GraduM8 Weekly https://www.gradum8.org/newsletter One focused topic a week on leaving uni in Australia: pay, visas, work rights and the graduate transition. General information, not advice. en-au Mon, 05 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Issue 09: The super account you forgot about is quietly losing you money https://www.gradum8.org/newsletter/issue-09-lost-super https://www.gradum8.org/newsletter/issue-09-lost-super Mon, 05 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Every casual and part-time job you had before and during uni may have opened a super account you never closed. Each one can take its own account-keeping fee. Some also take an insurance premium. The ATO can show every account, including lost super and money the ATO is holding, in one login. Consolidation through myGov is free. Leaving them sitting there is not. Issue 08: Your bond, your condition report, and the ten minutes that save it https://www.gradum8.org/newsletter/issue-08-bond-condition-report https://www.gradum8.org/newsletter/issue-08-bond-condition-report Mon, 28 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT The most expensive five minutes of moving in are the ones most people skip. A rental bond is usually equal to four weeks' rent. The signed condition report, plus your own dated photos, is the main evidence when that money is contested at move-out. If you unpack first and photograph later, you have already lost the argument about the stain that was already there. Issue 07: What actually replaced the old 482 (and why it matters after your 485) https://www.gradum8.org/newsletter/issue-07-skills-in-demand-after-485 https://www.gradum8.org/newsletter/issue-07-skills-in-demand-after-485 Mon, 21 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT If someone is still telling you the next visa after a 485 is a "482 TSS," they are reading last year's rules. On 7 December 2024 the Skills in Demand visa replaced the Temporary Skill Shortage visa. It kept subclass 482. It did not keep the old structure. The visa an employer would actually sponsor you into now is Skills in Demand. Issue 06: The right to disconnect now covers you too, whoever you work for https://www.gradum8.org/newsletter/issue-06-right-to-disconnect https://www.gradum8.org/newsletter/issue-06-right-to-disconnect Mon, 21 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT If you started at a workplace with fewer than 15 employees this year, the right to disconnect already covers you. It has done so since 26 August 2025. The rule is not "your boss cannot text you." It is that you can refuse to monitor, read or respond to that contact outside your working hours, unless the refusal itself is unreasonable. Issue 05: The graduate program isn't the only door https://www.gradum8.org/newsletter/issue-05-graduate-program-not-only-door https://www.gradum8.org/newsletter/issue-05-graduate-program-not-only-door Mon, 14 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT Your uni careers portal is still selling a handful of named graduate programs. The actual job market is not. In July 2026, Jobs and Skills Australia counted 212,200 online job advertisements nationally. 77,700 of those were Skill Level 1 roles, the band that sits at bachelor degree or higher. The Index classifies those ads by occupation, not by whether anyone branded them as a graduate program. Issue 04: The visa change that isn't law yet, but could still catch you out https://www.gradum8.org/newsletter/issue-04-visa-change-not-law-yet https://www.gradum8.org/newsletter/issue-04-visa-change-not-law-yet Mon, 07 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT In the past week, several outlets have reported that the federal government is close to finalising a new round of migration restrictions, with international students as the main target. The headline move being floated: most students could lose the right to bring a partner or children into Australia with them at all, a shift modelled on the UK's 2024 ban on student dependants. None of this is confirmed policy yet, but if family is part of your decision to study or work here, it's worth knowing exactly what's being proposed before you lock in plans around today's rules. Issue 03: Casual conversion actually changed. Here's what it means now. https://www.gradum8.org/newsletter/issue-03-casual-conversion https://www.gradum8.org/newsletter/issue-03-casual-conversion Tue, 01 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT If you've been in the same casual job for six months, there's a good chance you already have a legal right that most casual staff never find out about, because nobody's job is to tell you. Issue 02: Your first payslip will have deductions you've never seen before. https://www.gradum8.org/newsletter/issue-02-first-payslip https://www.gradum8.org/newsletter/issue-02-first-payslip Tue, 18 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT Your first payslip will have deductions on it you've never seen before. Most of them are explainable in one sentence each, except for one box that, if you tick it wrong, costs you money for an entire financial year. Issue 01: Payday Super, and why your payslip isn't the whole story. https://www.gradum8.org/newsletter/issue-01-payday-super https://www.gradum8.org/newsletter/issue-01-payday-super Tue, 04 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT Something changed on 1 July that affects almost every graduate starting a job this year, and barely anyone has explained it properly. It's called Payday Super, and it means the way your super gets paid just changed for good.