r/australian

I don't know where to start this. I bought an engagement ring from Michael Hill back in October for $2,500. Now I know this was ages a go, don't get me wrong.. well when I first went to purchase the ring, I wanted to get it resized to the size I need. They lady who served me said no, you're best not to do that yet. The size could be wrong. Propose to her and bring it back and we'll resize it to what you need.

And me being naive, was like alright, at least if I do that it'll fit her perfectly. I really didn't think anything of it.

Fast forward to May, I finally did the proposal after dealing with a bunch of family issues, as to why it got delayed.

I did a scavenger hunt proposal, I localised all our greatest memories into our home town and she'll go find all the boxes with riddles leading to the next place, and finally to the proposal site.

I proposed and she said yes, but wouldn't you know the ring doesn't fit at all. It's way too big, it literally can't sit on her finger, so it went back in the box after she got to wear it for not even an hour because it's literally slide right off her hand.

We take it back to Michael Hill the next day and a different lady says it can only be taken down two sizes, and it'll need to be exchanged. I thought that was weird. I didn't know that. Come back Tuesday and the manager will exchange it, it shouldn't be a problem.

Tuesday comes, I get to talk to the manager now and he tells me again that it can only be taken down two sizes. I told him what the lady told me, that you can exchange it. He has a quick look at it with his microscope and goes nope! There's too much wear and tear on it, we can't exchange it. Fucking what? Wear and tear from a ring that can't and has barely been worn?

So now I'm stuck with an over sized engagement ring, that I literally tried to get resized when I first purchased it, and my fiance has nothing to show for it. All because of this "wear and tear". And I was mislead about ring resizing.

I get that in part it was my fault for waiting so long, but regardless, I would have still had the same issue trying to exchange it because of the "wear and tear".

So what the fuck do I do now?

Nine shareholders have today unanimously voted in favour of selling off their regional TV assets to WIN Television, including Nine (NTD-8) Darwin. The competition watchdog ACCC had already approved the deal.

It means for Darwin viewers, there will almost certainly soon be changes coming to Nine Darwin. The arrival of WIN Television into the NT will see the end of the currently Newcastle-produced 9News Darwin mini-bulletins, to likely be replaced with short, generic, WIN News noodle updates. As for a full bulletin, if it were to return, it would have the WIN News branding, and would serve the entire NT, from Darwin to Alice Springs.

“One of the most confronting aspects of the Assange case for many Australians was the reluctance of Australian political leaders to defend him strongly.”

The changes to negative gearing are an absolute joke. It's only new investors who can't negatively gear multiple properties. All existing investors are still allowed to have their properties negatively geared. This only hurts us younger generations more. They let the older generations accumulate wealth off the backs of those renting and then they make it harder for younger generations to accumulate wealth. They need to scrap negative gearing completely. The argument that it keeps rents low is absolute bs! If negative gearing was scrapped you'd have a shitload of properties hit the market, particularly with rising interest rates.

Housing would be more affordable to buy. There would be less demand for us to rent. Therefore we would have more control on what we pay week to week not leaving it up to the landlords.

I am so mad at this country we keep doing things to further hurt younger generations. Older people are not entitled to negative gearing, they kick up such a stink... You are literally getting free money. You are not entitled to it. You want to create a property investment portfolio... Great you do that, but you will have to actually make sure it generates profits. You shouldn't be able to make a "loss" but actually still accumulate wealth. This has only made it worse for renters!!

Long time blood donor but completely over it. Overseas donors can get hundreds of dollars while the medicine they transform it into nets then thousands. Why aren't I getting paid for my time, effort, risk end actual parts of my body?

I'm glad Margot who bought her house in 99 for a nickel and a penny and a chunk of csl shares was able to profit >100x on the appreciation and probably just as much on divvies while I literally bleed for free.

Where is the outrage?

I’ve been here for about a decade and my family is finally coming to visit soon from overseas on a holiday. I never really experienced Australia as a tourist. I came here and jumped right into domestic life with my partner. Australia is just home to me so when I think of grand holiday here I think of just like 12 hours uninterrupted sleep in my bed lol. I’m trying to think of some quintessential stuff I wouldn’t want them to miss, but for some reason my mind’s drawing a bunch of blanks.

We don’t know where we’ll end up yet, so not looking at specific attraction recommendations but more… Aussie things that you can only really experience here. I know they’re real keen on trying chips with chicken salt. I’ll likely go for one of those zoo wildlife encounters for koalas/kangaroos (the only thing I ever did as a “tourist” and enjoyed the novelty and photos). But what other sort of stuff is there like that?

I want them to have a good time and really feel like they experienced *Australia* and things you can only really do/see/eat here

I want to get a better understanding of what's going on in politics at the moment but I don't know if any politics communicators that are left leaning but also acknowledge that The Greens are a POS and are willing to point out The Labour party's many flaws while still acknowledging that they're the least bad option to vote for atm.

I've tried friendly Jordies and I like/agree with a lot of what he had to say but a lot of his videos have too much fluff and go too fast for me to fly understand what's going on. Does anyone else like this exist or is Australia cooked?

So i really thought this was an Aussie thing until a few work mates never heard of it. Then I asked a few more people and nobody has had it before.

