Hi everyone! Taking my friend who is visiting to go see the Blue Mountains for a day trip and looking for some recommendations/ways of pacing the day out. I haven't been in over ten years, and will be driving up - but do not have a 4WD, just normal car.

I would definitely take her to see the 3 Sisters, but beyond that asking what is the best and easiest sequence of events in a day trip - as well as the best accessible view points, easy hikes/walks and whether the train/cable car is worth it anymore.

Hi all!

I'm a current university student graduating at the end of 2026, and have applied to numerous APS grad programs throughout the year to very minimal success, with some of them even outright rejecting after the first screening stages with minimal explanation. While I wasn't expecting loads and loads of progressions/offers as I am aware a lot of the grad programs are extremely competitive, it has been quite disheartening as I have strong grades, policy-related internship experiences and language capabilities/overseas year-long exchange program which I thought would at least be a good distinguishing feature.

In particular I was recently rejected before any stages by Austrade which was one of my preferred programs due to its combination of public/private sector work/relevance with my own international background - many of my friends who are also graduating this year or who have graduated recently have also been experiencing this, despite their equally impressive resumes/experiences.

I am wondering if this symptomatic of the APS hiring environment at the moment & if anyone has advice about other ways breaking into entry-level roles?

Hi all. I am an undergraduate student who is quite behind on her thesis seeking advice about qualitative framing analysis for newspaper articles (comparing a chinese concept in anglo-american/chinese-based english media, the guardian/nyt vs china daily/global times). I am fundamentally quite confused about the process of how to code for frames in the newspapers as I fear I have gone into a large spiral of overthinking and overcomplication. I am doing this manually and solo-coding (I had a late topic change and significant mental disruption during the first half of this year and essentially have three months left til my submission with nothing concrete on paper yet, so please excuse my lack of progress).

I plan to do a combination of deductive and inductive frames, building on generic established frames like semetko/valkenburg's and then adding in a few china-specific ones, followed by any inductive ones that arise. But my main concerns are as following;

1. How to properly code for frames? is it simply just creating operational definitions and questions to guide frame identification (borrowing from the deductive pre-existing and adapting to issue-specific inductive ones)? I think here I am getting indicators quite mixed up and confused, and in building a coding framebook I am also quite lost.
2. What is being recorded in framing analysis? is it just frames per articles/tiers themselves, or every extract used to justify the frames?
3. How big is too big for a corpus? If I roughly have around 65 articles identified for one tier and more for the other tier, is it best to size down - systematically random sample to make the corpus smaller?

TL:DR Any advice or generic help to clarify framing analysis would be much appreciated!!!

Hi all. I am an undergraduate student who is quite behind on her thesis seeking advice about qualitative framing analysis for newspaper articles (comparing a chinese concept in anglo-american/chinese-based english media, the guardian/nyt vs china daily/global times). I am fundamentally quite confused about the process of how to code for frames in the newspapers as I fear I have gone into a large spiral of overthinking and overcomplication. I am doing this manually and solo-coding (I had a late topic change and significant mental disruption during the first half of this year and essentially have three months left til my submission with nothing concrete on paper yet, so please excuse my lack of progress).

I plan to do a combination of deductive and inductive frames, building on generic established frames like semetko/valkenburg's and then adding in a few china-specific ones, followed by any inductive ones that arise. But my main concerns are as following in relation to framing analysis as a whole, as I think I keep getting mixed up with themes/frames.

1. How to properly code for frames? is it simply just creating operational definitions and questions to guide frame identification (borrowing from the deductive pre-existing and adapting to issue-specific inductive ones)? I think here I am getting indicators quite mixed up and confused, and in building a coding framebook I am also quite lost.
2. What is being recorded in framing analysis? is it just frames per articles/tiers themselves, or every extract used to justify the frames?
3. How big is too big for a corpus? If I roughly have around 65 articles identified for one tier and more for the other tier, is it best to size down - systematically random sample to make the corpus smaller?

TL:DR Any advice or generic help to clarify framing analysis would be much appreciated!!!

