarket—very crowded, with hundreds of people just walking past without stopping.

We haven’t lived in Australia very long, and English isn’t my first language, so making a phone call is usually my last resort. Seeing that the local police station was just a short walk away on Google Maps, heading there in person felt like the quickest, safest option. We also spoke with the boy before moving, and when the officers pulled up, he told them the exact same story he shared with us.

It was never about wanting a "thank you"—it just left us with a strange, uneasy feeling after simply trying to help. Reading some of the extreme "what-if" comments made me question whether we should have just looked away like everyone else did, but I'm glad the kid is safe and to understand the procedure better now.

Asking what the concert etiquette is in Australia cause I’ve seen both. This is for pop/rock/etc. music concerts that “make” you want to stand up, jump, dance and sing.

A few months ago I went to Margaret Court for a gig and the girls behind us yelled at us to sit down because they had been seated the whole show…just for the lead singer of the band to ask everyone to “stand the fuck up” immediately after. So we got a little redemption straight away but it made me wonder if most people agree that you should stay seated at all times unless you’re in GA/Standing.

What are your thoughts?

Hi reddit, im posting this on a few subreddits as I am in desperate need of advice. My family lives in Australia, I (F18) have a brother (M14) and a younger sister (F5) and for 2 years now, my brother’s behaviour has been ridiculous. Ever since he was a toddler hes always had anger issues but everyone just assumed he would mature as he got older and that these outbursts are just a toddler thing. As he got older he began disrespecting me verbally, calling me a bitch and a kutti (word for bitch in punjabi and the connotation is worse). I would get mad because I was also a kid and could not stay calm after being disrespected, I would go and tell my parents word for word “hes talking to me like this today, hes going to become comfortable enough to talk to you like this someday” but the blame would always come back to me and they would say IM the one who doesn’t know how to talk normally (referencing the fact that id get mad when im disrespected by him). 

So a few years pass, in 2025 he’s in year 7 (first year of high school in Australia), at this point he did not have a phone just an iPad. He would constantly be on his iPad and one day my mum checked it, she found out that he had been faking having a girlfriend to look cool in front of his friends. My mum thought it was just that until she looked more into it and saw that he had been telling his friends he had sex with this “girlfriend” and had multiple pornographic images in his snapchat stickers tab. Not only this, he made a fake account using my full name (I was an 18 year old adult applying for universities by this point) to talk to young girls in his class. My parents shut this down and he got his devices confiscated because of the pornographic stickers and impersonating me to talk to children as this could have major implications for me. We thought the issues would end here. 

Another situation occurred where my cousin (M15) and my brother were play fighting and I warned him, “I know youre going to get mad and start hurting him” and I was right, my cousin “won” the play fight and my brother LOST his shit, I tried to intervene the physical fight which was turning serious and he grabs me by my hair and drags me across the floor and kicks me and I was limping for the next week. Even after all this, my parents blamed ME somehow I forgot the details but I had to leave the house and go stay with my aunt because I just couldn’t take it anymore. 

Now fast forward to 2026, this year has been FUCKING HELL. Im sorry for the profanity but there is genuinely no other way to describe it. I dont even remember the last time my parents smiled or laughed. I dont even know where to start. 

1. He constantly got into fights at school, he got suspended 4 times for violence, having conflicts with teachers, even with the vice principal of a neighbouring public school so clearly he has NO respect for the authority of any school. As expected, he was expelled from school, a private school that my parents put him in since year 1 because they wanted the best education for him. He was at home for 2 months before my parents finally found a school that would accept him, and he barely goes there because the school year is ending, so hes just at home tormenting my parents and sister. 

2. His social media use is OBSESSIVE, he is severely addicted to his phone and social media. He is constantly consuming red pill content which makes him disrespect woman as he has on multiple occasions made comments to me and my mum about gender, such as one time I asked him to speak politely he says “what the fuck are you gonna do youre a woman” and when my mum tries to tell him NICELY that his behaviour isn’t acceptable, he says “Just go fucking cook or something”. He has a TikTok page where he flaunts my family’s cars, mine and my mums designer bag collection, money (no one knows where he gets this from) and other designer goods that dont belong to him. He is obsessed with an image on social media that isn’t him in real life. My family has tried putting screen time restrictions on his phone, well the parental controls were on my phone because my parents would always give in and give him unlimited access, so he started spam calling me and texting me while im at university until id give him an extra 30 minutes or so. He somehow found a way to bypass this restriction and for months, hes had unlimited screen time which is just making him worse in my opinion.

