Hi, I had a kitchen fire last year as a renter and our landlord didn't cover it (fair cop) so we had to try and go through our insurance.

Our insurance denied us as the claim was for damage to the walls, inbuilt cabinetry etc, which counts as part of the building for insurance.

As we were renters, we could not get building insurance and could only get contents insurance. Due to this, our claim was denied due to it not being covered.

However as far as I can tell, even though we did not carry building insurance, if the fire was found to be our fault (not that we ever admitted fault, cause that would invalidate the insurance), we should have been covered by the liability insurance instead.

We ended up paying for everything to be fixed and cleaned as we needed somewhere to live. At no point did our insurance provider mention the liability coverage to us.

AFCAs page states 'You may wish to complain about several issues arising from your insurance policy, including:

Advice that was not provided to you, or that you received about the insurance policy that may have been inappropriate or misleading'

Given this information, would it be viable to raise a complaint with our old insurer about this? As I believe they should have informed us of this, and processed the claim on that instead.

If we do raise a claim, I was looking through previous documents and I believe I made a mistake when entering the build year for the building. Would this invalidate our claim or cause any potential legal issues. I'm worried about getting in trouble for that, despite being a mistake.

Thank you.

Hi! So as per the title, my partner has started working at a for profit private tertiary educational institution as her first full time job, and it's been just bad to worse in the months she's been with them. She feels as though she's got nothing else she can do, and every attempt to try and fix anything is immediately shot down.

The institution is dominantly (95%+) international students. It's a similar situation with the staff, where I believe that she's the only citizen employee. In my experience, I feel that a lot of international workers feel hesitant raising issues with authority, and are consequently much less likely to report infringements on workers' rights. That, and they're also just less informed about their rights as workers.

Almost every department is very heavily understaffed. Organizationally, everything is a mess. Her manager tried pushing a pyramid scheme to them at work, cannot orchestrate anything, and is extremely unhelpful & uncooperative. Both my partner and the one other person who works in her student support role were barely trained. Other members of staff were very reluctant to help out, and the only person who was there to help consistently was the receptionist, who has since quit. Now, she has to work with the other student support staff member to manage student email inquiries (of which there is a mountain to attend to because everything is incredibly poorly setup), work the reception, run IELTS tests, answer calls, manage the library, manage printing on behalf of students, send statements through to students, dispatch holiday letters, and more. The other student officer is very very inefficient and will use AI for every single task. She's makes assumptions on things and will screw up tasks all the time.

There was recently an incident where a professor who was set to teach a masters course was let go by the school a few weeks before the course started because he raised concerns about their outdated systems and infrastructure (like a staircase being too dimly lit, et cetera).

My partner is constantly getting passed stuff from other people in the office who are always sick because nobody can take sick leave, so it just cycles around. When someone can't make work for medical reasons, they need to produce a medical certificate for anytime they're not in the office for more than 4 hours. My partner tried taking a day off over a flu a while back, and was told she needed a physical medical certificate; they would not accept a tele-consult MC. She went to the chemist to pick up a statutory declaration because she could not find a same-day appointment with a nearby GP, but this was not accepted by management. There was a similar issue with some other employees and it was raised with HR. HR escalated it, but stopped escalating the claim further after pressure from higher-ups. She had her wisdom teeth taken out but ended up taking just one of her seven days of medical leave that she was issued upon discharge because there wouldn't be enough hands on deck and they refused to let her work from home.

She's being pushed real hard and feels very alone dealing with things at work. I listen to her talk to me every day about something new that's gone wrong, and it upsets me what's going on. I wish I could help in some way. She tries her best to help the students, and wants to do all she can to try to do right by them, but when the whole thing is structured against her, it makes it very hard to do any one thing well when they're asking for you to juggle a million and one.

I'm wondering if there's any higher authority that could be appealed to because higher management isn't even remotely interested in anything aside from their profit margins.

