Politics Centrelink

[Rotayjay]

A very interesting case. I agree with the judgment - the pension is designed to be a benefit for all who reach a certain age, residency and means-testing requirements. It's not supposed to give you a certain number of years.

Aboriginal man loses bid to access pension early due to shorter life expectancy

Federal court rules Wakka Wakka man did not demonstrate any lesser enjoyment of right to social security

www.theguardian.com

 

[Gralin]

A very interesting case. I agree with the judgment - the pension is designed to be a benefit for all who reach a certain age, residency and means-testing requirements. It's not supposed to give you a certain number of years.

Aboriginal man loses bid to access pension early due to shorter life expectancy

Federal court rules Wakka Wakka man did not demonstrate any lesser enjoyment of right to social security

www.theguardian.com

Kinda shit when your life expectancy is lower than retirement age.

You're pretty much being told society expects you to work until you die

 

[Gralin]

Especially when they keep raising the retirement age

 

[Rotayjay]

Kinda s**t when your life expectancy is lower than retirement age.

You're pretty much being told society expects you to work until you die

I believe the disgraceful gap in life expectancy shouldn't be addressed by the pension age. I hope the Voice helps to do so and I'll be voting yes.

 

[Father Jack]

CES (Commonwealth Employment Service) were the de facto job provider

Walk in the door and there would be dividers with rails attached and jobs on cards. You would peruse the jobs by category and choose one , pull the card out and head to a desk. They would give you info on the job - address , contact etc and it was UP TO YOU to make contact with the employer.

There was no requirement to search X amount of jobs but ''contact'' was encouraged and these jobs could be added to your search requirements.

Social Security ( never called SS ) were the de facto bank. This is where you handed your form in - IN PERSON - which was processed and a cheque would be sent to your address in 2-3 days. If you required quick funds ie spent the whole lot on meth in the 1st day - you could try your luck and get another cheque sent out. Or claim you never received the 1st one and double up

Fun times - except neither building was close to the other

Back in the day in Launceston the CES was very handily just across the road from the DSS in a dead end street. I've only just now realised the symbolism of that

 

[btdg]

Every interaction I have with centrelink highlights just how stupid it is to wrap welfare entitlements in such a massive bureacracy that feels mostly aimed at ensuring the 'wrong people' don't get money. It is utterly opaque and impossible to navigate, and the poor staff there seem to live in a culture of utter terror that they might actually help someone.

I have a degree in finance and cannot for the life of me figure out how much we should receive in childcare subsidy. I've got family members trying to support people with disabilities for whom navigating centrelink and the NDIS is essentially a full time job. And at the same time retired parents (on both sides of the family) discovering almost by mistake that they qualify for a pension (despite having plenty of super).

Universal Basic income would solve so many problems, not least because it could mean the complete dissolution of centrelink, means tests, work for welfare, and every other one of these ridiculous systems.

 

[Rotayjay]

Interesting. I would strongly support the reintroduction of the CES instead of these private leeches, and and end to all this box-ticking garbage.

Also note Peter Dutton, chief hypocrite and **** head, calling for work for the dole to be brought back, but it was never abolished.

Labor eyeing changes to ‘punitive’ mutual obligations for jobseekers, draft party platform suggests

Commitment to review welfare rules for unemployed people has lifted expectations the government will axe requirements such as work for the dole

www.theguardian.com

 

[Gethelred]

Interesting. I would strongly support the reintroduction of the CES instead of these private leeches, and and end to all this box-ticking garbage.

Also note Peter Dutton, chief hypocrite and * head, calling for work for the dole to be brought back, but it was never abolished.

Labor eyeing changes to ‘punitive’ mutual obligations for jobseekers, draft party platform suggests

Commitment to review welfare rules for unemployed people has lifted expectations the government will axe requirements such as work for the dole

www.theguardian.com

I'd like it to be less 'eyeing changes' and more 'fixing a broken, punitive system designed to make welfare as difficult as can be to claim', but it's a step in the right direction.

 

[Gralin]

Debt collecting against welfare recipients is just evil in all forms

Up to 100,000 Centrelink debts or potential debts miscalculated over two decades, ombudsman finds

‘Unlawfully apportioning’ income could cause incorrect calculations on welfare payments but practice unrelated to robodebt, report says

www.theguardian.com

 

[Rotayjay]

Debt collecting against welfare recipients is just evil in all forms

Up to 100,000 Centrelink debts or potential debts miscalculated over two decades, ombudsman finds

‘Unlawfully apportioning’ income could cause incorrect calculations on welfare payments but practice unrelated to robodebt, report says

www.theguardian.com

Prior to late 2020, Centrelink payments were calculated according to what was earned during the Centrelink reporting period rather than what was paid during the Centrelink reporting period.

It dated back to the Labor era of the early '90s was perhaps one of the stupidest things, of all the stupid things about Centrelink. People had to predict what they were about to earn that evening, or predict how their employer would calculate different pay rates etc.

And the above issued highlights that when you try to check that after the fact, it's virtually impossible to verify because the employer doesn't give a damn about the Centrelink fortnight - it only needs to care about its own pay cycle. You can't verify what portions of that payslip were earned in one Centrelink period or the other. Any attempt to apportion it cannot be 100% accurate. It wasn't Robodebt, but it was like Robodebt on a smaller fortnightly rather than yearly scale - as seen above.