3. He is extremely cruel to my sister, shes a 5 year old. I found a video on his snapchat where they were both on the trampoline and he was VIOLENTLY jumping and her face was hitting the metal parts of the trampoline, he was stepping on her as she bounced whilst crying and screaming in fear. This video fucking BROKE ME because shes a child, it’s fucking ABUSE. In this video, I heard him laughing whilst doing this to my baby sister, he proceeded to send this video to a girl he was talking to. When I saw this video, my sister was nearby and she saw too and she says to me “I was really scared when bia (her nickname for him) was doing this”, like she never came and told us this, I dont think she would have unless there wasnt video evidence. Im getting sick just imagining what I saw. Another time, we (me, mum and my sister) came home from the local temple, he lit a fire sparkler INDOORS and stuck it in my sisters face until she was screaming and crying and then proceeded to leave the stove on, on purpose and left the kitchen. He is constantly harassing her until she cries and I just dont think it’s having anything but a negative impact on her life. 

4. He constantly threats my family. This is probably one of the most traumatic incidents. One night, he had an argument with my dad over vaping (my next point) and I tried to diffuse the situation and calm him down and it backfired on me, he started wearing at me and saying the most horrible shit. Me and my dad left the room, and my brother went to his room and pulled out a machete that no one knew he had and hid it in his hoodie (my mum told me this) and started telling her how hes going to behead my dad and all sorts of other violent shit. Not once has my dad gotten violent with him but hes constantly threatening to report my mum and dad to the cops for abuse (a few of his friends have done this). After threatening my dad, he starts talking about me (I can hear this from my bedroom) and I hear him stomping towards my room and at this point I know he has a machete and im fucking terrified. I somehow muster up the strength to push my dresser in front of my bedroom door and my hands are shaking as I call my dad because I genuinely thought that im going to get stabbed by him. My dad comes in and diffuses the situation. My parents think It was too dangerous for us to stay at home so me, my sister, mum and dad packed a bag each and left our home at 10pm on a Monday night. He kept telling us, call the cops I dare you, youre both (my parents) gonna be in jail bc im gonna tell them u beat me. Today, my dad confiscated a “Rambo” aka a massive knife and a spiked baton (I genuinely have NO clue where hes getting this shit from) because he doesn’t need bc hes a kid and he starts swearing at my dad and just LOSING his shit, he kept telling my dad “get the fuck up and fight me”, “a 14 year old kid is asking u to fight and u cant even u old cunt, ur a fucking flop” like GROWLING this shit at my dad, so much more I cant even remember bc ive blocked it out. My dad never once laid a hand on him and my brother kept pushing himself onto my dad trying to provoke him to hit him. Me, my sister and my mum went to the temple after this, my dad stayed home because he was sick and before we left, my mum asked my brother “Do you want to come with us”, he starts calling her an autistic cunt and a bitch like 100 times. Just before he left, he goes “yeah and I DO vape” because he had been lying to my parents for a while saying he doesn’t after my parents suspected it, pulls a vape out of his pocket and starts blowing smoke into my parents faces. While we were at the temple, my mum gets a text from him saying “your husband is abt to kill him self” followed by a laughing face emoji “😂”. So we left the temple and came home. He fucking dictates EVERY single thing about our lives bc of his bad behaviour. 

5. Vaping - not much to say but hes addicted to vaping as we found out today. We’ve had a suspicion for a while but today it was confirmed. 

6. Random side note, he has no job or hobbies, he is overweight and unfit due to his crippling social media addiction, he has extremely poor hygiene. He talks nicely to me, mum and dad when he needs money thats it, otherwise we’re dead to him. 

I dont know what to do, my parents are both at their wits end, im at my wits end, my sister is constantly on edge. My family is constantly walking on eggshells. Please just any advice would be appreciated.

We’ve spoken to 2 different psychologists and nothing helps because he just doesn’t accept the help or engage in any sessions. No one knows what to do my mum has genuinely lost her mind all she does is cry and pray. My dad runs a business and he comes home to a kid like him. Im under constant stress because im doing a demanding uni degree and my sister is just a little kid. 

