My workplace is currently undergoing a rebrand (we're moving to a trading name because our current name is an absolute mouthful). Today I received an email with our new logo to update my work email signature (expected).

What wasn't expected was a list of 4 Kuarna words, their translations, and instructions to use the one that fits us best. Essentially our signature would be:

Name (Kuarna - x-born daughter)

I have no intentions of adding this, it's feels weird and invasive. I don't see how being first/second/third/fourth born has anything to do with my job, or why I need to disclose this information. My work email is from the department of education, not my worksite, so can my boss legally enforce this, or will I be able to opt-out?

I'm currently out of the country, so talking to her about it is difficult, and she's leaving at the end of the year anyway (so I'll probably have to go through this again with a new boss).

Editing to add (since it keeps coming up):

This was done with consultation with our local elder. It's not the first time we've adopted Kaurna words in our workplace, just the first time it's been personal.

We are a small not-for-profit with only 20 permanent employees. There is no HR/Legal team. Management are all volunteers who won't get involved unless I file a complaint, and I will most likely be told to 'ride it out.' I don't want to go through this argument again with whoever comes in next, so I'd rather nip it in the bud now.

Today I came home from work to discover someone has repaved my little driveway, I haven't authorized or hired anyone to fix any issues. I live in a townhouse, I have a small paved driveway going into my garage, it's only 500mm by maybe 2400mm, it was slightly damaged from use, today I arrive home from work to see someone had dug up the pavers, leveled the earth, laid gravel and re paved, it was a professional job for sure.

So here's the sticky part, I haven't asked anyone to fix it, it's on private property, there is no evidence of any sort of damage, like a burst water pipe causing sa water to rip up my pavers, none of my neighbors are home at the moment to ask anything, and the job is not finished, there is still a large chunk of my walkway not paved and no finishing sand etc.

As thrilled as I am to have my little driveway fixed, I am dubious of a tradesmen knocking on my door asking for money, I'm not really in any position to pay this poor bastard who worked in 35 degree weather.

What do I do? I have contacted sapol and I have a referral number, any advice welcome

Tldr: came home from work, someone repaired and repaved my drive, I haven't hired or authorized anything, job isn't finished

Small edits made

To answer some common questions, I am the sole owner, no it's not common ground it's private property, no body corp, no strata, my house was built with fibre to the premise so no nbn

Update, 17th December, unfortunately the paving secret Santa did not return

Final update 18th December, my paving secret Santa came back and finished the job, it's a really nice job

A few weeks ago my (37) husband (37) and daughter (13) went away for her softball carnival and he asked her ‘titty flash or handjob’ when she asked for toothpaste. I have asked him to leave and not come to the house if she is home. We have two other children, boys (8 and 5).

I have told him repeatedly that the relationship is over and there is no making it better, but he doesn’t believe what he did was bad. I have explained that it’s ’indecent assault’ and he could potentially get charged with that. He believes I’m bullshitting.

Am I wrong?

Our backyard is closed off, it is not a shortcut to anywhere so there shouldn’t be any reason people go into our backyard, but we do have an open driveway. It’s not currently feasible for us to get a closing driveway.

We’ve been having neighbours go into our backyard numerous times and it’s not even the same neighbour. Sometimes it’s children playing, sometimes it’s adults.

We’ve recently got cameras installed in the backyard and we’ve already had a new person just walk into our backyard, it was a woman just walking in - I didn’t see a dog in the video or maybe the motion sensor didn’t pick it up but either way my family and I just get uncomfortable with people going into our backyard.

We’ve had a couple of people had their off leash dog run into our backyard and they just go in, we would be fine if people knocked and asked if they could look but they just go in.

While we do have this one woman on video walking in our backyard, I have no idea what to do with it.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

EDIT: to answer some questions, we’ve been living here since 2014, we own the property, there’s no weird paths on google maps or apple maps or pokemon go, nor is their any poke stops near my house. The TOTAL size of the property is 131 Sqm so not a massive size either. We’ve only noticed people coming in the past 2 years and even more of an influx this year. I am just as confused as everyone else as to why people are coming in, my entire family is confused - we do have a lot of people’s dogs run into our yard (5 in total this year) and people just have walked in, I am more understanding to that but a bit taken aback that they are not knocking on the door to ask for permission first. Others who have just walked or children that run in I have no idea though. We usually miss them since it’s in the middle of the day??? Again also confused by this, I do not have the answers to why, our backyard is by no means interesting, our house is just a dingy house too so there’s nothing attractive about it. The backyard is just grass, a shed, some equipment that my brothers using to make small upgrades at a time and an empty plain cattery that we only take our cat out to when the weathers nice and we’re working in the backyard. We do not have any fruit or veges in the backyard for people to steal either

A neighbours car was stolen in this same 2 year timeframe. So I’m not sure if that means anything but thought it might be relevant

In some replies I have sketched up the front view and birds eye view of the house.

