We live in a culture that still treats kindness as a personality trait rather than a skill. Worse, it's often dismissed as a liability - something you grow out of, toughen past, or learn to suppress if you want to survive in "the real world". But anyone who has ever led a team through crisis…

There's a particular kind of overwhelm that belongs to this moment in history.

It's not just the usual pressures of adulthood: the bills, the deadlines, the responsibilities. It's the sense that the world itself is vibrating at a frequency our nervous systems were never designed to hold.

Every few months, a new debate erupts about welfare, unemployment benefits, disability payments, or social support. Politicians argue about budgets. Commentators argue about “deservingness.” Bureaucrats argue about compliance. But almost no one talks about…

In the glittering world of social media management, marketing, and digital design, the job market often feels like a popularity contest at a high school where the only acceptable ID is a birth year post-2000.

I recently had a client say to me, "Why should I pay for a resume writer when AI can do it for free?"

And I thought, "Ah, yes, the same logic that brought us boxed wine and inflatable pool furniture."

Over the years, I've written a lot about Australians who receive Centrelink support.

I've written about robodebt, mutual obligations, the cashless debit card, devastating dole-bludger narratives and the general struggle of trying to make ends meet while looking for work.

How many times have you submitted a job application for a role where you don't know the salary, or maybe even the company name?

Or worse, YOU are asked to state in the application what salary you are looking for without any idea as to what they are willing to pay?

I cannot believe I'm writing this, but on Saturday night, I must admit, I felt for former Dickson MP and opposition leader Peter Dutton.

As a careers counsellor, that is. I genuinely felt for him.

In a world increasingly reliant on technology, accessibility should not be an afterthought - it must be a foundational principle.

For many individuals, the concept of accessibility in mainstream software programs is limited to superficial "fixes" such as a basic screen reader function or changing font sizes, heralding their "commitment" to "accessibility".

It's OK to not be OK. Mental health is important. Smash the stigma around mental illness.

These catchy mantras of 21st-century Western society have seen us invent RUOK Day, raise money for suicide awareness, wear ribbons to denote mental illness, and establish subtle symbolism like the semi-colon as representative of mental health survival.

When I was an employee, I thought running my own business would be the ultimate freedom - to be my own boss, to make my own hours, to be flexible, to be there for my children.