This has now changed so that Centrelink customers now need to report what was actually paid (gross) inside the Centrelink period, regardless of when it was 'earned'.

Unworkable and incalculable. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Australia's social security.

 

[Gralin]

Hours on hold, repeated calls, months of delay: Maryanne’s struggle to get urgent jobseeker payments

Even as a former staff member, Maryanne Watts was shocked at how long it took to get urgent assistance. Experts says she is not alone

www.theguardian.com

 

[Pee_Wee_Herman]

What really baffles me is Housos are able to get away with being on the dole thanks to their knowledge of the welfare system (which isn't because of intelligence, rather a result of being through the system so many times) and a tantrum. However, honest people who aren't Houses and want to be honest and do the right thing face constant scrutiny and frustration from Centrelink.

 

[Gralin]

What really baffles me is Housos are able to get away with being on the dole thanks to their knowledge of the welfare system (which isn't because of intelligence, rather a result of being through the system so many times) and a tantrum. However, honest people who aren't Houses and want to be honest and do the right thing face constant scrutiny and frustration from Centrelink.

I see you're doing the round for a bit of poor bashing

 

[NSWCROW]

What really baffles me is Housos are able to get away with being on the dole thanks to their knowledge of the welfare system (which isn't because of intelligence, rather a result of being through the system so many times) and a tantrum. However, honest people who aren't Houses and want to be honest and do the right thing face constant scrutiny and frustration from Centrelink.

 

[JackOutback]

What really baffles me is Housos are able to get away with being on the dole thanks to their knowledge of the welfare system (which isn't because of intelligence, rather a result of being through the system so many times) and a tantrum. However, honest people who aren't Houses and want to be honest and do the right thing face constant scrutiny and frustration from Centrelink.

 

[Number37]

What really baffles me is Housos are able to get away with being on the dole thanks to their knowledge of the welfare system (which isn't because of intelligence, rather a result of being through the system so many times) and a tantrum. However, honest people who aren't Houses and want to be honest and do the right thing face constant scrutiny and frustration from Centrelink.

I would have thought smart people like you, who aren't 'houses' (LOL), would be able to easily work out how to navigate your way through the Social Security system.

 

[Pee_Wee_Herman]

I would have thought smart people like you, who aren't 'houses' (LOL), would be able to easily work out how to navigate your way through the Social Security system.

As someone who is gainfully employed, I don't need to worry about the Social Security system.

 

[Over The Post]

I see you're doing the round for a bit of poor bashing

Needs a good thonging.

 

[faible]

What really baffles me is Housos are able to get away with being on the dole thanks to their knowledge of the welfare system (which isn't because of intelligence, rather a result of being through the system so many times) and a tantrum. However, honest people who aren't Houses and want to be honest and do the right thing face constant scrutiny and frustration from Centrelink.

So you're upset that people want to live below the poverty line instead of working, it seems?

 

[Gralin]

Friendly reminder that this is still ongoing



oh and that the current government has directed Services Australia to try and recover billions in debts going back to the 1970s

never mind the last 20 years of illegal debt collection that they think its too hard to work out and deal with

lets go for more money while pretending RoboDebt was the only problem and Labor had nothing to do with it

 

[Chief]

Isn't there some bizarre shit going on with people getting letters saying stuff like "we know you owe 85c from 2004 but we are forgiving that debt as it would be too expensive to chase it" ?

 

[Gralin]

Isn't there some bizarre s**t going on with people getting letters saying stuff like "we know you owe 85c from 2004 but we are forgiving that debt as it would be too expensive to chase it" ?

only thing I have heard is the ATO sending out letters saying you owe us $0.85c from 2004 plus interest and now you have to pay

 

[Chief]

only thing I have heard is the ATO sending out letters saying you owe us $0.85c from 2004 plus interest and now you have to pay

The last email I got from the ATO had some HTML file attached.

Now my computer is running really slow.

 

[Gralin]

The last email I got from the ATO had some HTML file attached.

Now my computer is running really slow.

dunno about that

Centrelink should consider waiving 100,000 debts that may be unlawful, ombudsman report finds

Watchdog says Services Australia and the Department of Social Services ‘did not act promptly’ to address the issue and calls on agencies to apologise

www.theguardian.com

only thing I keep seeing is the government talk about how that other thing we didn't do was terrible but there are probably still debts out there we need to recover

 

[madmug]

Friendly reminder that this is still ongoing



oh and that the current government has directed Services Australia to try and recover billions in debts going back to the 1970s

never mind the last 20 years of illegal debt collection that they think its too hard to work out and deal with

lets go for more money while pretending RoboDebt was the only problem and Labor had nothing to do with it

Centrelink payments are covered by law, policy & information supplied to the department by the recipient.
I don't recall Labor instigating a 'recovery' that they were told was actually illegal before they even started. So after the event, it went to court, & as expected was duly struck down.
That ignorant & stupid expedition, cost the taxpayer $1billion plus the misery & suicides it caused.
So please inform us if you have information to the contrary.