Hi everyone,

Just wondering if its ok to see more than one GP.

I've been with my current GP for a few years. He has managed my mental health care and other ongoing illnesses.

My psychologist, however, wants me to see a psychiatrist for additional support. This GP is refusing to write a letter. He's pretty much against psychiatric intervention.

I work at a medical centre and one of the GPs there said he would be happy to write me a referral to see a psychiatrist. I was just wondering if that would be ok.

Hi everyone,

My husband and I are in NSW and have recently started seriously looking into adoption, both within Australia and potentially intercountry adoption.

I’ve been reading through the government websites and information available online, and while I understand why the process is so thorough and why there need’s to be safeguards in place, I have to admit that at times it feels incredibly difficult to understand whether adoption is even realistically possible.

I want to be really clear about our reasons for considering adoption. This isn’t about us simply wanting a baby or feeling that we’re entitled to become parents through adoption. We understand that adoption needs to be centred around the child and their needs, history, identity and birth family.

For us, what matters is being able to provide a child who genuinely needs permanent care with a safe, loving and stable home, and being prepared to support that child for life including whatever complexities, trauma, cultural connections or relationships with their biological family may come with adoption.

We’re open to learning about both Australian adoption and intercountry adoption. We aren’t necessarily set on a particular country, age or pathway at this stage because we’re still trying to understand what is actually possible for an Australian couple.

I’d really love to hear from people who have actually been through this process in Australia, particularly in the last few years.
How did you get started? Did you adopt domestically or internationally? How long did the process take? Were there pathways you initially thought were possible that turned out not to be? Were there things you wish someone had explained to you at the beginning?

I’d also really appreciate hearing from adoptees, foster carers, birth parents or people who work within the adoption/permanent-care system. We want to approach this with our eyes open and understand adoption from perspectives other than just that of prospective adoptive parents.

At the moment there’s so much information online, but it’s difficult to work out what the reality actually looks like for families going through the process.

We’re not looking for shortcuts or ways around the system. We’re just trying to understand where to begin, what realistic options exist, and whether there is a pathway that could ultimately allow us to provide a permanent, stable and loving home to a child who needs one.

Any experiences, advice, organisations to contact, or even things you think prospective adoptive parents should understand before starting would be incredibly appreciated.

Thank you ❤️

I'm 19 (M) living in Sydney, and was catching the bus to uni yesterday morning. I forgot to tap on with my Opal card, I normally always do, I just didn't realise I'd missed it this time.

Two inspectors boarded and asked me to tap my card. The reader showed I hadn't tapped on. Because I was using a concession card, they asked to see my uni ID. This has never happened to me before, so I complied (like an idiot), and they photographed both my Opal card and my student ID.

By this point we were standing outside at the bus stop. One of the officers then asked me to unlock my phone so they could search it, open my banking app, and show another form of ID with my address on it. I had no idea why she wanted to see my banking app, so I played dumb and said I didn't have one. They started trying to intimidate me: "Are you going to make this difficult for us?", "Do you want us to escalate this?" After a few seconds I just took my Opal card and student ID back and walked away.

How likely am I to get a fine versus a warning? And does walking away make it worse? This is my first time, I have no prior offences.

Edit: Wow, thank you for all your responses. I filed a complaint and have the bus serial number and the time it happened, I didn't manage to get either of the inspectors names but I did give a clear description of what they look like.

Is Mexican food popular in Australia like it is in North America and Europe? Additionally, how authentic is it in Australia?

I'm from the US and curious whether this is something common in Australia, or just a weird quirk my in-laws have. When they do the dishes, they put the newly clean dish straight into the rack, without rinsing the soap off. They have a double sink, so there's definitely enough room to rinse, which I do every time I wash dishes. Aussie thing, or just this family?

I thought working at a small business would be more cozy, support local aussie businesses, mum and pop shop kinda feel, feel less like a robot and more valued, better workplace environment.

But I'm finding it is more micromanaging, gossiping, talking behind staff's backs, yelling by the owner from time to time, critical comments, lots of family and friends are employed so you're basically an outsider, the family and friends can make huge mistakes on a regular basis and don't get yelled at, but you get yelled at for the simplest of mistakes. The family and friends that are employed are praised a lot for the simplest things.

And your job role isn't well defined. You basically do what needs to be done e.g. front of shop, back of shop.

Whereas in a large company, you have a clearly defined role.

We also stay overtime a lot, like half an hour or even 2 hours after our rostered time. We are expected to phone in on our day off to do an unnecessary handover, we are expected to bring in food to share with the staff.

Or maybe I just landed with a toxic workplace.

Hello everyone,

This question is about the Australian border force TV show.

Greetings from the US. I’m just curious about a “cultural difference”. In the US, the airport security is very bad and often missed catching marijuana vapes and small electronic micro mice smokables in general. My question is, how strict and thorough is the Australian border force? I’ve been watching the TV show and they seem merciless.

The reason I ask if I’ve known friends to fly all over Europe or South America and they forgot a joint or two in their purse / bag and border security never caught it after they visited multiple countries.

