Centrelink Stupidity

[Ethos]

Hey everyone I just thought I would pop in and have a bitch about something I heard that happened to a friend.

And actually a friend, not me I am quite pissed off about it

So here we go, My friend lives out of home and gets paid $200 rent assistance while having a casual job when if there is work that is another $150 a fortnight, now he layed out his budget to me and it went $150 on rent, $80 on food and living and the rest of what he makes he puts to save, he tells me sometimes at the end of the week he only has $20 dollars to save.

Here is the problem, somewhere down the line during the social working proccess to asses his living situation they have caught on that he smokes marijuana and with no mention of it at all, ever.

He recieves a letter stating that his dependance on cannabis has made an evident impact on his living quality and will now recieve a dissability pension?????????

So I wouldn't really be all disability pension for marijuana WTF???? if it was making a negative impact on his life.

But when he has a "so Centerlink give me an extra 100 bucks for weed" attitude, this really gets up my goat.

How can they indentify someone as having a drug problem adverse enough to make their living situation decline then somehow they see an extra $100 dollars helping the drug dependance?

Surely somewhere along the line Centerlink has to realise they're just fueling the fire of the dependance?

Now it has me thinking if I approached Centerlink and whole heartedly told them a story of my neive adolescent days how I smoked a f'load of marijuana and couldn't hold down a job because of sudden anxiety, deppression and bipolar which also caused me to not be able to handle the workload at school.

Along with these problems comes advere affects later in my life like having these problems in school with all the different social statuses I only learned to interact with certain people making it hard to act 'right' when at work or in job interviews with egotistical status orientated people.

So I feel now I have reached a turning point in my life where I have no dependances on any substance and am planning to attend university next year studying natural history illustration, being on a dissability would help a little with uni but I feel it is so wrong, and even in a situation where I feel marijuana had hijacked my youth for some time I don't feel owed anything that was my own mistake to choose to use and abuse, people need to learn to learn from their own mistakes and I feel I need to confront this friend and express what I think is happening is wrong.

What do you guys think?

[ThunderIdeal]

more info on the centrelink sitch would be good.

it just doesn't make sense.

what am i saying? centrelink are unbelievable dick heads. if they ever do anything that makes sense, pinch yourself and wake up.

[Quill]

Centrelink ARE unbelievable dickheads but thats the higher up types, the people behind the desk have the most godawful job and deserve our sympathy. Honestly there is no amount of pay that would make up for days full of being yelled at by bogans.

As for the question, if your friend really is dependent on narijuana then that $100 is fair enough, but as you imply personal responsibility and self-respect are worth more.

[Halcyon Daze]

The $100 probably helps a lot of people get back on their feet again, a lot more than jail does anyway. Some people would just waste the $100 but it's still cheaper than putting them in jail. I think it's a good approach and I can't imagine they would do something so unconventional without some scientific support.

It's nothing like the Centrelink stupidity of the Howard era, infact I'm delighted! I'm not sure weather to believe it's true really.

[Rabaelthazar]

Yeah, speak to your friend and be open but gentle.

I've got a good friend who has suffered severe depression in the past but is doing very well these days, has just competed a PhD and is in a good relationship. He's been on a disability pension for a few years now, none of during which he (in my opinion and also confirmed by him) has he actually suffered debilitation depression. He acknowledges that he's probably taking advantage of the situation but enjoys not having to do much in order to meet living costs.

I've told him I disapprove of what he's doing, without condemning him for it and I think that's about as much as I can do. Sounds like you're in a similar boat.

[Ethos]

Thanks for the replies guys,

Quill no doubt they're dickheads it took them a whole three months leaving my girlfriend out of a home until they finally decide to approve her case after multiple social worker interviews and being told it was proccessed when it wasn't then when she rang the centerlink workers they told her it had expired and she had to lodge another claim.

It seems that I had not a completely open view on it and now also see the side that Daze stated cheaper any more opportunistic then throwing them in jail.