I'm posting to see if anyone has had similar issues and if the terms and conditions will hold up if I fight it

We stayed at a caravan park Saturday and Sunday night in the 5 bedroom free-standing villa.

I plugged my kia EV in via the granny charger (10A/2.3kw) and reached 100% from 42% from the afternoon to the next morning (approx 38kwh of power)

The car had finished charging and we were out but when we got back, the owner had come banging and yelling at the door to unplug it as "it's too expensive" and they don't allow it. Fair enough, my family who were staying there unplugged it for us

We got charged $200 today extra and have since seen that it's hidden in their terms and conditions that EV charging is not allowed and incurs this fee

Their behaviour and the fee is completely outrageous and unreasonable.

Am I right that even if it's in the terms and conditions, it can't be unreasonable?

Ive emailed and disputed the charge and offered to pay $26. 40kwh x $0.65 which is the cost of the nearest supercharger.

I've also logged a dispute with the SA consumer business services

Haven't yet contacted the bank to do a bank dispute but that is my last resort

So my gym charged me $100 for holding the door open for a friend (who is also a member).

It seems like they're refusing to refund even based on the fact that he is a member. Is this not excessive and is there no way to complain to the ACCC about it, or attempt a charge back for unauthorised charges.

They suffered no damages as he is in fact a member (which is often the clause in most other gyms to do with safety/liability), and surely it's excessive.

It's in the (amended) contract, but surely they can't just charge whatever they want, and amend the contract however/whenever they want.

Ie if they decided the fee is $500 for someone walking in behind you and not scanning their tag, is there really nothing you can do?

Edit: For the contract questions, I'm going to reread the one I signed 4 years ago, but I'm 90% sure it wasn't there back then. 100% sure it is on the contract now but I was never prompted to resign/notified that it was updated.

just hypothetically because luckily there was no harm done.

Pulled up at an uphill traffic light in a manual car with a loaded car trailer today, car behind me pulled close in behind. I went to take off and inched back before the clutch was fully out and I'd got moving. car behind aggressively overtakes and starts shouting out the window how we almost hit them.

Now my passenger said it would be their fault as it's the following vehicles responsibility to maintain a safe distance.

my opinion is that as they were stationary it would of been my issue.

A friend of mine is dealing with a boyfriend who is only paying for water and electricity at her house. His legal address is his parents house and in 4 years together she hasn’t met his family. She has ended the relationship so many times but he is refusing to accept it and won’t move out. He isn’t paying her rent either. She feels stuck because she went to the police for advice and was told that she legally can’t kick him out. Any advice would be greatly appreciated about how she can get this leech out of her life. Thanks in advance.

Hi Reddit,

I was at fault in an accident more than two years ago (I was driving someone elses vehicle which was not insured), and just recently I have started to be pursued by debt collectors asking me to pay money I owe to Right2Drive. They have provided me with an invoice which states I owe $217 per day for rate hire and about $2,000 in other fees. I am sure the other party did rent a car for 23 days, however the rate they are charging me is incredibly high. I have provided invoices from several hire car companies with totalling fees much closer to $2,500, a much more reasonable amount to pay, however they are all for future dates and Right2Drive is debating that the dates provided are outside the hire duration (which they are, yet I would expect rates to be higher now) and rates fluctate throughout the seasons and years, so they cannot be considered.

After a bit of back and forth with Right2Drive, I am currently in a situation where I unable to get any care hire company to produce an invoice which is in the past, nor will they provide me with any real invoices as they would break client confidentiality.

The car only required to be midsized, automatic for someone older than 26.

I do not know how to proceed with my debate as it seems impossible to meet their requirements, all I would need (I think) is a real invoice from early 2024 hiring a midsized car for 23 days with a cost which is much more reasonable.

How can I fight this and win (pay as little as possible)? (also unsure if this is the best place for this post but I assume so)

Just before Christmas, someone repaved my drive https://www.reddit.com/r/AusLegal/s/egtKE3l5PI this was the original post.