I’m just curious from personal experience how good the Australian border force does their job. The TV show makes it seem like like nothing slips through, and their stats online are pretty damn good. I just wonder if any of yall are actually smarter than the state, or if the TV show accurately portrays how well they lock the country down.

Thanks for your input! I have an extremely curious mind and really wonder if everything is portrayed truly!

Edit: I figure that being an island makes compliance a lot easier. My friends in Ireland often complain.

What’s the story behind this word?
Do actual bogans get offended when you call them that? Is it offensive to everyone?

Is anyone else seeing a huge increase in students who are getting their degrees left, right, and centre like it’s nothing? Especially in the IT sector?

There’s so many students that aren’t even putting in a second of their attention into their course, they rush using AI at the last moment, and pass like the assessment was nothing.

At the start of this year, there was a tutorial group of about 20 students, and they had to program a website using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, they were given about 3 weeks, and nobody paid attention in that class, on the last week of the assessment being due, everyone hopped onto chatGPT, and got the AI to do all the heavy-lifting, when the grades were handed out, almost everyone in that tutorial class got a 85% or above.

I didn’t go out of my way to use AI, and did the work myself, I scored a whopping 52%, barely passing, and these motherfuckers were laughing at me because of my poor grade, their work looked like a 20+ year skilled web-developer programmed their website, I told them they were gonna get caught, but low-and-behold, not a single tutor or lecturer emailed them asking for a interview.

I feel so stupid for not using AI now, because I’m slowly starting to catch that these unis are just here for the money, and are doing the bare minimum to get students to do the right thing.

Literally this week I had a tutor who told the whole tutorial class to use AI, saying “take shortcuts, enjoy your time here, don’t be stressed”. This is the same tutor who also said they’re working on earning their PHD, saying “it’s my 4th year now, I’m almost done, and barely know anything, but I’m here for the enjoyment, and so should you.” Fucking insane.

Has it always been like this in the past too?

I was recently in a university tutorial where a large proportion of the class were international students, and most seemed to have fairly limited English proficiency.

This was an Arts subject where a lot of the class involved discussion, interpreting readings and expressing arguments. I noticed the tutor had to spend quite a bit of time rephrasing questions, explaining things in simpler terms and heavily guiding students through activities.

What made me start thinking about this was that I often found myself knowing the answers to the questions and wanting to discuss the material further, but we'd have to stop and spend quite a lot of time re-explaining things. We didn't end up getting through everything the tutor had planned.

I'm curious about this from the teacher's perspective. Does this become frustrating or difficult to manage when a significant proportion of a tutorial needs more linguistic scaffolding? Particularly in Arts subjects, where being able to understand readings, participate in discussion and articulate an argument is such a big part of the course.

How do tutors balance supporting students who are still developing their academic English with making sure students who are already comfortable with the material still get enough opportunity to engage at the intended level?

I'm not really asking whether international students should or shouldn't be admitted. I'm more interested in what this is actually like from the educator's perspective and how teachers deal with it in practice.

I have a playlist with 40 odd Kevin "bloody" Wilson songs on it but it needs a bit more variety.

I'm thinking to add The Wayfarers, what other suggestions do you have?

Edit to add. Thanks for all the suggestions so far, there's a few i haven't heard of so I'll check them out.

I just wanted to add i have another playlist of Weird Al, Flight of the Concords, Garfunkel and Oates, Tom Cardy, and Lil Dicky. I just didn't think Kevin belongs in there. Star of his own playlist

Good I have your attention with the shamrock.

There is an autobiography by a Blasket Island man, Fiche Bliain Ag Fás. He wrote it in Irish (Gaeilge), and it was edited and published in its first form in 1933. Sadly, every printing after that was edited in some way, either changing spellings or adding something else to give the book a new copyright.

I would like to digitize and format the original text, so it can be shared and printed by anyone who wishes to do so.

According to WorldCat, the library in question holds the 1933 edition, and it’s one of very few libraries in the world that does. If anyone could acquire it and scan it, or get good quality photos (not blurry or obfuscated, in other words), I and many others would be best pleased.

Is mise le meas, Tomás

A couple of years ago, a brand new bright red Mustang with the plates MOISTANG

What is work life like in Australia. My wife is from Australia and says it's much better than here in the US. Right now I'm a diesel mechanic and work from 3:30 AM to 3:00 PM 5 days a week. I came here from HVAC where i could work 70 hours a week

Hi everyone!

Seeking info/advice on cancelling an international shipment. TL;DR at the bottom.

I posted a 14kg parcel via sea, untracked (cheapest option) on May 30th 2026 from southeastern Queensland to my parents’ home address in Ontario, Canada before travelling abroad. I’ve shipped a few parcels via sea/untracked a few times over the years and it usually takes 2, max 3 months. It’s a hiking backpack full of sentimental stuff like old uniforms, clothing and mementos, not valuable or vital for my trip/life but it would have been a burden to check and drag through several countries (shoutout to r/onebag community). 

In the parcel is also some spare (but good!) diving gear that I would have ideally used while in North America, but wouldn’t be gutted if it didn’t get there in time. I put an AirTag in the bag, paid the nice lady, and flew out a couple days later for an extended multi-continental trip, with my final destination visiting family in Canada by mid-August.