And Raebz i think we are in a similar boat and your approach seems the best way to go

[santiago]

i think the rent assistance is the most screwed up part, dont get me wrong its a good thing but you recieve the maximum rent assistance which is around the 150 per fortnight mark if you rent a room for 150 a fortnight, however if your a single parent and still 10 years off the inevitable public housing list if your lucky and paying 600-1000 bucks a fortnight just to keep your ass and your kids off the street, you recieve 150 bucks rent assistance per fortnight, the same as the bozo who rents a 150 buck room. the rent assistance should be on some kind of sliding scale equal to your rent outlay..........but then again that would just be a new scam for many centrelink scumbags who WOULD scam, but that should never be the operating system of assuming the scam before the scam as centrelink have scam catch systems so they say. And others shouldnt be punished for born honesty because of the few said scumbags.

i have great admiration for our chair sniffing, speeding, womananising, alco politicial Troy Buswell. His idea was to pay a percentage of the public housing list private house rental, which would release the massive burden of the public housing list. Its also the only issue i have with the so called boat people and people escaping their countries wars etc. They immediately get priority priority housing, to the top of the list before the 50000 to 100000 needy australians who have paid a lifetimes of dues and taxes to this country, by all means bring them in the refugees but they should not have priority of assistance by any means over the law abiding aussie.

In terms of WA politics the dude to watch out for is the very very nasty man Cristian Porter, im telling you this guy is like the anti christ. He is by far the most evil, vindictive man and politician with ultimate power and he is only young too and will be around forever, all the ideas that revoke civil liberties comes from this the ex attorney general, now treasurers head. Keep an eye on him. you have been warned.

[SunChaser]

I've dealt with centrelink quite a lot and have also known a few people who have tried everything they can to get the pension. I gotta say, the story sounds a little manipulated, I mean to get on the disability pension is a process. Never in my entire life have I heard of centrelink putting someone on the disability pension out of the kindness of there hearts, because they heard they used illegal drugs. My understanding is you need to get either a doctors or psychologists recommendation, stating the exact purpose you are claiming the pension, then centrelink will do a independent assessment. They don't just randomly send letters to people, like it's a raffle. 

Other than that, who gives a fuck? If someone wants to live with the bare minimum, with the constant stress of never being able to take control of situations, in a culture that only has one solution for any given situation (money), why would that be a problem to anyones mental comfort?

.

Its also the only issue i have with the so called boat people and people escaping their countries wars etc. They immediately get priority priority housing, to the top of the list before the 50000 to 100000 needy australians who have paid a lifetimes of dues and taxes to this country, by all means bring them in the refugees but they should not have priority of assistance by any means over the law abiding aussie.

 

If there such good law abiding aussies, why are they running around looking for hand outs? Most these refugees probably once worked hard to build something for themselves, before someone stole it or blew it up.

Peace

[santiago]

Most these refugees probably once worked hard to build something for themselves, before someone stole it or blew it up.

 

everybody works hard jabez, who stole it? who blew it up? why is this allowed to happen and what safegurds did these forefathers and the people who run those countries do to prevent this and in effect how did the citizens of the country allow it to happen. what your talking about here is a refugee and bless their hearts as i welcolm them with open arms but i believe per individual 60K a year of flow on centrelink money an benifits and a priority state housing house (priority over priority) ie housed before homeless, disabled, abused, mentally handicapped and the most vulnerable of society plus before th general listings who some have been waiting for a decade, that to me is a very in-equatable system.

but then on the other hand you couldnt abandon them either but you certainly dont roll out the red carpet all the way to the bank and the polished veranda.

If someone wants to live with the bare minimum, with the constant stress of never being able to take control of situations

thats a fallacy, people on pensions are probably better off than full time workers of lower to middle class. i was lucky enough to have an absolute genuine period of centrlink benifit, as a matter of fact when the situation arose i had no idea you got paid for it until i filled out some forms at the centrelink. they literally force fed me a pension beyond my wildest expectations. having been and now still a common worker i seriously couldnt believe the generousness of government money.

put it this way, i reckon i was earning 30-40000 working the typical slave drone job 40 hours per week, then you take the tax out.

