Comments on: Dealing with Centrelink is a full-time job for some pensioners

By: Bill Parker

Bill Parker — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 10:41:30 +0000

It’s so re-assuring to know that CSIRO have got grant of some millions to see how to make CL work better.

By: Janet Ryan

Janet Ryan — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 09:22:06 +0000

Last Monday was the first day for me to report my previous fortnight’s earnings. I started ringing the number at 9am, every ten minutes, it was engaged the whole time, I tried to use the net but the only people that can use the net to report income are anyone NOT on the Age Pension. Luckily I don’t live far from an office, so by mid afternoon I typed up the information and stood in a queue for 20 minutes to hand it in. I asked if it was possible to email the info or fax it. I was given a fax number but was told it might not go to the right place. Next Monday is a public holiday, I am not looking forward to it!!.

By: Chris Johnson

Chris Johnson — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 08:05:10 +0000

Centrelink is so dysfunctional you don’t deal with it - you suffer it. After my Mum (a nursing home patient) passed away last December during the Xmas break Centrelink overpaid, raised a debt and then with held the bereavement payment all of which went undetected because the solicitor was also on leave for four weeks. Over $1,000 in legal fees has been expended as the solicitor works with the bank, nursing home and Centrelink to unravel the mess. It was the second time Mum’s accounts had been stuffed by Centrelink overpayments and she’d never filled in a form for over 25-years.

By: Heathdon McGregor

Heathdon McGregor — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 05:46:51 +0000

Unfortunately the easiest way to grab a headline is to attack the “lazy” people who haved lived and contributed to this country for years. Pollies will continue to put the screws to pensioners as it seems the new version of “tough on crime” is “tough on fraud” both mean “tough on those who cant afford to fight back.”

By: Rena Zurawel

Rena Zurawel — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 05:38:33 +0000

Centrallink is the most inefficient of all bureaucracies ever. They treat every pensioner as a potential freud and the people working there very often play gods. Many people employed in the Centrelink are arrogant, ignorant and have no P/R training. But they are entitled to make mistakes, send some stupid letters and bloody forms three times by mistake, refuse to answer questions and send people to ‘go to the website’ regardless whether pensioners have access to the computer or not. Calling Centrelink for info is a waste of time; one can get crazy with pre-recorded messages . The system is abusive, undemocratic and terribly authoritarian. Centrelink is entitled to offend and harass people whose health is very often ailing and who cannot cope with all all these small prints in the forms designed by some mente capti..
Australia does not have a pension system at all. It’s the ‘government handouts’.
From all OECD countries our system looks bleak.
The consecutive governments are prepared to pay the whole army of not necessary qualified people in Centrelink at the expense of the elderly who have paid very hefty taxes all their lives. I think, two categories of under- citizens in Australia are students and pensioners. Middle class is vanishing.
Poor country of Australia cannot afford looking after its population other than politicians and big corporates, preferably foreign…
As a matter of fact, we have a classic caste system in which different classes of people are treated differently. Politicians, even those poor ones, are entitled to all perks ever until their ….death. For all others, the system cannot wait to have them dead.
Following caste system of India ?????????? Or we have spent too much money on foreign wars?

By: jungarrayi

jungarrayi — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 05:18:21 +0000

A few years ago I overheard my (since deceased) father on the phone to Centrelink. My mother had died leaving behind a $2,000 debt to Centrelink. This debt arose due to Centrelink’s incompetence when they overpaid her by not accounting for her Dutch superannuation. Centrelink then proceeded to try and extract this debt from my father whose only asset was the house he lived in.
My dad told the lady at the other end of the phone that if she saw an old man playing the harmonica in front of her office with a hat in front of him that would be him.

By: Liz45

Liz45 — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 04:30:53 +0000

As a woman who’s been reliant on CentreLink(and before that Social Security, or Social inSecurity as I called it) I could write a book on my dealings. Just to give a hint of the frustrations I suffered. When I first applied for benefit, I’d been on Workers Comp but it was cut off. My employer(Dept of Education,NSW)had advised me not to return to work, and my doctor had furnished me with a certificate for light duties - Soc.Security were not going to pay me unemployment benefit as I had not been ‘formally sacked’, nor would they pay sickness benefit as I had the light duties certificate - so I was going to have to survive on nothing??
I’d just left an abusive marriage and was a mess-it took 2 days on the phone to both State & Federal members for sanity to prevail.

