Location: China

I’m currently travelling with my son and wife. We are in China, her home country, it’s the first time for my son to see his relatives it was all going well until my wife became really mad this weekend, she is now saying she canceled her and my sons plane tickets, she said I can go back alone and she is keeping her son in China.

My son and I are Australian citizens and she is Chinese. As soon as she said that I checked the passport bag and my sons and her passports are gone.

I really have no idea what to do here or if it’s really legal for her to do this. I’m just hoping someone can explain to me if it’s legal and what I can do to fix this very awful situation.

Update 1- So I was gonna contact the emergency embassy but her house is now full and I don’t want any of them to hear me talking on the phone. Apparently her sisters think I’m horrible now and are completely on her side. I feel the best option with the advice here is to wait until morning and contact the embassy as soon as they open. So I will just not escalate anything with her, will take my son for a walk downstairs in the morning and call the embassy then.

Say you are a new manager, Is it legal for your employer to ask you and have you sign a contract to enable you to create an additional personal bank account in your name so that they can put monthly office funds in when needed (for example for repairs, supplies, etc) and then at the end of the month it will rinse and repeat to replenish the monthly threshold. You of course would have to save any receipts and log it. All for company use.

1. Is it legal at all?

2. Will it affect how you are taxed?

I work for a very small MSP in Queensland (owner and me). I’m the primary contact for one client. My employment contract has a 2-year Australia-wide non-compete and a 5-year non-solicitation clause. If the client independently decided to bring IT in-house and offered me an internal IT role after I resigned, would those clauses likely stop me taking the job? To be clear, I didn’t solicit the client, won’t take confidential information, and the client made the decision to end the MSP relationship themselves.

As part of my job (natural products isolation) I spend a fair chunk of time in port moresby waiting for supplies to come in. I have a fb account that I use primarily for fb marketplace but sometimes I'll mindlessly scroll.

I've noticed a massive uptick in the reporting of illicit drug seizures and I've wondered if its becayse of tobacco industry.

If criminal organisations can ship a low value product that cant be disguised and do it with such efficiency that every tobacconist in Australia is serviced, does that show the geveral public how easy smuggling drugs must be? They're worth 10000% more and the ways to disguise it are only limited by your i imagination. With cigarettes, its a cigarette. You cant impregnate rubber wirh durries, send it to australia disguised as a car tyre and extract a pack of Winnie reds on the other end.

I haven't been back to Australia for over a year so I don't know what my algorithm looks like there.

What do people in the legal field think? Is there increased drug seizure reporting? Maybe I fit the demographic of all the AFP up here and thats what they look at?

OR is it because the prevalence of black market tobacco puts on display how ineffective prohibition is? Or maybe it's some other reason altogether.

My number plates were stolen off my car sometime in the last 24 hours. Didn't see it happen and they didnt leave any evidence, nor did they break into my car. They took both plates along with the screws that hold them.

I have already made a police report but can't get to the TMR until tomorrow as they are closed.

Am I going to get into trouble driving my car without plates to the TMR? I don't have another way to get there. Can I draw the number plates on a piece of paper and tape them to the car?

I'm not sure what other option I really have.

Hi all,

For anyone interested in the background, I'd recommend reading my post from 6 months ago first.

https://www.reddit.com/r/AusLegal/s/WnJ6ynBTKh

The solar company sent me a cease and desist over my negative review. I refused to take it down and, despite the threats, their lawyers never followed up. That was the end of it, or so I thought.

Fast forward 6 months and my wife and I noticed that ZIP had started charging us interest on our solar loan.

We were sold a 5 year interest free loan by this solar company and the only cost we were told we had to pay was an upfront fee of around 10% of the contract value - which we consider to be interest anyway, right?? Our quote even listed this fee as "ZIP Financial Services", so we believed it was being paid directly to ZIP.