both those years i cleared 30-40000 on centrelink and paid $600 tax as i supplimented with a P/T job, which ironically you get all $600 back of that tax in tax refund, plus there are all these cash bonuses that probably equalled $4000 plus you can get the centrelink loans plus you get the health care are pension cards, plus free courses and education, plus dental schemes and so much more if you got the urge to squeeze plus i think ruddy also paid a few grand in stimuluses just for a bonus.

so seriously i think a got equivilant to 45000 minimum working 10 hours per week, no tax and thats not even taking into account rent assistance. im back working again now and to get $45000 clear i would have to probably earn $60000 clear.

unless your talking about empowering yourself to get off the benifits by working at the mines, ill tell you this right now. there is nothing empowering about earning a full time wage.

[incognito]

sounds to me he is on disability support pension? to get dsp he would have to have had a job capacity assesment by a professional. during discussion he may have divulged his drug dependance, which would have been used in the assesment. dsp customers can still work 15 hrs a week without it affecting their eligibility.

anyways the centrelink system is fully rorted, its near impossible to police, but the ones they do catch out totally get royally reamed out.

[santiago]

in its most basic sense an addiction is actually a sickness, it should be looked from that side of the coin as opposed to the war on drugs side of the coin, thats not soft....thats smart.

[ballzac]

Centrelink is fucked up. It seems to be very easy to get lots of different payments if you defraud them, but if you're honest with them and try to play by the rules, you're most likely to get squat. I had so many issues when I was on centrelink. Admittedly, I had much fewer problems on the study allowance than the out of work allowance, but it was always a fuckaround nonetheless.

I think they should do away with centrelink, and just pay everyone a living allowance. This means even on $100 000 a year you would be getting a small living allowance, but you would be paying more tax. This would get rid of the whole process of applying for benefits, and would save a lot of money on centrelink employee wages. There would still be people trying to defraud the system, but all scams would become a tax fraud issue (for which there are already processes set up). Perhaps there would still need to be a small agency set up to provide things like carer and disability pensions for those with no other income, but working single mothers, for example, could get relief in the form of tax breaks. I honestly don't know enough to know how it would all need to be set up, but I do know that the system we have at the moment is not fair. You need to jump through hoops to get benefits at the moment, and if you're homeless, you have no address to register for centrelink with and you're screwed. I believe everyone in Australia should have the opportunity to have food and shelter, and with the current system this is not the case.

I also do not believe that unemployed people who are not looking for work deserve to die. This, though, is what our current system tells us. If you have no job, unless you can prove that you have a disability that prevents you from working, you will get no benefits to pay for food and shelter. This means effectively that society has decided that such people deserve to live in third world conditions or die. Now it's true that people will take advantage of benefits, and simply not work because they know they can get an income from the government, but people do this regardless. Meanwhile, there are people who are living on the streets who, for whatever reason, are not getting benefits. This is not okay in my opinion. I would rather live in a society where we allow some people to take advantage of the system by getting benefits and choosing not to work out of laziness(and such people I do not personally envy anyway) while ensuring that everyone who needs help is catered for, than one where we prevent a few lazy fraudsters from fraudulently getting money, while letting those in need starve.

[mud]

Systems, like technology are essentially blind. Colourless.

Centrelink is a complex chain of systems.

Perhaps stupider, would be having no support net at all of social security.

Be it so called 'puclic servant' salaries, or newstart allowance..

Reminds me though

how this same setup kinda encourages ppl to have more kids,

to not bother having part time jobs or tryna succeed.

Ultimately, I hope the plants teach us that abundance is the truth.

And capitalism, with the rest of it, is just a shitty human attempt at control :S

[Foo]

That is perhaps the best centerlink story ive ever heard. Ive got a few friends i should tell about this. Dole money really doesnt go very far esp if your smoking weed. I personally have never been on the dole. I applied once but the process was so bullshit that i got a job instead

[paradox]

He recieves a letter stating that his dependance on cannabis has made an evident impact on his living quality and will now recieve a dissability pension?????????

