When can i?
Do you want to book a FREE workshop for your school or youth group?
Have a look at the presentation packages we offer and request a talk
Question - When Can I? | Answer - Age you can legally do stuff in NSW |
Consent to have sex | 16 |
Get my own Facebook, Snapchat or Instagram | 13 |
Get a tattoo | 18 or 16 with a parent or guardian’s OK |
Get a piercing | 16 or any age with a parent or guardian’s OK (except for nipple or genital piercing) |
Buy alcohol, cigarettes or e-cigarettes | 18 |
Open a bank account | 12 (if you can sign your name as a signature the same way every time) or any age with a parent or guardian’s OK |
Leave school | 17 or when you finish Year 10 (if you then go into full-time education, training, paid work or a combination of these) |
Vote in elections | 18 |
Get a passport | 18 or any age with both parent’s or guardian’s OK |
Get my own Medicare card | 15 |
Talk to a counsellor | Any age |
Get a job | Any age as long as your job doesn’t stop you going to school if you haven’t finished Year 10 |
Buy condoms | Any age |
See a doctor by myself | 14 |
Get in trouble with the police | 10 |
Buy spray paint | 18 |
Go to a night club, pub or casino by myself | 18 |
Be sent to prison | 10 (to a Juvenile Detention Centre) |
Get your learners licence | 16 for a car or 16 and 9 months for a motorbike |
Sign a contract to buy a mobile phone, car, motorbike, gym membership or rent a place to live | 18 or any age as long as the contract is for your benefit and you understand what you are signing |
Apply to Centrelink for Youth Allowance | 16 |
Get fined | 10 |
Get a credit card or a money loan | 18 |
Get married | 16 (with a court’s OK and one person is over 18) or 18 |
Change my name | 18 or any age with both parent’s or guardian’s and your OK |
Move out of your parent or guardian’s home | Any age (as long as you have a safe place to live and enough money to live on) |
When can I talk to a lawyer?
You have the right to talk to a lawyer at any age if you think you have a legal problem.
What you say to a lawyer is confidential. This means they can’t tell your parents, guardian, the police or anyone else unless you say it’s OK.
Why would I talk to a lawyer?
Legal problems can be hard to spot.
A lawyer can help you with problems at home, school, with fines, money, your boss or landlord or if you have to go to Court.
To get free help with your legal problems:
- Call LawAccess NSW 1300 888 529
- Call the Legal Aid NSW Youth Hotline 1800 10 18 10
- Visit the Youth Law Australia website
Free When Can I? poster to download to display in your school, library or youth service
New in 2020 - Free When Can I? find a word game to download for young people to play and then look up the answers on the web page
Download this When Can I? document for more information about the laws
Play the online Kahoot! quiz - When can I?
- Go to the Kahoot quiz - log in to Kahoot.com and then click on Play on the left hand side under the little purple Legal Aid NSW character
- Choose classic or team mode and then a game PIN will come up
- Get everyone to log into kahoot.it on their device and enter the game PIN
- Start the game and have fun!