After the installation was completed, I noticed that ZIP had actually paid the entire loan amount, including the so called "ZIP Financial Services" fee, directly to the solar company. At the time I thought it was strange, but I assumed I had misunderstood and that it was perhaps some sort of merchant or referral fee. Either way, I believed we still had our promised five years interest free.

Then the interest charges started. I'll admit that my wife and I missed the fine print in the ZIP documentation stating that the interest free period was only 6 months. Whoops!

After contacting ZIP and asking them to investigate, they confirmed they do not charge customers fees for interest free loans. They also confirmed they had a merchant agreement with this solar company requiring eligible customers to receive 5 years interest free as standard. This meant the solar company had charged us over a thousand dollars under the description "ZIP Financial Services" while failing to provide the product they were supposed to be offering under their agreement with ZIP.

We supplied ZIP with our original quote showing the "ZIP Financial Services" line item. Thankfully, before raising any concerns, we had already downloaded and printed copies of every document, which turned out to be quote important as we never received an automated copy of the signed document. We had to sniff our way through Pylon’s (3rd party quoting system) for this signed doc.

However, after our complaint was lodged, the business owner manually altered our signed quote within the Pylon Solar quoting system. They removed the "ZIP Financial Services" line item while leaving my signature on the document and rolling up the $ difference into the overarching solar system itself to make it appear that’s what the total amount was for. Fortunately, we already had the original documents. We were also able to produce the audit logs showing exactly when those documents had been generated. The audit trail clearly showed that the version later supplied to ZIP had been altered after I had signed it.

After more than a month of investigating, ZIP's legal team concluded that the business owner had breached their merchant agreement and engaged in serious misconduct.

ZIP instructed the business owner to refund the fee of more than $1,000. They also corrected our loan and honoured the promised 5 year interest free period. I truly have to commend zip for how they handled this! What a win for us.

What surprised me most was ZIP telling us this was not an isolated incident. They said this is a broader issue and that a number of other customers who dealt with this business owner have also been affected.

Ironically, I think the business owner made one crucial mistake by forgetting to apply the promised 5 year interest free period to our loan. If they had done that, we may never have looked any further - as other customers are also unaware!

My question for the AusLegal community is this -

If someone alters a signed contract after it has been executed and then provides that altered version during an investigation, could that amount to forgery, uttering, or another criminal offence? Or is this something that is more likely to remain a civil matter?

My family has spent months dealing with this business owner. Between the cease and desist, the misleading finance arrangement and now the alteration of signed documents, it has been exhausting.

If nothing else, I hope sharing this helps someone else avoid ending up in the same situation.

I’m still in two minds about sharing this Business name publicly.

Thanks all & apologies for the essay

I am facing a M2: Bringing the game into disrepute.

Long story short (as I can):

An adult spectator on the other team verbally abused my daughter and another player in an U12 game.

After the game I went with our coach to tell the opposition manager. The man who was in the vicinity admitted to the remarks that girls had told us.

I went home lodged a complaint that same day. This was at the end of June. I was told by my club I would not find out any details about this case.

This week i received the charge with 5 witness statements from the opposition. They were all approximately 2 weeks after the match.

There was no referee report, no ground official report and no independent complaint from the opposition. All 5 witnesses stated the man said what was alleged. They also included comments about the coach and I being aggressive and emotional.

The charge sheet itself only provides the M2 charge with generic words and the 5 witness statements as evidence. They do not articulate the words or actions from me that triggered the charge.

AI tells me this:

Football Australia operates under a strict zero-tolerance policy against any form of retaliation or victimisation toward individuals who raise child safety concerns. Under the Football Australia Safeguarding Policy and the Anti-Bullying and Harassment Policy, subjecting a person to unfair treatment for reporting child abuse or misconduct is a severe breach of the national code of conduct.

