Category Archives: Your Stories

Dear Human Services,

Who are you?

Define Human Services:

“ Human Services are those jobs which provide a Service to Society, particularly in times of crisis. Human Services are designed to help people navigate through crisis or chronic situations where the person feels they need external help and guidance to move forward with their life and rediscover their personal power and self-sufficiency. Sometimes the situation the person needs help with is external, such as the loss of a job or income, the need for food or housing or for help getting out of a dangerous situation. For other people the difficulty they are facing is an internal challenge such as depression, a physical ailment or disability or other mental or physical health crisis.

HISTORY

Since I became sick in 2013 I developed pain throughout my body originating in my right hip. My income dropped from $1000pw after tax to $265. I have never been sick so I was not aware of what was ahead. While I have been trying to claim statutory workcover for work place injuries the Queensland Government created conditions that were not there, or true, and consequently rejected my claim. As a result I not only became sicker, my son and I moved 5 times over 18 months and been through 16 legal confrontations half of which were through the court! My son failed to maintain his momentum in his final year of school and onwards and has failed. We now live in abject poverty. Then you, Human Services proceeded to do the same with my disability claim which has been lodged twice over three years.

You’ve made every process that you advertise to help people adversarial and unreachable. You have consistently moved the goal post! Then you generated a false work capacity assessment leaving any access to medical assistance to improve my families situation out of reach. Consequently my health has hit rock bottom due to severe ongoing now chronic, illnesses and the sale of our property to make ends meet has meant that the home I had been building for my son and our future has all but gone.

Despite the Queensland government knowing my circumstances rather then assist me it has been easier and more profitable for them to diminish my needs and continue to insist that I can walk fine, that I do not suffer from the chronic conditions diagnosed and that I am in good health and can maintain a 15 hour working week. Off course none of this is true. The system is adversarial however, and having reached severe depression and the pit of despondency of course I’m not well enough to defend my self and after 3 years of struggling to do this I’ve not succeeded. My symptoms are not improving and the continual stress imposed by a lazy, greedy government is a profound detriment to our future and my life span.

The Queensland government has insisted on more information even though I know this is an absolute waste of time and a bit like arguing with an idiot. Instead of smartening their game they apply ongoing accusation and intimidation. So on top of my horrid medical circumstance I am left to deal with the Queenland law which at best is subjective.

How do I get better on $265pw? It isn’t possible. How do I plan for a future while feeling so sick? In Queensland it isn’t an option. I have no future in this backward thinking state. Neither can I move to get access to better medical support. So here my son and I are with no future and no present and yet we are still expected to meet workplace criterion as if living in a fantasy world.

Curiously, just down the road the government is paying kids and men a minimum of $1750 per fortnight just to train and study under the label “Defence Force”. It is hard to comprehend why the government feels no justification in overpaying a “driving specialist” while denying help to a citizen who had built her own life from nothing. I had an unfortunate turn of events with the government deciding to unjustifiably take my job off me and support corrupt business practices. I fell ill and without the support I was entitled to I have regressed so far that the idea of resuming my life independently has been forcibly taken from me.

I’ve taken everyone’s advice and nothing is working. Centerlink, disability job networks, social workers, counsellors, doctors and specialists- and none of these so called health care professionals has been able to help us..they are mainly intimidated by your system is the vibe I picked up time and time again over three years!!!. A few months ago, on advice, I attempted to reconnect with society and volunteer at the local community centre. For three hours a week I was able to do something positive and feel some sense of self worth. It was difficult and physically uncomfortable however it was, I thought, in aid of helping out people less fortunate then us..lol.. Unfortunately a month or so later I was ‘resigned’ from volunteering. I had no idea why but according to some of the health care providers listed above it was a case of one 67+ old woman feeling threatened that I would absorb a “paid” position…I don’t know…hers? I was unaware that the government provides payments to volunteers and clearly rocked that woman’s boat when I bounced in with open optimism and I was again, so simply dumped. Aside from the weeks I had worked there, the contribution I had made to update some of their material, the blue card I received, the name tag and contact registry I was placed on- I received an email from them telling me simply that my application to volunteer has been rejected. This is what fear, corruption and poor management are able to create in the life of an Australian citizen in order to protect an aging brexit expat who was temporarily acting as president while the president was away. So while this goes on I have no hope in trying to elevate my health on my own because the result of my efforts sends me back further then I was before I tried.

You have refused to help me and led my down quite a few garden paths, and helping myself has proved volatile, so I would like someone from the government department of human services to be accountable and explain what is going on so that I can be removed from any implication that my families circumstance has been my doing. I really draw the line at accountability and while I am fully aware that less educated people will read this and take on that tall poppy stance of ‘how dare this person feel above us’ it is true my bar is very high but that’s no excuse for the very low one you celebrate.

I was well before I experienced the QLD thing and now I am very sick. The mass assumptions and subjectivity that take the place of an educated and civilised process works directly against health and wellbeing not to mention contemporary thinking. Taking short cuts, and greed never led to anything good and while the rest of Australia is keen to lift its game and is doing so, QLD is basically 20 years behind the times and seemingly proud of it.

Ignorant bliss I think it’s called. I hope you can forgive my frustration but for three years I have been living in chronic mental and physical pain while receiving the run around from your government while watching both my sons life and mine be suffocated. Again, I am certain that is called psychological slavery. I cannot even afford to move my family out of QLD. So, good on ya for making everything you touch turn to crap.