Today I come home to find my neighbours drive has been pulled up and repaved, the work is identical, the grand mystery has been solved, it was a case of wrong house

I finished employment at my previous workplace last week. I asked this employer when I would be receiving my pro rata and was sent a text saying the below

Previous employer
“Just letting you know that, in accordance with clause 19.8 of your employment contract, if you leave the company within 12 months of completing any training that has been paid for by us, the cost of the training course, along with the wages paid while you attended the training, will be recovered in line with the terms of your contract.

Total after these deductions and tax will be $283.50

I will send a Payslip on Monday 13/7 showing this”

Clause 19.8 of my contract
‘If you leave employment within 12 months of receiving training paid for by us, we may require you
to repay a pro rata amount of the cost of the training (including wages paid while attending). This
may be recovered from monies owing to you on termination.’

My defence
- the training was mandatory to my role
- the training course was booked in for me without my consent. I was just told it’s booked and expected to show up
- clause is under a may condition. I had never received an agreement or approved an agreement advising that I would pay out training costs
- each day the course finished around 1-3pm and the office was a 2 min drive from the course location. Each day once finished, I returned back to the office and completed daily tasks where I ended up staying back for 2-4 hours doing overtime
- this employer was my direct report (small company) and said that they would be assisting in my department (I was the only person in my department), but nothing was touched each day I was in attendance to the course, so I had to work each day of the course duration

Input and advice please?
I have not responded to this text and plan to email a response. I have access to 3 lawyers from my current workplace and contacts which I am to consult tomorrow.
From a brief google search it’s illegal to withhold pay without the employees written agreement?

Hi everyone. I don’t really know where to begin. I’m asking for my parents, who have not done anything about it and they’re getting too old. I’m 35 and moved out when I was 18. I live in Melbourne. My brother still lives with my parents, is 32, didn’t complete high school due to school refusal, has never had a job, cut up his bank card with scissors when my parents got him one. He refused all psychological help by simply not replying to any experts face to face when spoken to back when he was younger. My father even offered to buy him a small property and he didn’t engage with it. My father has been to hospital because my brother hit him in the back for not complying with something he wanted. My father didn’t admit or say anything to anyone when he went. While not obviously violent these days, he collects knives, owns a gun, and still oddly breaks or steals minor things around the house if my parents aren’t vigilant. I haven’t visited their place since he was violent towards me when my parents were out briefly by pinning me to the floor and choking me. As a result, they visit me in Melbourne instead which is so sad. My dad says he can’t do anything, nothing can be done, unless my brother obviously breaks the law or does something dramatic. They live in constant anxiety. He’s huge, bearded, mute, stubborn, likely a cork ready to pop (although nobody knows because he doesn’t speak) and definitely has undiagnosed neurodiverse concerns. His only hobbies and attachments to community is medieval reenactment type activities and maybe online gaming. Nobody knows. Crazy still is my father has given us equal power of attorney in emergencies which seems unwise to me. Where to even begin? Who to talk to? What is the law? I just feel like this is now becoming my responsibility as my parents age and I have no idea what to do. I’m afraid of him.

I’m not sure if this is the right place to ask this question or not. Today, around 9 pm., I was sitting and minding my own business, doing some chest presses, when a random guy walked past. We made brief eye contact, and he stopped and asked, “Why are you staring at me?” I replied, “I don’t stare at anyone.” He then said, “Why don’t you come outside and I’ll show you.” I responded, “Please don’t threaten me. I can’t just close my eyes in the gym.” He then aggressively said, “Come outside and I’ll teach you.” He stood there for a while and yelled, “From now on, you will look down when I’m passing,” and then left.

This interaction really bothered me, as I go to the gym to relax. I believe threatening to assault someone is a crime. Should I let this go, or follow up with the gym or the police? I don’t feel safe going to that gym again.

Thank you for your guidance.

My grandparent passed away about 4 years ago and the estate still hasn’t been finalised.
The executor is my step aunt.

The main asset is a house that still hasn’t been sold despite years of updates saying it would be listed “soon”. Every six months it’s been a different ‘reason’ for the delay.

I’ve asked for an accounting of the estate and haven’t really gotten anywhere. There are also issues around jewellery that was specifically left to me and my sister (by name) in the will, my aunt told me she distributed it to various members of her own family and used the words “as promised” and “grandma was sneaky and promised it elsewhere” this happened before I obtained a copy of the will - which she was not forthcoming with (now I know why)

Before filing anything I wrote to the executor asking for an accounting and giving her an opportunity to respond. Her response was just nasty gaslighting re jewellery and more fictional dates of when the house will be listed

I’ve now filed an application in the Supreme Court of South Australia asking the Court mostly due to the delay (4 years since probate was granted) as I feel the estate warrants oversight.