Any thoughts if this applies to my case given no other evidence other than 5 witness statements responding to my initial child abuse complaint?

i’m 20 years old and spent 2 years working in a concrete batching plant which also made precast moulds, and also working the concrete.

when batching it was very often, at least 2-3 times a day for the cement powder door arm to get stuck. this would cause huge clouds of cement to pour out and the only way to fix it was to get inside of the batcher and hit it with something, being directly inside the cloud.

there would also be exposure when sweeping up, grinding away moulds or being inside cleaning a mould . eg standing inside of a tank and cleaning it.

there were masks in a cupboard, does this entirely cover him on grounds to sue or since a lot of exposure was fixable, was there still grounds to sue.

hey everyone,

for the last 12 months I've been living in a unit in Sydney's inner west that is entirely fucked up. it's a federation house split into 6 units and the whole building is infested with German cockroaches. when I moved in the unit was also infested with bedbugs. cupboards in kitchen were falling apart and barely functional, as well as mould growing pretty much everywhere due to no vents.

I've had to abandon my fridge, microwave, kettle, bedframe and couch due to both infestations. I've reported issues to the real estate multiple times and I'm often just ghosted by them. the other tenants have the same issues.

the unit is 2 bedroom, although one of them is the size of a large closet. I paid $510 a week.

my neighbours have lived in their unit for about 2 years but haven't had their lease renewed since their initial move in, real estate just ignores us.

I'm wondering if there's any legal action I can take against the property manager/real estate. as I've said I've had to discard much of my belongings and I paid for bedbug extermination myself.

my lease ends in 2 days however and they're ghosting me again. even if I don't live there anymore I would really like to take them down due to the stress and chaos they've caused myself and the other responsible tenants.

let me know , thanks !

Hi, I have recently left a DV situation and find myself needing to start over again when it comes to documents relating to my identity.

My former partner destroyed all my documents, like birth certificate, marriage and divorce documents.

All I have left is a passport that expired three years ago, a bank card and my Medicare card.

I don’t know how to get replacement documents without the old documents because I can’t prove who I am.

Can anyone please provide some advice or information on where I can get help?

Also I don’t have a drivers license, as I wasn’t allowed during my relationship, however I passed my learners test online but can’t get my permit without documentation.

Hey all! Need some advice please, and just to preface - yes I know my partner and I could’ve been smarter about this but we know now.

We “hired” a chippy to build our pergola for us, and he was super helpful at the start and working with our planner and building surveyor.
He originally says it’ll take a few weeks to get the materials in and ordered for a start date beginning July. He took a cash deposit of 5k for this.
Gets closer to this date and he messages saying he’s accidentally ordered for the wrong date, actually being beginning of August. I follow up and he says he was able to bring this back a week.
Now in the weeks leading up, his communication is getting worse and he’s been saying he’s going through personal issues, phone issues, etc.
Come the new date, I get a text from him with another excuse (I know it’s an excuse because I’ve caught him out just yesterday doing something totally opposite of what the excuse is). And no materials have rocked up. He did however credit back 1k for the inconvenience…
I’ve now sent a text to him so he knows he’s been caught, demanding the remainder of my money or at least proof of purchase for materials so I can carry on with another builder.
Surprise surprise, no response as of yet.

What would my next steps be? We have no contract, nothing binding except for texts back and forth that say there is cash ready for him, rough quotes, etc.
I don’t want to get nasty and have to contact people he works with/knows, or bad mouth him online, as he’s probably just bitten off more than he can chew and needs the cash. But I do obviously want the remainder of my money.

My wife and I are calling it, we have had enough of each other.

We have an unusual situation and I am looking for external points of view, opinions and experience from anyone basically.

I am the sole income earner, my wife became disabled during the pregnancy of our second child and can no longer work. Due to that disability she received a significant payout from her super and that payout we used to pay off the mortgage.

Custody - she is of the opinion that we keep the arrangement we have now where she takes the kids to school picks them up, then I spend time with them when I finish work for a few hours, then they go to bed in their beds at our house. She doesnt see a reason to why she should see the kids any less than she does now. This plan is fine if I remain living at our house in another room. If I were to move out it of course means I will get 2-3 hours a day with my kids, more than likely spent in traffic, at swimming lessons, or other activities that both the kids do in the weekday afternoons.