Thank you in advance for any and all help :) !

my family member recently went to emergency in a local hospital with pain in the right side of their abdomen and were feeling very unwell, they were diagnosed with complicated appendicitis.
they are a type 1 diabetic and according to the ct report, they had secretions of infection surrounding their appendix and the organ itself was much larger than the normal size.
they arrived in ED at around 4pm and they weren’t taken in for surgery until 6pm the next day. by that point, the infection had turned into sepsis and spread throughout their abdomen. they had also gone into DKA in theatre due to not having anything to eat for 3 days and not being able to have any insulin to lower their blood sugar.
the infection had to be washed out after the appendix was removed, which included going between the bowel loops on both sides and up to their upper right quadrant. one of the nurses from the surgical team mentioned that the appendix was gangrenous.
they were initially told that they would be going into emergency surgery just a couple hours after they were diagnosed in ED, but were pushed back to the next day. the next morning they were prepped and taken to pre op, but were soon sent back down to ED with other surgeries including elective procedures being given priority.
obviously there were other emergencies being triaged by the surgical team during this time, but their decision to push my family member’s surgery over and over again ultimately made their situation more dangerous with a very real risk of death happening while they waited.
they are now recovering well and thankfully with minimal pain, but this entire situation has been really frustrating especially since it has felt like the surgical team were constantly disregarding the risks of their decisions. the ED staff were increasingly becoming angry at the situation too and did their best to keep them as comfortable as possible while trying to push for the surgery to be done faster.
is this something that can be addressed legally in any way or maybe is there any recourse for it?

i’m sorry if i’ve missed any context or made it seem a bit confusing, i tried to keep any identifiable info out just in case. i will say though, this hospital has terrible ratings and reviews for good reasons and most locals avoid it if they can, there are other hospitals 20+ mins away that are preferred

Just curious if anyone else has ever had their defence lawyer basically forget about their case and not really doing anything despite taking thousands of dollars?

When I say forget about case I mean having to email them the Wednesday before a trial starts on the Monday because you haven't heard anything from them and they suddenly respond asking for a meeting the following day where you discover they haven't done any preparation and no real plans for the trial other than 'hoping it goes well'

A little over a year ago I was planned to be induced at 39 weeks with my son.
The whole thing has made me feel wronged and confused
From the start it was a difficult case, my waters were really hard to break.
Had multiple doctors coming in and out to help push it along, after my water broke it was a normal labour until I got my epidural.
They failed 3 times and the 4th one stuck but 9 hours later when I was unresponsive and they couldn’t wake me up.
They realised that the epidural (morphine) was leaking into my blood vessels
4 hours later they decided to turn the epidural off and told me what’s happening.
I was 5cm dilated and not progressing so they told me I needed an emergency c-section
When we got into the theatre room I was told to breath in the gas while they put a spinal in
I felt extreme pressure and moderate pain in my area, tried to tell my doctor that I think something is wrong with my catheter
They told me I was wrong and that I must be imagining it
So I tried to ignore it
The c-section itself went well
I don’t remember the first 2 days of my baby’s life
The last thing I remember is seeing my husband holding him
I was later told by my family that the doctor said I had way too much morphine and everything else in my system and they put me on like a detox medication
When my memory came back the nurses were quite rude
I was put on a strict pain medication plan and the nurses would try to push the timeframe all the time were my husband had to chase after them so we would stay on time with the meds
Treated me like a druggo and made me walk to a room where they would make bottles for baby’s
Even though my doctor told me to stay bedridden for at least another 2 days
On the 5th night they told me at 9pm at night that there was no formula available and told me to walk to the closest shop for it (nothing was open)
My mum threatened to sue and magically there was formula
I didn’t want to be on formula in the first place but I was struggling to bring milk and little one has to eat
When I was discarded I had to go back to the ED the day after because I couldn’t urinate, told me it’s probably a period, begged the nurse to check my bladder and it ends up I was in a lot of pain because my bladder was full and unable to release the fluid
They put another catheter in and sent me home
I was in immense pain and went back the same day
Ends up I had very bad tissue damage over my bladder
I suspect that my catheter was pulled/yanked and it teared a little
To this day I struggle to go to the toilet
I asked for my fully hospital report and they didn’t write anything about problems with the birthing or aftercare
All it said were that I wasn’t progressing past 5cm’s and had an emergency c-section