 

perhaps some devious legislation has been put in place to increase the statistics stating that marijuana dependance is a hugely increasing burden on the system & tax payers pockets?

if half a million people have their fortnightly pay increased by $100, think of the solid statistical data there would be after just one year clearly showing what a burden this horrible drug of dependence is to society...

sounds suss if you ask me..

edit: similar to how (in america at least & i think here too to some extent) when kids are caught with a small amount of ganja, they have a choice between going to juvinile detention/jail &/or a massive fine or a slap on the wrist if they agree to go to 'drug councilling.' of course they choose to do the therapy & so because young people smoke ganja a great deal more than they do any other illegal drug & so get caoght with it a lot more, you end up with statistics stating that there are more young people in therapy for marijuana dependence than any other drug pure evil!

[DarkSpark]

That is perhaps the best centerlink story ive ever heard. Ive got a few friends i should tell about this. Dole money really doesnt go very far esp if your smoking weed. I personally have never been on the dole. I applied once but the process was so bullshit that i got a job instead

 

hehe i am the same. Centrelink for me, is too much work to get so little money. It is honestly easier to work for my money, and i feel better about it. This story seems a bit wierd though, surely there is more to it than him just getting it for being a smoker, surely there is other REAL disabilities that are hindering your friends ability to work.

Here is my little bitch about centrelink

After recently moving i was on centrelink for a month and a half. In this time i completed a Cert II in Business and a Cert II in Retail. After having completed these courses i goto a centrelink appointment at which the lady tells me i wasn't allowed to study and i have to work instead !?!? I am ayoung person who left school at a young age to care for my family. We have such an incredible amount of unskilled unemployed people i was ttrying to give myself an edge through having done this study. Yet they tell me that i wasn't allowed and i had to ask their permission first. This wasn't a course that they funded so its not like it cost them anything. As well as this through moving to my new house i was put back down a "Stream" which means that i was no longer eligible for funding of any type.

this is but 1 of the many hassles i have had with centrelink. Now i am happily working and will be funding my own further education seeing as how apparently the government will not help me as i am in the class that is "Most Likely To Find Work" even though i am a 21 year old relatively unskilled worker WTF?

[ballzac]

After recently moving i was on centrelink for a month and a half. In this time i completed a Cert II in Business and a Cert II in Retail. After having completed these courses i goto a centrelink appointment at which the lady tells me i wasn't allowed to study and i have to work instead !?!? I am ayoung person who left school at a young age to care for my family. We have such an incredible amount of unskilled unemployed people i was ttrying to give myself an edge through having done this study. Yet they tell me that i wasn't allowed and i had to ask their permission first.

 

The reason being that you were getting paid to look for work. Studying takes up valuable time that could be spent applying for jobs at fast food 'restaurants', so you are less likely to find work and don't deserve the unemployment benefits. If you cancelled the unemployment and went on student benefits (assuming it was full time) the pay is much lower so it saves them money.

I think it's pretty fucked that the dole is so much higher than student allowances, particularly if you're under 24 when you start studying. Most full-time students have to work part time to survive, yet they can't get unemployment benefits if they have trouble finding work while they're studying. While people who don't study OR work, get almost enough money to survive.

[qualia]

being on the dole is easy. just fire off 2 - 3 resumes a day to whoever on seek. spend the rest of the time drinking. rock up to the odd interview. couldn't be easier.

[qualia]

I think it's pretty fucked that the dole is so much higher than student allowances, particularly if you're under 24 when you start studying. Most full-time students have to work part time to survive, yet they can't get unemployment benefits if they have trouble finding work while they're studying. While people who don't study OR work, get almost enough money to survive.

full on. being a full time student living on your own on just youth allowance renders you basically below the poverty line. still don't know why this is, but at least the gov. introduced some schemes to pay for books etc., pretty much saved my arse on more than one occasion.

[Quill]

It is below the poverty line.

[DarkSpark]

The reason being that you were getting paid to look for work. Studying takes up valuable time that could be spent applying for jobs at fast food 'restaurants', so you are less likely to find work and don't deserve the unemployment benefits. If you cancelled the unemployment and went on student benefits (assuming it was full time) the pay is much lower so it saves them money.