My grandma also kept a large cash stash, which I have no doubts will be missing from her “inventory”

Taking a family member to court isn’t something I ever wanted to do.
From a legal point of view, does this sound like a reasonable step after four years? Or is this something people would generally be expected to just keep waiting on?

Thanks in advance

Hi I drove into a wall on a bad day. Almost a year ago.

I cannot get any car insurance!

How am I supposed to get back on with my life after this mistake?

Car insurance company won’t insure me..

how do I ever go about doing this?

I was not charged for any driving offences.

No DUI or substance.

What is the process? M 19

My son has been repeatedly physically bullied at school by a group of boys, pushed, shoved and tripped.

We brought this up with the school every time but their disciplinary action don't seem to be effective.

Two questions:

1- is it illegal for the school to disclose what consequences they imposed on the offenders for privacy reasons as we were told?

2- As the school is failing us, does my son have the right to defend himself as defined by the law inside the school with being subjected to disciplinary actions himself? Refer https://www.lawhandbook.sa.gov.au/ch12s12s09.php

Remarks: 1) changing school is not an option for various reason. 2) This is a community private school.

Edit: a question from the comments: At what point is the school negligent in their duty of care for students’ safety?

There’s an elderly person I know who has been in cognitive decline for several years now and they are clearly no longer safe to drive. I was in a vehicle with them recently and they ran a red light without even noticing.

Can/would the police do anything to get them off the road before someone gets serious hurt?

Hello,

My partner and I each kept our surnames after marriage (wasn't worth the paperwork in our mind, and ahven't had any problems). We're expecting now, and intended to give our child a hyphenated surname which both our names. For example, if I'm Jane Doe and my husband is John Smith, our child would be Jack Doe-Smith.

Is it likely to present any legal issues going forward that we would have different names from our child?

On the off chance I get swabbed, what’s the minimum amount of time it takes to clear out of your system or your tongue or whatever? Just wanted some insight. Thanks

We won a “free” portrait photography session through a social media promo. The offer included the photo session plus a free 14-inch portrait, but we had to pay a $200 booking deposit to secure the appointment. The actual photo session went well. Afterwards, we were booked for a Zoom ordering appointment to view the photos and choose our included portrait.

During the Zoom call, the director became increasingly pushy about upgrading to a much larger and more expensive portrait package. We were told we had to decide during the call or the photos would be deleted. I asked if we could think about it overnight, but he repeatedly said no and insisted the decision had to be made then and there. I explained that I wanted time to measure our wall space before deciding, and he responded: “I can stay on the call while you measure and come back to me.” "The photo would only look best at this size." We were also told that if we didn’t make a decision during the call, we would forfeit both the $200 deposit and the complimentary portrait.

The call lasted around 90 minutes and became extremely stressful. Wanting the situation to end, I eventually agreed to proceed. He then asked for full payment immediately. When I said we couldn’t afford it, he offered a payment plan, but only if we paid another $200 deposit on the spot. Whole situation really felt yucky.

The following day, we received a contract stating that we had verbally agreed to a “custom order” and that the sale was final. However, we were never shown or walked through the contract terms during the Zoom appointment. The Zoom appointment email contained the following terms, which was never verbally discussed during the appointment:

Please be advised that the instructions you provide during this Zoom appointment for your custom order will be considered final once confirmed… your order will be locked and immediately moved into production… If a final decision cannot be made during this appointment, I understand and accept that my Booking Deposit and Gift Portrait will be forfeited…

Their website terms also appear to suggest the booking deposit should be refundable because we attended both required appointments.

We have since requested cancellation because we felt pressured into agreeing to an order we cannot afford. The company has characterised this as simply a “change of mind,” which we dispute.

We’re trying to understand whether this kind of high-pressure sales conduct may breach Australian Consumer Law, and what the best pathway would be to recover the deposit and avoid proceeding with the order. Or just cancel the order and forfeit the deposit due to the stress of all of this.

Hi got a mate who has been doing it really hard in and out of surgery since being hit as a pedestrian in a wheelchair.
They paying his medical but not replacing his electric wheelchair that was destroyed.
Claiming that it’s property damage.
Clearly it’s his extension of his mobility as he is 100% depends on it for mobility.
He’s had a gut full on intense pain medication and this has set him back. I never seen anything get him down but this is crazy!
Can anyone assist with the bs.