Hi all. I am an undergraduate student who is quite behind on her thesis seeking advice about qualitative framing analysis for newspaper articles (comparing a chinese concept in anglo-american/chinese-based english media, the guardian/nyt vs china daily/global times). I am fundamentally quite confused about the process of how to code for frames in the newspapers as I fear I have gone into a large spiral of overthinking and overcomplication. I am doing this manually and solo-coding (I had a late topic change and significant mental disruption during the first half of this year and essentially have three months left til my submission with nothing concrete on paper yet, so please excuse my lack of progress).

I plan to do a combination of deductive and inductive frames, building on generic established frames like semetko/valkenburg's and then adding in a few china-specific ones, followed by any inductive ones that arise. But my main concerns are as following;

1. How to properly code for frames? is it simply just creating operational definitions and questions to guide frame identification (borrowing from the deductive pre-existing and adapting to issue-specific inductive ones)? I think here I am getting indicators quite mixed up and confused, and in building a coding framebook I am also quite lost.

2. What is being recorded in framing analysis? is it just frames per articles/tiers themselves, or every extract used to justify the frames?

3. How big is too big for a corpus? If I roughly have around 65 articles identified for one tier and more for the other tier, is it best to size down - systematically random sample to make the corpus smaller?

TL:DR Any advice or generic help to clarify framing analysis would be much appreciated!!!

23F. I am really struggling with everything in my life - career and academia/future paths mostly. I was always a very academic child throughout highschool, graduated during the pandemic and sort of panic-chose my university course which I later switched after a semester to a business/finance degree with another major in chinese. Basically really struggled at university to connect with what I was studying, feeling like I didn't enjoy finance or business but also having that sort of feeling that I was wasting my potential if I didn't / other people do it all the time so why shouldn't I and simultaneously try to make money. This is a major identity crisis I have since been having. I didn't fail university or anything of the sort, maintaining a distinction average, but this was mainly through my chinese courses as opposed to finance/business. I also spent a year on exchange in China which I really enjoyed, and returning back to my home country made me quite depressed in the aftermath for almost a year. I think I align more with international affairs type roles, would love to live overseas again at different stints and times - but again a lot of public policy roles require economics/law/postgraduate masters degrees too.

I graduate at the end of this year and have an audit/big 4 graduate offer but that is the only role I have been able to land thus far having been rejected from many better government, other business/finance jobs that I maybe would have privileged much more. It also doesn't help that so many of my friends are incredibly accomplished and have managed to land their respective dream jobs/much better and higher paying, greater opportunities. I don't even feel like trying to take a year off or work like that as some pseudo 'break' because I feel like I've done nothing to earn that break - average university work, average extracurriculars, and so much time spent wasted. It doesn't help that the job market is quite bad, the rise of AI is threatening everything for young people etc.

I guess my request/general plea is for advice. I fear that in taking that big 4 audit graduate role (which is also the bottom of the barrel type of graduate role with absolutely minimal pay, tedious work and often long hours in the busy season for no overtime) - it is also totally unaligned with my interests and potential future path. But I am at such a loss at what to do otherwise, having lost significant confidence and self-belief.

Hi all, looking for some career advice regarding the APS.

Have applied for quite a few graduate programs that interested me for the 2027 start-date, but looking to hear any firsthand advice/experiences regarding some of the ones I am most interested in. Sadly have already been rejected from ASD and DFAT in their 2nd/1st rounds respectively, but expected little with DFAT in light of how competitive it is. I am a final year Bachelor of Commerce student majoring in Finance/Chinese Studies with an Honours in Chinese Studies - experience studying abroad in China, with international affairs policy work/writing.

- Dep of Finance

- ACIC

- PM&C

- Treasury

- Defence (Business/Policy)

- Productivity Commission

- ACCC

- Home Affairs

Moreover, I was wondering if anyone could provide any insight into Austrade? I have heard mixed opinions about the organisation, with many people saying it is somewhat of a watered down version of DFAT/private sector straddling the two. What are the type of transferable skills you really develop at Austrade?

Would appreciate any insights/advice!