Tuesday 28 February 2012

Centrelink- Caring for all Australians

There's no place I'd rather be at 8am, than my local Centrelink office, hanging out with the fine-standing citizens of Broadmeadows.





Yes-sir-ee, there is nothing better than standing in a big queue at 8am.

I'm here, because Centrelink screwed up. Yesterday, an envelope arrived in my letterbox, minus the paperwork they were supposed to send. I called them and waited on hold for 34 minutes, before hanging up. It's not the 'hold' music that annoys me the most. It's when the music pauses for a second and for that precious second you think "hooray, I'm about to speak to a real person"......then the recorded lady tells you about Centrelinks online services or some other benign crap.

Centrelink also stuffed up my appeal for Carer Payment. The appeal should have been in Robs name and not mine. I assumed that since we're partners, I could appeal on our behalf. Nope. Even though the appeal was rejected anyway, it wasn't valid to begin with and no one told me. For this reason, I am eligible to claim compensation for 'detriment caused by defective administration' (CDDA). I assure you, I am NOT a vexatious litigant but I'm jacked off and will claim everything I am entitled too.

I tried to explain that to Miss Snooty Pants, behind the desk, who got all hoity-toity with me and told me there was no such thing. Bad move toots.


So here I am, sitting in the waiting room, waiting to meet with 'somebody'. I'm already feeling a tiny bit homicidal. I'm sitting near this TV-





Guess what's on the TV? It's a repetitive DVD about Centrelink services. The voice overs are syrupy, the 'services' they claim to offer are completely bull-shit and it's so loud, there is no escaping it.

There is a jittery, iced up fella pacing the room. I'm the only person not wearing tracksuit pants or a hijab.

53 minutes, I've been waiting now, right next to this sign-





We're close to being evicted and last week our Electricity nearly got disconnected. Centrelink cares for all Australians? Bullshit.

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for this post.Dealing with Centrelink can be very demoralising and demeaning which lots of people don't understand. Come join our community at http://dspoverseas.proboards.com/index.cgi - a group of australians banding together to share their experiences and thoughts on dealing with Centrelink.

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