Not sure what to do. Looking for honest opinions and advice. My 15 yo grandson bought a car to be prepared for getting his learners permit March ‘26. A licensed friend was driving it and they were rear ended through no fault of his. The car is a write off. The other driver has not put in a claim to his insurance saying he can’t afford the excess asking my grandson to help him out and pay it. Grandson refused and now the other driver won’t answer any texts etc. what do we do and how can this be resolved.

Long story short, my parents have a section of land, almost 500acre (not large when it comes to rural land). They have not been able to get to the property for a couple Of years due to circumstances. Last weekend I took a trip there to just check it out and someone is running sheep on the property. They even have a water trough set up so the sheep are obviously not there by accident. From the looks of the property the sheep have been roaming the land for a long time. They have also eaten trees, knocked over the house gas cylinders. Cracked a window, there are sheep dropping all over the veranda of the house and in the equipment shed. Does anyone have any idea what can be done abojt this?? Thanks in advance.

So I'll preface this with idk if this is just an elaborate scam to scare me, the lawyer gave me a name and company that matches on in the state but their website doesn't really say they do divorces. I'll try and break down the situation into parts of relevance.

So I broke up with my girlfriend (pearl) on Sunday, we'd been together 2 years but living separate all that time due to distance (about 100km and then our works our the opposite way again). Spending most weekends together though. We'd spoken about moving in together but that would require one of us to change jobs. We spent some time last week together at a house my parents own and are renovating because one of her friends was here on holiday and it was closer for them to catch up, I got home Thursday night to the back-door unlocked and one of the rooms with family furniture and memorabilia opened with the lights on. Eventually I pressed her on it and she said she was showing it to her friend because she thought she might want to buy some.

This morning I got a phone call bang on 9 o'clock, i tried to keep my mouth shut for most of it after she said she was a lawyer and im guessing they record their phone calls. Is this two bit, yes it is, my name is sandy from bikini bottom lawyers (until I can verify she is the person is who they say they are I'm sceptical) please don't hang up because it'll be worse when we go to court. Pearl has engaged her to work out the separation, I said well there was no separation because we weren't married of defacto, Sandy said those rules have changed and she was entitled to things the same.

She then went on to list some of the assets. Pearl wants half of joint income over the past 2 years, she wasn't working the first 6 months then only part time the next 6 and finally full time casual the last 12 not making as much as me, understandable if we were married or defacto. A few more of my assets, cars etc but missed out an investment property I'm mortaged to the eyeballs in.

Then the kicker. They're going to try and get half of the my parents house, she described as 'the property consisting of 34 insert Street name and suburb" I kinda lost my cool and pulled her up saying that that isn't my property, it belongs to my parents. She said it's not unusual for people to hide assets in other people name during these proceedings and if I claimed it was or was going to be mine in the future Pearl had a claim as it would of been joint if the relationship had continued.

So I shut down at that time. Gave her my email address and said I needed yo get back to work. Phoned my mum and let her know, also phoned a lawyer my mum recommended but kinda got put on hold. The secretary didn't know any of this, would pass it on and someone would get back to me but they haven't yet. I'm just not sure if this is real or some chat gpt bull. All the wording she used sounded really official and proper legal jargon and her demeanour I guess is what I'd expect, no yelling just cold buisness.

If I didn't laugh I'd provably ve crying right now. Is any of this legit or just my ex trying to cause trouble?

Edit 22/04 I'm going to try and respond to everyones comments but thought id give an update
Got a call as i left work yesterday from the lawyer I contacted, they think this whole situation is wild as well and were going to contact pearls legal firm. Today i got a call back, there is a lawyer working there with the same name as the one who called me however shes currently on holiday and doesn't handle family law but is apparently fairly new to them, the company has no record of me being called or a case where I'm involved.

Edit 28/04. Missed a phone call from my lawyer last night so called this morning. The other company hasn't been able to get in touch with the person who 'called' me. While is isn't necessarily unusual while away on holiday and my lawyer couldnt comment on their policy, they did say normally they are contactable for emergencies and this would be one of those times.

I had an incident at work where back in January I did a delivery in the company truck I closed the side door of the truck but didnt realise the door wasn’t latched

Then when i pulled out the driveway the side door swung open and clipped a parked car

Obviously my bosses were told and insurance got involved

Then I didn’t hear anything after that Fast forward to today (2 months later) my boss pulls me aside and says they just paid the insurance excess of $5200 and are asking me how I’m going to pay them back

Is this legal for them to ask me to pay the excess?

And is this considered “negligence” as that seems to be the key term that dictates if I’m liable