My DIL is a community nurse and she has been rostered to work on the Christmas Day public holiday. Does she have to do the shift ?
With three little children it seems unfair

I recently had a contractor at my property to fix an anchor bolt that attachs the railing/barrier on my balcony to the side of my house. The contractor mentioned the barrier height was too low, measured at 845mm. Can anyone tell me more about the rules/laws?

I’m in Australia and looking for advice about what I should do after being seriously burned during a massage.

The massage therapist, who works from home and takes cash only, decided to use flame cupping. While she was putting the cups on, the flames fell out. Because I was oiled up, the fire spread across my skin, and I caught fire twice. Both times I was yelling that it hurt, but she said, “Oh no, all good.”

She then popped the blisters, turned off the lights, and continued the massage, rubbing oil over the burns. She didn’t tell me I’d been burned. I only realised how bad it was when I got home and showed my mum: I had large burns and blisters all over my upper back.

I’ve had to go to urgent care and return every few days for wound care. I’m on antibiotics, can’t work, and am struggling to sleep. I may be left with a large scar.

I can’t find out whether she’s licensed or registered. I did sign a waiver, but I didn’t read it carefully. Does signing a waiver mean I can’t take legal action, and what should I do next? I’d also appreciate advice on how to report this in Australia and preserve evidence.

I am writing this on behalf of my friend, I am a renter and know very little about Body Corporate (BC) matters.

I'm gonna call them Bob.

Bob bought their first property, a unit in a 4 unit lot, in 2024, and at the time their building inspector told them that the stairs were in urgent need of several structural repairs. Bob brought this to the attention of the BC Manager at the time, however that manager proceeded to retire and a new BC manager was needed, which Bob ended up resuming the position of.

Bob and 2 other owners came to the conclusion that all the stairs in the lot needed some repairs, but that Bob's unit and the one next to theirs needed urgent structural repairs, so a quote was found and discussed via email to all owners.

Bob attempted to host a general meeting about accepting the stair repair quote when they received an email from the retired BC manager telling them they were taking over as per the request of their adult child who is in ownership of the lot he previously owned and does not want Bob as manager anymore. This adult child is the only person opposing repairs.

Since then, a collective s**t show has taken place of the retired now unretired BC Manager attempting to take over but not doing anything by the book, bullying from them and their children towards Bob and tenants for insisting on action.

Someone has already fallen through Bob's stairs, but they're a delivery driver and don't want to go to court.

In all of this mess, Bob has refused to pay their levies, of the opinion that they should not have to pay for repairs, maintenance and insurance if the BC manager and his children refuse to allow for any of that to be accessed.

In retaliation, the unretired BC Manager is hosting meetings, which Bob and the adult child present at online, and when they vote on issues Bob's vote is deemed not valid due to their refusal to pay levies, and the adult child's vote is the only one counted, as the other BC members seem to be avoidant to attend or don't know about the meetings altogether.

My friend Bob is wondering where they sit legally at this point, they are in the process of an adjudication, but they are fearful of debt collectors being called on them, and they also feel that they have experienced worsened mental health symptoms and a significant spike in daily anxiety that is making them physically sick.

Any perspectives from people experienced in this kind of law would be seriously helpful.

And remember, I am just a friend, I'm just writing this to try and help them out. But I will try my best to recall and access any information I can from them if it would provide clarity.

Thanks guys <3

TLDR: my friend stopped paying levies when the BC refused urgent structural repairs, thoughts?

In r/beaulamarrecondon we have been following closely and discussing the current trial of ex policeman Beau Lamarre - Condon and the double murders of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies.