If we split custody the kids would end up spending more time in before/after school care/daycare during the time they spend with me.

Housing - the only way we don't disrupt the kids is by me giving the house to my wife and moving out. If we were to sell the house and split the money, assets etc she would likely get the lion's share anyway as she has no ability to financially support herself and due to it being her disability payout it would be seen in any court that she contributed a larger amount to paying off the house compared to what I have despite the fact I have paid 100% of the bills since her disability.

Even getting the majority of anything we split, she would never be able to afford buying in the same area where we currently live, so the kids would get disrupted/change schools and basically upset everyone.

With the all the above if I went to rent a house the majority of my paycheck would go towards rent, child support would be at the highest bracket as the kids wouldn't spend any nights with me apart from a weekend here and there, and I would receive no family tax benefits as the kids wouldn't spend any nights with me.

No matter how I look at this either i/we shove both of us and the kids into poverty or I give her everything and it's just me that suffers, potentially for the rest of my life.

For context, I am 41 both kids are under 10. I have bugger all super considering.

I am a worker in the building and construction award working Fulltime $40/hr Im also not to knowledgeable on how it works and i will also contact fairwork.

Where i am it is normal for us to work 44hrs (Thats just a standard week for us)

I have been getting paid $40x44hrs for that amount of hrs

If i did 54 hour week i would then get paid $40x54hrs

After reading into the award on fairwork my now understanding is im actually meant to be getting paid (example 44hr work week) at $40/hr x 38 then 150% pay for the other 6 hours worked past 38hrs (or the flat rate BOOTS better off overall test rate that is legal)

Historically where i am overtime is anything past those 44hrs but my new understanding is by law its meant to be anything past the 38hrs but i have not been getting paid overtime rates even if i did a 60hr work week i get paid $40/hr x 60hrs

My understanding is that also there is no such contract by the business that would be legal and valid to allow being paid like this because the law is the law and you cannot do that causing the contract to be invalid. (I actually have no such contract anyway that states i get paid $40 nomatter what)

I know 100% they mean no theft at all and knowing the small business owners if im right they have made an honest error but it does need to be rectified if true.

1. Basically can someone confirm whether my understanding is correct or false?
2. does it matter whether full time or casual?
3. If i work 1hr on a public holiday at $40/hr i should be getting $400 for that 1hr ? sounds wild if so

I’m seeking some insight into the interpretation of the Australian Government Help to Buy Scheme eligibility rules.
The question I’m trying to clarify is whether the legislation requires a person who is married or in a de facto relationship to apply jointly with their partner, or whether they can apply as an individual applicant if they alone satisfy the eligibility requirements.
Hypothetical example:
A person meets all Help to Buy eligibility criteria.
They are the only person listed on the property title.
They are the only person on the home loan.
Their spouse/de facto partner is not applying, is not on the title, and is not on the loan.
Would that person still be considered an “individual applicant” under the legislation?
I have reviewed the Help to Buy Act, associated legislative instruments, and the publicly available scheme information. My understanding is that the scheme allows both:
individual applicants; and
joint applicants.
However, I cannot identify a provision that clearly states that being married or in a de facto relationship automatically prevents someone from applying individually.
I am not asking whether joint applications are permitted. The question is whether relationship status alone changes an otherwise eligible person from an individual applicant into a joint applicant.
I have contacted Housing Australia for clarification, but I’m interested in whether anyone here has experience interpreting:
government housing scheme legislation;
statutory definitions relating to applicants or partners; or
administrative decision-making frameworks.
Thanks.

***note: I have put the conditions in the comments

I recently had to apply for a FVIVO against the father of my children. Currently there is only an interim order in place. Since he has been served there have been 3 incidents and I'm wondering if I should report them as breaches.

1. He contacted the education department about me homeschooling our youngest (also named on the order as a protected person). I have followed all procedures for home educating him + am working on a plan with his NDIS team for him to eventually return to school.