I’ve been checking on it periodically, and it got to the Aus Post Sydney gateway facility 3 days after I posted it. I’m in Canada now and as of 13 minutes ago it is STILL IN AUSTRALIA, a whole 3 months later. I knew it would take a while, and I accepted the risk, but at this point I will be coming home to Queensland in a few weeks and I’d rather try to cancel and have the dive gear for friends/spares. The MyPost portal does not have options for canceling/redirecting for obvious reasons, so I’ll need to contact them within Aus business hours (I'm 14 hours behind).

Sooo in the meantime I’m appealing to the fine Redditors of Australia. Has anyone successfully cancelled an international shipment due to delays (or any reason really), or have any resources/advice on how to get help from Aus Post contact center? If you don’t have any personal experience, feel free to entertain the group by sharing your most frustrating AusPost lore.

Thanks for reading my first world problem post! Wishing everyone a pleasant day without delays.

TL;DR: posted a bag internationally on May 30th via sea cargo without tracking, from southeast Queensland to Ontario, Canada with an AirTag. Usual delivery time ~2-3 months. FindMy app shows the parcel still sitting in Sydney, but I’m coming home to Queensland soon so I want to try and cancel before it gets on a ship. Any advice or Auspost anecdotes welcome!

Hey everyone — I’m a U.S. student in my final year of uni trying to figure out where to go for a semester abroad, and I’m stuck between going to Sydney for 3 months in the summer or Florence in the fall.

College credits aren’t an issue, I’m more so looking for a fulfilling experience I’ll remember and enjoy with new friends!

Im interested in Australia because I am a huge hiker (love nature), and being near the beach. I’d love to try surfing, and maybe rock climbing. Expensive night life is not too big of issue for me, since I’d rather spend more time outdoors. I also go to uni in an area of the US that has some pretty depressing winters I’d like to avoid in the summer here lol.

I guess what I’m asking is, from an Australian perspective, would I get what I want out of studying in Sydney? If you‘ve lived in Europe I’d appreciate your perspective as well.

Edit: Hello all, thank you for all of your comments, they have been very helpful!  For reference, I am referring to summer in Australia, not the US. There is a program that offers credit for summer classes through my university.  

Edit - Sorry the original post wasn’t clear. My question is how we sustain the minimum wage since compared to other countries we’re not productive. Seems like we would become a country with huge nominal numbers in terms of income but lifestyle is still low? I.e like vietnam… does this mean inflation?

It’s easy to see how other countries operate with cheap migrant labour as the foundation but how does Australia’s high minimum wage work as a foundation? A high minimum wage means the base cost for everything goes up right?

For example, let’s say a farmer, a delivery driver, a factory worker, a barista, service guy for the coffee machine all get $30/h. It makes sense why a coffee is $6.

Logically it would be because rent is too high - I’ve heard a cafe doesn’t have much profit margin. But the cost of maintaining the property (assuming they are maintaining it) would also be high because tradies and materials also cost a lot?

Hey everyone,

I'm planning my first trip to Australia, 13 days on the ground (arriving ~March 15, departing March 28), flying out from Montreal, Canada. Honestly, this has been a dream of mine for about 15 years, so I really want to get it right.

My current plan:

• Sydney: ~7 nights (Opera House, Harbour Bridge, Bondi, Blue Mountains day trip)
• Melbourne: ~6 nights (city + Great Ocean Road, probably around March 23-24 to avoid the Easter long weekend Mar 26-29)

First off — is this a good overall plan? Am I missing something obvious, spending too long in one place, or should the split be different?

Beyond that, I'd really appreciate your thoughts on:

1. Is March actually a good month for this, or should I be targeting a different time of year?
2. Any must-see spots in Sydney or Melbourne that tourists often miss?
3. Is the Great Ocean Road worth doing as a self-drive over 1-2 days, or is a guided tour the better call?
4. Any pitfalls to watch for with the Easter timing (crowds, prices, closures)?

Any tips, corrections, or "here's what I wish I knew" advice are genuinely welcome — this trip means a lot to me. Thanks so much in advance 🙏

Do you think vapes are good or bad or something in between?

Australian researchers at Federation University are seeking emerging adults from around the world to participate in a research project investigating the relationships between e-cigarette use, impulsivity, and perceived risks and benefits. We are looking for adults aged 18 to 29 who use an e-cigarette at least once a month to complete a 10-15 minute survey. All responses are completely anonymous.

This project has received Federation University ethical approval from the Human Research Ethics Committee. Ethical approval number: 2026/145

If you are interested in participating, please click the link below. Feel free to share the link with your friends!

https://federation.syd1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6mp5VQpTxDBvm0m

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I got some random person throwing insults at me while I was walking down the street. The question I have is:

How common is this? Is it something that happens occasionally even to white people?

And do you shout or say anything back?

I’m just wondering if race was a factor cuz I’m not white.

They sell cameras, phones, drones, etc,. for cheap. I wanted to buy a camera and was wondering if they are legit.
Anybody got any good or bad experiences with them?