After the first few times of being embarrassed at checkouts, as the money wasn’t in my account, I got to check it before I went shopping. They once cut my money off as although I’d applied for disability and sickness, they were on 2 separate forms in 2 separate areas, and they cut of payment due to ‘lack of furnishing them with appropriate medical certificates’?Uhm, do you think you could photocopy said certificates with other forms???

They once wrote to me, 2 pages in total - page 1 in one envelope, and yes, you guessed it, page 2 in another. I still have them! I was once threatened with legal action as I hadn’t paid back a certain amount from my awarded full workers comp weekly payments. The insisted it was a lump sum, I insisted, that it was only back money - it was only the accumulation of weekly amounts that were not paid to me during that time - not a lump sum as in a negligence case for example.
I was correct, they were wrong.When they finally relented and agreed with me, it was just an ‘ooooppss’ moment; no apology, no formal letter to assure me, that I wouldn’t end up in court.

There are many others I can assure you. My advice is; never hand over any papers(proof of income, doctors reports etc) ANYTHING until the original is photocopied and your copy is dated and initialled. Always keep your Centrelink statements, letters etc. Don’t rely on the person on the phone - there’s no guarantee, that when you hang up they’ll make the necessary notes on your file. I’ve heard of this situation via talkback re women on sole benefits, or women whose husband/partner also worked etc. Ask for confirmation, via email if you have a computer - it’s a relatively new avenue of keeping tabs on your file. Try to see the same person at your Centrelink office, but I realize this is not possible for country and/or remote areas. Don’t put up with patronizing and insulting attitudes - they demand respect, no violence, language etc - as they’re entitled, and so are you! If you feel upset and unsettled, take a friend/partner/family member with you for support, but make sure they speak to you, not your younger son/daughter - often happens with women?????

Once, I was so frustrated by their latest act that when my youngest son rang me, (just to say hello)I was a mess. He came with me the next morning, with letter etc,and as he looked like a big ‘copper’ it had an effect. I pride myself on being able to cope with just about anything, but this was the last straw! Read everything they send, then read it again, keep them in one convenient spot, and if all else fails, ask to speak/see someone in charge. Also keep bank or credit union statements re proof of income. Federal members are there to help constituents - don’t hesitate to call on them too!

By: SusieQ

SusieQ — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 04:15:10 +0000

While politicians and ex-politicians entitlements continue unabated (surely it is time for the gold card scheme for ex-pollies to tbe abolished?) those who have made a long and decent contribution to our society are made to feel guilty for the small pensio they receive. Champion effort from a party that USED to look after the workers and the pensioners.

By: jungarrayi

jungarrayi — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 04:09:39 +0000

I live in a “prescribed area” unter the NTER (Northern Territory Emergency Response). All Centrelink recipients in Yuendumu are under “Income Management” alledgedly to stop the “rivers of grog” and protect the women and children against paedophyle rings and the “barons of porn” (as Tony Abbott dubbed them) and to ensure they get “healthy food at reasonable prices”. Suffice it to say that all this is reminiscent of the Weapons of Mass Destruction (and Children Overboard for that matter). The UN’s special rapporteur on indigenous rights, James Anaya, that visited Yuendumu said “the NT intervention measures, including compulsory income management and blanket bans on alcohol, are ‘overtly discriminatory’ and further stigmatise already stigmatised communities”.

So now all other Australian pensioners have joined those on prescribed areas in being subjected to bureaucratic overkill by what has to be one of the most inefficient government agencies.

I won’t bore you with the details but a friend of mine received a letter from Centrelink advising him that his Income Management account had a balance of $0.80 and to contact Centrelink to discuss how he should spend this money. Good on Centrelink for preventing my friend from spending his money on grog.