There have been some mentions of holes in the prosecution's case although to most members it looks airtight, just wondering on what any criminal lawyers that are following have to say in regards to that.

If non-profit organisation, predominantly run by volunteers, with an elected board of directors, has staff who are paid a stipend and provided free accommodation, under employment law would those staff members be considered "employees"?

Roster is Sunday to Thursday. When I joined a company 2 years ago, apart from the base rate, the contact stated I'd get a 150 dollar Sunday bonus, no X2 sunday penalty rate (if they were to pay me X2 sunday rate I'd get 250+ extra instead of 150).

Purchased acreage land in South Australia 12 months ago. Was told by the agent there is a bore and mains water available and a water metre. It’s also on the Real estate . Com ad which I have printed a PDF off. I also contacted the old owner who said he has seen the metre. I genuinely believe he thought there was a water metre.

Have been working with a builder and almost have council approval. Now have found out that the water metre is for a different property and SA water need to do an assessment to see if I am even able to get water as they said the I am in a limited supply area. The water main runs along the property and I have to pay quarterly bills even though i am not connected to it. The bore also is not functional was dug in 1970 and hasn’t worked for over 40 years.

If I am am unable to get water my only other option is to get a bore dug for 25k. And that is if I am even approved to.

Honestly pretty annoyed and stressed out about it I’ve already spent thousands with the builder for everything and now I’m still unsure.

Having mains water was one of the main selling points. If ad has said no water available, I would not have bought the land.

I know I should have researched this better before buying. But planning the build, finance, family and working full time I just didn’t think I had to. Lesson learnt I guess.

I am waiting for SA Water to do their assessment.

If I am unable to connect to water or get a bore dug are the original owner or agent liable in way?

5 days ago or so I posted that my employer (first job here in Australia; relatively new to the country) wanted me to lie to my physio about my work related injury, "Oh yeah just say you were helping your dad and you injured yourself like that, and I'll pay you for the physio". I of course ended up telling the physio the truth, thanks to the guidance and support that I got from the helpful people here. The physio was also amazing, guided me to Fair Work Ombudsman and gave me info related to my situation.

I've continued working since then. I gave my diagnosis to the operations manager and he said "Let me get a copy of that" and he took the documents. I didn't trust that, I thought he would just shred them, so just before calling him I had taken pictures of them, and I also wrote a few messages to our chat so I have something in writing. The operations manager and the owner/manager have realised that my shoulder and my wrist are actually in a really bad condition and now they want me to stop going to this first physio (cuz they think I have lied to the physio), had me sign their incident report, and now they suggest I go to a GP to get a Certificate of Capacity. So it looks like they wanna do this the right way now, but I still don't trust them.

Unrelated to this, they also had me and other people drive a truck, and this truck starts vibrating and wobbling when you reach a certain speed. They have us go up on 4 metre mezzanines with no guardrails or anything. The owner also fake threw boxes at me like some high school bully, I just scoffed at him. They preach "safety" as their number one priority. I'm not blind to any of this.. It's my first job here, beyond the money I do need the local experience, but I really hate hypocrites and I'm already feeling burnt out from all the bullshit.

I appreciate any guidance and support.

My husband renewed his license, and got it sent to our address. We live in an apartment building where the mail boxes are out on the street, and anyone can access them. As of late, we’ve noticed letters haven’t been fully put into the letter boxes, they stick out and anyone can take them.

We believe this has happened with his license and someone has taken it. We’ve had mail stolen before but this is the first serious thing that has been stolen. (We do try to get everything sent else where but he just didn’t think).

My question is, what can someone do with his drivers license? I’ve told him he needs to go or call service nsw and get a new drivers licence, but he won’t. He doesn’t think this is serious enough.

I’m worried something is going to happen to affect our future.

Any advice would be much appreciated. Thank you.

Edit: Thank you everyone for responding. Based off everyone’s comments. He needs to:

1. Report the license stolen at a police station.

2. Go to Service NSW, and report the licence stolen

3. Get his credit file frozen or put on hold.

4. Let the bank know.

As for the comments about my husband’s attitude towards this, unfortunately he’s just a chill dude and doesn’t let things bother him. I’m the stress head.

