1. Where the information comes from
Every claim on this site is sourced from a real, verifiable place. For legal and policy questions — visas, tax, healthcare, working rights — the primary source is the relevant Australian government site (homeaffairs.gov.au, ato.gov.au, servicesaustralia.gov.au, fairwork.gov.au). For prices, transit routes, and opening hours, I cross-check the operator's official site with the most recent Australian community reports I can find.
Where the information is based on personal experience — for example, which suburbs have weekend GP availability or which banks have multilingual staff — I'll say so plainly. Where it isn't, I'll link to the official source and stop there.
2. How often content is reviewed
Time-sensitive pages (visas, tax, transit fares, contact details for hard-to-find services) are reviewed at least once per quarter. Evergreen pages (general culture, slang, what to expect at the beach) are reviewed once a year or when a reader flags an issue.
Every page carries a last-updated stamp in its metadata. If a page does not show one, it is a bug — please tell me.
3. What doesn't go into a page
There are a few things this site won't do:
- No auto-generated content. Every page is written by a person (me), based on real experience or checked against a primary source.
- No scraped-and-spun text. Nothing on this site is paraphrased from another website. If a topic requires extensive legal or policy detail, I link to the original source instead of restating it.
- No pay-to-rank recommendations. No destination, visa, restaurant, or product is on this site because someone paid for it to be. Suggestions are based on what I'd actually tell a friend arriving this week.
- No anonymous affiliate links. Affiliate links get a disclosure banner or are removed. Right now the site runs no affiliate links.
4. Reporting an error
If you spot something that's wrong, outdated, or missing — whether it's a price that's moved on, a train station that closed, or a Korean phrase that's been translated incorrectly — please tell me. Corrections are welcome, attribution is given when wanted, and the page is updated promptly.
The fastest route is email: michaelbui@outlook.com.au. It goes to a personal inbox rather than a support queue. You can also open a GitHub issue on github.com/michaelbui92/aussie-mate/issues.
5. Self-imposed limitations
For topics where I lack hands-on experience — migration law, serious mental-health support, immigration appeals — I won't write the page myself. Instead the relevant section links directly to a qualified Australian source (a community legal centre, Lifeline, the relevant tribunal). The site's value comes from saying what it doesn't know.
For everything else I will write: ordinary life, settling in, money and banking, getting around, working, studying, and the things you'd ask a friend who has lived in Sydney for ten years.
6. Reach the editor
All corrections, suggestions, and source amendments go to the same person who wrote the pages. There is no editorial board, no review queue — your email reaches me directly.