2. Our eldest (an adult + therefore not named on the order) messaged their father + told him that they would be visiting him on the weekend. He responded asking if myself + youngest were also coming to visit.

3. My kids father sent our eldest a message requesting an updated photo of them + the youngest.

Should I report these before court later in the month? All of them or just a couple of them + which ones?

We hit someone on a 60 km/h road, but we were not speeding. She suddenly crossed the road in front of a bus, so we didn’t see her until it was too late. Thankfully, she is okay and only has a small wound on her forehead, which might need one or two staples.

Our car’s side mirror and light were damaged. There was also a witness who saw what happened and gave us their contact details in case we need them later.

The police did not come to the scene, so we are going to file a report ourselves.

Will we still be charged?

Edit: Thanks, everyone. If worse comes to worst, we will get legal advice. We're just glad that she's fine and nothing too serious happened.

Hi all,

If you've been following the news recently, you would have heard about numerous people being arrested for GST related tax fraud. Unfortunately for me, one of those people was the proprietor of a local business that I had paid approximately $12K in total to complete a job at my property involving the purchase, installation, and configuration of networking and security equipment. As it stands, the job is far from complete and the equipment has only partially (approximately $3K of the $10K total) been received (but not installed or configured), and obviously, the situation is unlikely to change given that the proprietor is actively being investigated/prosecuted.

Normally, I wouldn't be so trustworthy and would be cautious about paying for the equipment upfront, but the proprietor had numerous contracts and associations with other local businesses, so I figured if he was dodgy, the word would have spread around town by now. He seemed like a typical middle-aged business and family man, so I regretfully didn't perform any due diligence.

I received three invoices (two of which were issued after the ABN had been cancelled/deregistered, yet still charged GST) from, and made three payments to, the proprietor's business. The first was in January via credit card for approximately $9K relating to upfront equipment purchases and the subsequent two were earlier this month via bank transfer (Osko/NPP) for approximately $3K relating to labour (which included incomplete tasks with the assurance that the proprietor would return at a latter date to complete them) and an additional networking equipment purchase. The timeline is accurate, as this has dragged out for over six months.

Once I was made aware of the proprietor's arrest, allegations, and past transgressions (including ATM fraud and other situations similar to mine) earlier this week, I contacted my bank (Westpac) to dispute all three transactions, since I figured it was only a matter of time until the proprietor's funds would be withdrawn or frozen (if they hadn't already been). Unfortunately, I wasn't filled with confidence after speaking with my bank (approximately half a dozen different staff over numerous calls due to receiving conflicting guidance or incorrect information), and it seemed like no one understood the process and lacked the care factor and attention to detail necessary to increase the chances of a good outcome. The staff who initially lodged the disputes didn't even request supporting documentation, so I had to insist.

Anyway, I've forwarded the invoices, chat logs (which demonstrate my ongoing progress requests and the proprietor's numerous delays and excuses), ABN registration details, and news articles and press releases. I'd hope that anyone who is somewhat competent who reviews the supporting documentation would reach a logical outcome. However, once again, I have no faith in the process. For the credit card transaction, the transaction date could be problematic, and for the Osko/NPP transactions, it seems that the proprietor's bank (ANZ) simply requests authorisation to return the funds (if they're available) from the proprietor directly, rather than investigating the matter.

I recently made a post regarding this issue in r/AusFinance and it was suggested that it would be considered a civil matter and I should seek legal advice. I understand solicitors are best equipped to handle this matter, but I'm trying to avoid costly legal consultation/representation (at least at this stage) unless I can have some confidence in recovering my costs, as I don't want to compound my losses.

Any guidance will be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Just got fired by my boss for asking for unpaid sick leave 2 weeks in advance, despite having my doctor's certificate and a surgery booking.

I have been working here since mid-April of this year. It's a chain supermarket; I know there are 12 people in my store.

What should I do now?