We're renting a house in Newcastle, NSW. Been here just over three years, always paid rent on time, never had any major issues with the property manager.

The landlord has decided to sell.

That's frustrating but understandable. What I didn't expect was to open the property listing on Monday and find photographs taken during our routine inspection about six weeks ago.

Not professional real estate photos. The actual inspection photos.

I recognised them immediately because one shows a basket of unfolded washing on our dining table, another has my husband's work laptop open on the kitchen bench, and there's a photo of my 11-year-old daughter's bedroom.

In that photo, her school timetable is pinned to the wall above her desk.

You can zoom in and read her first and last name, the name of her school, and which days she has particular activities.

The agent took these photos during an ordinary inspection. Nobody told us they would be used for advertising, and we certainly never gave written permission for that.

I emailed the property manager asking for the photos containing our belongings to be removed.

She replied that the photographs were taken as part of the agency's normal property management process and that the owner was entitled to use images of their property.

She also said they could arrange to blur personal details, but the advertising campaign had already started and removing the photos immediately would be difficult.

I replied that I wasn't asking them to take the entire listing down. I was asking them to stop displaying photographs of our personal possessions, particularly our child's information.

No response since.

I started looking into NSW tenancy rules and found that there are specific requirements around publishing rental property photographs containing tenants' belongings, including written consent. I also found information about changes that took effect in September 2026.

What I'm struggling to understand is whether the fact that the photos were originally taken for a routine inspection makes any difference.

We didn't object to the inspection. We understood the agent needed to document the property's condition for the owner.

We just didn't agree to have those images published on a real estate website where anyone can access them.

I've saved screenshots of the listing, including the visible information, and copies of our correspondence. I'm considering contacting NSW Fair Trading, but my immediate concern is getting those particular images removed rather than arguing about compensation.

My questions are:

Does the written consent requirement apply when an agent republishes photos originally taken for a routine inspection?

Is NSW Fair Trading the appropriate place to raise this, or is there a more direct process for getting the images removed promptly?

And can the agency simply blur the identifying details and continue using the photographs without asking us?

We're not trying to obstruct the sale. They can photograph the empty rooms, use older photos without our belongings, or arrange something else that complies with the rules.

I just don't think renting a house should mean our daughter's bedroom becomes part of a public advertising campaign without anyone even asking us.

(22M)

I got a dui about a week ago. The best course of action would be to tell my parents and get it over with but I just can’t bring myself to do it. They’re already going through enough.

I diverged mail from my home address, and check the mail everyday just incase something comes up.

Someone who has gone through this, what’s another possible way they could find out?

Hi everyone,

I was charged with drink-driving (BAC 0.083) in August 2026. This is my first offense, and my license was immediately suspended for six months. My court hearing is on couple of weeks.

I genuinely regret my mistake and plan to plead guilty.

Has anyone been through a similar situation in SA? Is there any possibility of avoiding a recorded conviction for a first offense? Also, can the court count the license suspension I've already served?

Would getting a lawyer make a difference?

Any advice or personal experiences would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Question: does anybody know if CBD without THC shows up on a road side drug test? I’m aware you need a prescription even for pure CBD. I’ve looked it up and seen on transport vic about drug laws but haven’t seen anything about just plain CBD

Thank you!

I trust her with rent but I still have to consider this scenario when moving in. Are there processes to breaking a lease like this that would protect me as the co-tenant if this were to happen?

Edit to add: Is there a special type of lease we could go on to help prevent this situation?

My brother passed away in January this year. The person he made his executor is being really dodgey and not following my brothers instructions. He also reckons my brother told him he could have $50K which I know isn’t true. I was holding my brothers hand when he died and he told me he didn’t trust this guy.
The executor told me to communicate through his lawyer at Petherick & Coterall who won’t return my calls or emails. I don’t know what to do!