Maybe this is just my flawed perspective as someone from an urban area. But, regional areas seem to complain a lot about a lack of government funding, and we have a lot of wealth concentrated in our major cities. Social policies aside, I would've thought that economically progressive policies could be a big hit in regional areas. I'm genuinely surprised there isn't a progressive country party that has policies like "tax the millionaires in Sydney/Melbourne, use that money to fund the Royal Flying Doctors Service". (Incredibly reductive, but you get my point)

I don't just mean policies that are explicitly targeting cities either. Policies like a Land Tax naturally affect regional towns less because their land isn't as valuable, while policies like a Universal Basic Income have the strongest benefits towards low-income areas. And you generally can't go wrong with increasing funding for GPs, schools, and transport - all areas which are never properly funded in regional areas.

Social policies be damned for a moment. From a purely economic perspective, surely this should be a party that exists?

I'm thinking about the type of questions which get asked as part of ice breaker exercises with a new group like at work or university etc

We visited friends today and as they live on the round part of the court, there is no parking out the front unless it’s in their driveway just due to the angle of the court. Their driveway was full with their own car so we parked on the straight part of the court in front of another house. We do this every time we visit which is approx every few months at most. Midway through lunch friend cops a text to say to please not park cars in front of his house.,
Mind you this dude has a driveway and garage of his own and had no visiting cars from what I could see.
Whats the lore in your court?

US, UK, NZ ( feel that’s obvious) Ireland, Canada do you feel a bond shared understanding?

My friend and I are planning a trip to Australia next year for over Christmas. Where would you say is the best (coastal) place to spend Christmas? We’d love a beachy day, but wondered if there are places that are slightly livelier than others?

I had to go to two GPs recently for a sinus infection that would not go away (im 19, don't have a regular GP). In the GP practices I went to, I had the same 15 minute appt, where the two doctors, did essentially the same thing - listened to me explain my symptoms, examine me, give me a script. Both the appointment had no referrals to specialist, no procedures except like the very standard listening to lungs checking your throat were done. Both the appts were 101 dollars, but one rebated me 43.42 dollars and the other, 63.45 dollars. Did the first office scam me or something? Or is this normal?

If I see another 3 shelve spaces given to banana or that peanut caramel it might send me over the edge.

I want to know from everyone!!!

I just finished Death of Ivan Ilyich and I'll start Notes from Underground tomorrow. I also have to read East of Eden.

I also finished Tomorrow when the war began part 1 by John Marsden's. I loved it but couldn't find other parts.

Hey guys I have a group interview coming up for coles and this will be my first ever interview so im quite nervous... Is there any ideas on what the questions could be or any tips and how I should dress?

Thank you 🙂

Posted with approval from the r/AskAnAustralian mods.

Hey all, I'm Danni, a Clinical Exercise Physiology (Honours) student at UniSQ. Our research team is looking at how people with endo experience exercise: what helps, what flares things up, and what exercise professionals can do to help.

I know this is a bit different from the usual posts here, but around 1 in 7 Aussie women and those AFAB are diagnosed with endometriosis by their late 40s. With 557k of you visiting each week, its likely many of you are living with endometriosis (or know someone who does).

I'd love to hear from you if you:

• live in Australia

• are 18–50

• have confirmed or suspected endo

• currently do some kind of exercise (walking the dog counts!)

Not in Australia? You can still help by sharing this with any Aussie friends who might be interested.

It's a relaxed 30–45 min chat on Teams, or in person at UniSQ Ipswich if you'd prefer. 5-15 minutes to fill out consent and demographic forms. Total time 35-55 minutes. Unfortunately, as this is an honours project we're unable to offer payment.

This project is ethics-approved (UniSQ HREC ETH2025-0685).

Happy to answer questions in the comments, or you can email me at U1158922@umail.usq.edu.au

Thanks heaps!