Just a white bread with butter and vegemite with smith's chicken chips or salt and vinegar chips on it.

🍿 Do you remember this peanut?…YES! Like a bad rash or a neighbour’s leaf blower. She's in the news again.

Not sure is this actually normal?

Bought a coffee machine from JB Hi-Fi on Friday morning.

Machine arrived faulty and wouldn’t even complete the first rinse cycle out of the box. Just flashing red constantly.

Took it back the same afternoon thinking it would be a pretty straightforward exchange/refund situation.

That was apparently optimistic.

Staff member starts testing the machine and first asks me to hand him some random empty 1.5L bottle sitting near the counter so he can fill the machine with water.

I said no because honestly that seemed insane.

So instead he uses water from his own personal drink bottle to test my brand new coffee machine.

At this point I’m already wondering if I’m overreacting or if this is genuinely bizarre.

Anyway.

Machine still not working properly.

Then he swaps my original water tank with one from the display model and suddenly the machine works.

He literally tells me:

“See? No problem.”

I said the original water tank was clearly faulty and the machine was unusable when I received it, so I’d prefer replacement or refund.

That somehow triggered a full Australian Consumer Law debate.

Staff member starts loudly explaining that:

“THE WATER TANK IS NOT THE COFFEE MACHINE”

and keeps repeating “minor fault”.

Meanwhile I’m standing there thinking:

isn’t the part that lets the coffee machine actually hold water kind of important to the coffee machine?

Then I pointed out the replacement tank looked scratched and still had promotional stickers on it.

Staff member loudly tells me:

“THIS IS NEW.”

Manager finally appears after standing nearby watching the whole thing for ages.

Manager then says he’s “not technical”, won’t test the machine himself, and basically just repeats whatever the staff member says.

I mention I may need to submit a complaint and manager responds with:

“Yeah you can do that. They can’t do anything to us.”

Honestly the whole interaction became so weird that I started taking comparison photos of the two water tanks because I felt like I was losing my mind.

Best part:

another JB Hi-Fi refunded the machine the very next day almost immediately because yes, the original water tank actually was faulty out of the box.

Still trying to work out if using your own half-finished drink bottle to test someone’s brand new food appliance is normal retail procedure now.

Edit:

For everyone asking, it was JB Hi-Fi Narre Warren HOME.

Already lodged a complaint through the website, but the confirmation email says the “support team at our Narre Warren HOME store will be in touch”.

So from what I can tell, the people I’m complaining about are also the ones handling the complaint.

Starting to see why the manager didn’t seem overly concerned when I mentioned it.🤷‍♂️

I don’t live in Australia - I’m visiting for the first time. Because of the region change I’m getting Australian ads on YouTube, Spotify etc.

I keep getting this ad that is straight up spreading missinformation and anti-science about obesity.

I‘m paraphrasing here but it essentially says:

- ”studies show“ (lol) that 80% cases of obesity are due to genetics, and

- no amount of dieting or exercise will help

I mean I know things are different here, but I highly doubt the universal laws of thermodynamics don’t apply in the down-under.

Serious question, is there no oversight in Australia when it comes to the content you can put out? Can you just in general spread misinformation as long as you pay for an ad campaign? It’s especially worrying since this is about health and the well being of nation as a whole.

Is this common in Australia? Would you be in favor of some form of oversight over this kind of stuff or you in favor of freedom of speech even if the speech contains blatantly false information?

Hi!

So, around a month ago I applied for my own medicare card. My parents only just found out and are furious, because they think I'm no longer covered by our family private health insurance (NIB).

We've been trying to research whether I'd still be considered a dependent (as I am a full time student), but the results have been ambiguous.

I'm not particularly pressed, as I would of had to leave eventually.

Any fellow Australian/s know or have a similar experience?

EDIT: Please do not comment on the character of my parents. You don’t know what they’re like or what my relationship is with them. This post isn’t in regards to them.

Long story short.
I ended up on a Working Holiday Visa for australia and will start in Brisbane in a week.
The thing is I know nothing about the place and very little about Australia.
I´ll be there 4 weeks before my birthday and i want to find cool things to do for that

I will need a job at some point but i´m not to worried for the first 2 months cause i came with savings (and will go to other places after brisbane) - still ideas for work for short periods of time or day jobs / Jobs that only last a few days would be nice
I do care to find places to connect and talk to people
I want to find artsy things for daylife and a good place to dance for nightlife.

I just googled some things and tripped over brisbane being "the most boring place in australia" and it kind of made me anxious.

Any recommendations for food, spots to drink and dance, clubs to go to ......Everything would be appreciated (it will be winter so i assume the beach and sun stuff won´t be that useful yet)

And i have on my bucket list to be in some kind of production. Like just a background person in films or series
i like unusual and new things

i prefer things to do rather than things to see

i do like active sport (but i am not staying too long so club sport where they look for long term members wouldn´t be useful to me)

and if someone can explain to me the different regions of Brisbane and what i can find in which i would appreciate it.

1. Nightlife

2. daylife arts/events in june/culture

3. spots to meet new people

4. sports / adrenaline / action stuff

5. food spots

6. short term work

7. explaining brisbane regions

8. any experience that´s rare / could be new

Just anything you have to say about brisbane.