I think it's pretty fucked that the dole is so much higher than student allowances, particularly if you're under 24 when you start studying. Most full-time students have to work part time to survive, yet they can't get unemployment benefits if they have trouble finding work while they're studying. While people who don't study OR work, get almost enough money to survive.

 

I should point out that i successfully met my job searching criteria of 10 jobs per fortnight. The whole time until i was 21 they wouldn't even help me find a job i had to try and do study. Now study isn't an option. I feel that i should be allowed to study if i can meet the other criteria set out in my pathway plan thing. This was a free course, paid for by the federal government for ANYONE looking for work.

[ballzac]

I should point out that i successfully met my job searching criteria of 10 jobs per fortnight.

 

Hold on, are you trying to use... logic?

[SunChaser]

being on the dole is easy. just fire off 2 - 3 resumes a day to whoever on seek. spend the rest of the time drinking. rock up to the odd interview. couldn't be easier.

 

lol, you don't even have to do that. These days you just log in on the net and declare 4 jobs that you just looked up. Then when you actually have to go into  centerlink (every 6 weeks) to show them your jobsearch diary with the 30 jobs you were meant to apply for, you just tell them you lost it. You really don't need to do much for the dole if you know what to say.

I've had a ball living off the dole for the last few years, just living in my caravan on the back of my mothers property, didn't need money for weed and didn't have to pay rent, so I was doing well.

Now I'm living in luxury in one of my dads hotels earning $800 a week after tax to help renovate the rooms. I got a big screen tv, shower, free internet, free room service and the cleaning ladies come and clean my room every Friday. Its awesome and there's no feeling like having the security of money in the bank and the luxury of being able to have a hot shower when ever you want (my mum uses a wood powered hot water system). But I honestly got to say, I was so much more happy and at peace with the world out in the yarra valley with nothing, just being able to do whatever I wanted. 

If I wasn't saving up to go to California, I'd unquestionably be out there getting my garden ready for summer right now in my care free little world, living off the blood, sweat and tears of hard working Australians without a single care in the world. And if anyones got an issue about that, well good, I'm glad. The thought of annoying people so easierly helps me sleep at night.

Peace

[Foo]

hehe i am the same. Centrelink for me, is too much work to get so little money. It is honestly easier to work for my money, and i feel better about it. This story seems a bit wierd though, surely there is more to it than him just getting it for being a smoker, surely there is other REAL disabilities that are hindering your friends ability to work.

Here is my little bitch about centrelink

After recently moving i was on centrelink for a month and a half. In this time i completed a Cert II in Business and a Cert II in Retail. After having completed these courses i goto a centrelink appointment at which the lady tells me i wasn't allowed to study and i have to work instead !?!? I am ayoung person who left school at a young age to care for my family. We have such an incredible amount of unskilled unemployed people i was ttrying to give myself an edge through having done this study. Yet they tell me that i wasn't allowed and i had to ask their permission first. This wasn't a course that they funded so its not like it cost them anything. As well as this through moving to my new house i was put back down a "Stream" which means that i was no longer eligible for funding of any type.

this is but 1 of the many hassles i have had with centrelink. Now i am happily working and will be funding my own further education seeing as how apparently the government will not help me as i am in the class that is "Most Likely To Find Work" even though i am a 21 year old relatively unskilled worker WTF?

 

Being made redundant should bump you up to the top stream (or second, i forget). Also if you were recently fired you would be a higher stream. Just get a job at macas, dont turn up at all then request a seperation cert, its that easy ;)

[santiago]

you really have to pump out a illegitimate kid or two to make the system work for you, as well as spending 15 hours apparently with some sick relative or friend as you accompany them to go shopping and watch tv with them (security).

whats that........1100 per fortnight tax free with rent assistance included in that, 150 carers allowance...not to mention if you manage to strike it lucky with maintenence too.

1250 per fortnight with 18% of the mans salary as a cream on the cake kicker not included.

$625 per week tax free and your only the only work experience you may have is having sex.

of course it is hard work, i mean 845am to 3pm every day free to watch oprah...too hard.