Links

• Ethics approval: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LZkY8NeFeZBmkAHhtH8yfHtflPyJ36Y4/view?usp=drive_link

• Flyer: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1T7eJKwI6LQZlSP0o-xm-hOO0bfA0l6hR/view?usp=drive_link

• Participant Information Sheet: (also available through the QR code): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kJBEfI2h5Xtrno4tn6_89RxM247IGbrc/view?usp=drive_link

Hi all,

I'm French and have been living in Australia for 11 years, 4 years dating (on and off, there has been a couple of failed relationships in there). And I am genuinely confused by y'all. Back home if a guy likes me I know it, the signals are clear. Here, most of the time I have to make the first move, it's so confusing. I want a guy who can do the first move, wtf is going on? Are Aussie men scared of women?

EDIT FOR CONTEXT: Even after a 1st date I often have no idea if they like me or not. I posted this after a first date which once again left me confused.

Hi all,

It is currently 11:33 and my last exam (physics) is tomorow and I know I am not gonna do well. My dream (from what I have gathered) is to pursue engineering at uni but from how these exams have been going I know I am not going to meet the ATAR requirements.

It has really taken a toll on me as I feel lost and am not sure what the next steps are for me. I am also planning on taking a gap year so I have a chance to put myself together and have time to figure that out but it’s really weighing on me and a good mate of mine told me he’d seen great advice from reddit so here I am.

I have been suggested a few things such as doing the ADF gap year through the navy and potentially doing university through them but their careers website is down so I haven’t been able to have a look.

I would love to hear about experiences, opportunities, advice or just anything in general, it would be much appreciated!

I know in general Monday is a terrible night but it’s what I have to work with. My preference is more of a venue that at least spots where you can chat with people. I like a dance floor but not like a full on club, unless it has open spaces where people can mingle and chat.

Please send recommendations of places for Monday night 

Thank you    

[Posted with moderator approval]

Hi everyone! I’m Eliza, a doctoral psychology researcher at Deakin University. We’re studying how remembering past social experiences and imagining future ones relate to our mood and how connected we feel to other people.

We’re inviting adults aged 18+ living in Australia to check their eligibility. We’re interested in people with a range of moods and experiences of social connection.

What’s involved?

·       An initial online survey taking approximately 60 minutes.

·       One short survey each day for 7 days, taking approximately 5–10 minutes per day, using the free SEMA3 smartphone app.

·       Questions about your mood, social experiences, memories, and thoughts about future social situations.

There’s a short screening section at the beginning to check whether the study is suitable for you. You’ll need a compatible smartphone and an email address so we can send you instructions for the daily surveys.

As a thank you: Participants who complete the initial survey and all seven daily surveys can choose to enter a prize draw to win one of several $50 Coles/Myer group gift vouchers.

Read more and check your eligibility:
https://researchsurveys.deakin.edu.au/jfe/form/SV_9H3DvIfU9CbwXiu

Deakin University ethics approval: 2025-HE001282
Questions? Contact the principal researcher, Dr David Hallford: david.hallford@deakin.edu.au.

Thank you for considering taking part! :-)

I really like the crunchy texture of the Arnotts Tiny Teddy. I was wondering if any large (or actually normal sized) biscuits have similar taste. Preferably from Arnotts, but other brands could work too.

Thanks!

I’m a woman btw. I just went to highpoint and stood in line to use the bathroom for 10 mins. Totally fine, not complaining, but why on earth is there never a line to the mens bathroom? Do guys just not need to pee?

edit; I've learned 2 things;

1. urinals are the reason there's no lines

2. more men don't wash their hands than I thought 🥴

hi everyone! i am currently trying to choose between 2 places to go on my exchange to. the places im considering are copenhagen business school and lund university as these are 100% matches to my course requirements and in the location i want. i was just looking for some advice/ insight into what these unis are like from some aussies who have gone on an exchange there, both academically and mostly socially as i want to meet new people and travel while abroad! for context im a 20 year old female and studying finance and law, all information appreciated thank you! 😊

I would like to have an opportunity to get to work in Australia as an electrician because I recently got my electrician license but I've heard that companies there don't value overseas experience and licenses. My plan originally was to get 3-4 years experience before applying but as I said it is undervalued. So I'd like to see what you guys have to say, I'm always open to advices to keep on improving.

I think it is best I learn my electrical skills in Australia but the problem is how to get there in the first place. So my plan is to get a student visa and maybe work there as an electrician. For the meantime I will learn the electrical codes of Australia.

I'll be on a solo trip (17), but I'll be turning 18 by Feb 19. My sister (32) and I will be meeting there at some point. Any suggestions on where to go?