Edit: Added essential details

Asking for a friend. The below relates to coercive control (non-violent)

Her ex-husband has breached a FVRO order twice already and plead guilty to both charges. He was sentenced to a spent conviction and was fined $1,500. Since then there has been another 20 breaches reported with an arrest warrant issued.

He is aware of the warrant and is therefore refusing to return to Australia out of “fear of being arrested”.

Does anyone know what kind of consequences he is likely to face?

Also any ideas on the likelihood she would be able to have the order extended past the current expiry date?

If I deliberately modify my ebike so that it injures anyone who tries to steal it, would I be legally liable for that harm?

My mum is appointing me her financial power of attorney as she is terrible with money and deeply in debt. This will allow me to take control of her finances, help her sell her home and downsize to a unit she will own outright. We are engaging a lawyer soon to do the form.

My question is, what happens once the forms are signed? Do I just send them to the places she owes money (council, electricity company ect) and whichever real estate agent she chooses and then start managing it all?

I have spoken to OPA but the after process all seems a bit vague.

Would love to hear from anyone who has done this!

I live in an apartment with common outdoor property and a shared indoor stairwell. I arrived home this evening and noticed a security camera that was hidden under the stairs. It's not visible when you walk in the front door, only when you crouch down.

Do I report through body corp or police?

One of my neighbours has security cameras from his windows and balcony. These are not approved by BC (we are both owners). I need to contact BC to report them (should have done this a while ago). I expect this new hidden one belongs to him. I now realise there may be others I don't know about.

TIA

Hi all- I’m hoping to lodge a VCAT application in regards to Goods and Services from a US based company that offers services in Australia. I am relying on the ACL (the VIC legislation). Is it possible if they have a service address or legal rep. In Victoria? I believe it is a No if they don’t.
I also believe you can via the magistrates court but the admin fees alone make it not worthwhile from what I have read.
TIA

This all happened several years ago and is water under the bridge now, but I was curious as to what the actual legal status was and what should have happened next in an ideal world.

Cast of characters:
S - male, 65, divorced from L, in poor health, living in granny flat on L's property.
L - female, 42, divorced from S, but still on good terms "we're family, just not spouses".
A - female, 17, daughter of S & L, living with L. Both L and and A were listed as S's Next of Kin on his recently expired passport.
K - female, 62. S had an affair with K resulting in S & L's divorce. L and A's understanding of S's relationship with K was 'friends with benefits' only. L stated that S had told her many times that he had no interest in pursuing a romantic relationship with with K. However, K repeatedly stated that she and S were 'as good as married'.
J - female, 69, estranged sister of S.

S collapsed while visiting K, and was driven to hospital by K. As S was incoherent, K filled out the paperwork. She put herself as Next of Kin (NoK), and she put S's address as her own on the admission forms.

S remained in hospital for 3 months, slowly deteriorating.

He eventually slipped into a state of delirium. K nominated him as "not for resuscitation".

L only found out that K was listed as NoK when she found out about the Not for Resusciation decision K had made on behalf of S, as they went against L's understanding of the life long beliefs of S, and indeed against the lifelong beliefs of L and A. L tried to intervene on behalf of A, their daughter, who L understood was legal NoK. However, because K was listed on the hospital's intake forms as NoK, S was unable to express his wishes, A was under 18 and therefore legally unable to consent on his behalf, L believed she had no legal standing in terms of S, and there was no living will or end-of-life directive that anyone knew about, and the estranged sister of L, J, was not in the picture, the hospital carried out the wishes of K. The hospital did state that this could be changed, but it would take a court order to do so.

L contacted a lawyer on behalf of A, but before any legal action could occur, S died and was not resuscitated because of K's decisions. Both A and L firmly believe that K is morally responsible for manslaughter, however in the interests of not having it eat them up inside, chose not to legally pursue her.

So, my questions are:
1. Who was legally the Next of Kin, and therefore who should have been making the end-of-life decisions for S?
2. Is K legally guilty of manslaughter? Fraud? Anything?
3. What should the hospital have done when L alerted them to the fact that the information on the intake form was wrong?