IN THE MOMENT

Recently, human services removed my sons $100 disability support payment because he turned 22. They did this before, when he turned 16. They didn’t reinstate it at the time he turned 16, instead they waited 4 years and reinstated it when he turned 20. No idea why but he will be withdrawing from study now that we simply can’t afford it. So thank you for that as well. Even though you don’t consider my son a dependent you have removed his eligibility for rent assistance. Even though you don’t consider I am sick you won’t acknowledge that my son has been a carer as well. Even though you pay kids his age $1750+ per fortnight you have struggled to justify why you should support a student with learning difficulties and the last time we struggled with this you disconnected him from any payment at all because you did not consider his course of study full time. Again you walked us down the garden path and weeks of mess and stress from you with no youth allowance was reversed without even an apology. What I then discovered is that you consider someone studying part-time fully compliant with full time study assistance if what they are studying is Law. Is that discrimination? More importantly why did you think it was ok to hurt my sons stability so directly but not those studying law part time?

Do you remember the great Australian ugliness? Do you remember the norms walking around with their disgusting pot bellies? Are you aware that the rest of the country has evolved for the better? Will QLD become more futile as the population heads towards an ageing demographic and general vulnerability? Is it because we are so vulnerable that you can get away with it? Would you treat your own family that way?

Probably not if your own family is back in Britain, or the Netherlands who interestingly favour raising children over financing people in uniforms.

My son was working for ten months while trying to wrap his brain around an online course that took money but failed to follow thru. After the end of financial year his employer decided to contract a professional cleaner. Well, they haven’t fired my son pretending that he will move into stocking shelves or other, but they haven’t called him either. So that’s the business world you endorse and as a result my son will literally pay for the employers whim. Aside from unprofessional it’s unbelievable that you will feel comfortable holding my son accountable for actions you endorse. Because he is vulnerable and has no voice? Do you know anything about youth depression? Will you be accountable?

IN THE FUTURE

Well there isn’t much of one. Oh yeah- you’ve changed the cost of my sons initial course from $1500 to $6500 essentially removing him from his comfort zone. You then slap a $750 unpaid fee on him for services not rendered. Despite my attempts to have that default in my name because I paid the fees you support Tafes action to keep the fault in my sons name so he now has a credit default. When that happened, when greed became so much more imperative then my sons education, alarm bells went up…again. And ever since, in so many other ways.

You must be accountable for something given you define yourselves as “human services”.

Define Human Services:

“ Human Services are those jobs which provide a Service to Society, particularly in times of crisis. Human Services are designed to help people navigate through crisis or chronic situations where the person feels they need external help and guidance to move forward with their life and rediscover their personal power and self-sufficiency. Sometimes the situation the person needs help with is external, such as the loss of a job or income, the need for food or housing or for help getting out of a dangerous situation. For other people the difficulty they are facing is an internal challenge such as depression, a physical ailment or disability or other mental or physical health crisis.”

I would like to lodge a formal complaint on my job active provider Advanced Personal Management (APM) in Sydney and I would like this issue to be investigated by the department.

My job agent has reported I have failed to attend an appointment on 7/Oct and has placed a “blockage” that according to Centrelink is preventing them from processing my Austudy claim.
I went to an appointment anon that day but not at 3pm but at 3:09pm because I thought my appointment was on 3:15pm according to Online Job active account that I can access through MyGov website. I checked the appointment time a week before the appointment and it stated 3:15 pm 7/Oct but when I went there, I was told the appointment start at 3pm and finish at 3:15pm.
When I went there and sat in the waiting area my job agent came out around 3:20 pm after I texted that I was waiting outside. I was told that I failed to attend the appointment and that my payment has been cancelled. I was told that I need to come in for another appointment the following Monday to continue the payment which I declined as I was already studying full time in approved course (1/Oct) and have already lodged Austudy claim and all necessary documents to Centrelink (26/Sep).

Since then, I have been studying full time and been checking back with Centrelink about my claim only to be told today (17 Oct) that they cannot process my Austudy claim because my Job active provider has placed a blockage on my account because of that 7/ Oct appointment incident where I did attend and provider even photocopied my 20 job search sheet. (By the way, this is one of many appointments I have had with my job agent which include 2 appointments a month plus 4 internet job search at her office a month, all this when Centrelink minimum requirement for payment is 1 appointment a month )

Centrelink told me I need to contact APM to unblock my account which I did today only to be told I need to make an appointment with her and “re-engage” with her on activity when I have clearly said I am studying full time and have lodged an Austudy claim mid September. MY job agent also said I need to discuss with her all the missed appointments up until now which again totally ignoring what I said and where I am coming from.

There are also several other things I would like to report on her misconduct :

1. My WFTD program supposed to start on 25/July but my provider set the start date on 27/July only to ask me later to fill in the missing 2 days when its not a “missed” day but her lack of duty of care

2. She arranged a work trial with logistic company called “Designer transport” (26 Aug) and said it was a paid trial when it wasn’t at all

3. APM said it was a “compulsory” to attend “Internet job search at her office every week” plus “appointment every fortnight” (26/July ) before I even signed the job active agreement (and she knows I have my own computer and internet, which the requirement was nothing but time/energy and transport money waste) when I know the minimum requirement from Centrelink is “once a month appointment”

4. She asked for a copy of my resume and sent it to employer with a cover letter she wrote on her own poorly impersonating me without my permission on Gumtree. (24 Aug)

5. When I raised issue with APM regarding this misconduct. They stated they were going easy with me compared to other providers and that they started emphasising the job active agreement saying I need to do internet Job search at her office every week for full 2 hours when the agreement itself states “Between 2-4pm” NOT “from 2-4pm” let alone if coming in for internet job search at her office in the first place isn’t enough and its not even justifiable.

My husband and myself worked for a JSA. Running what was called CDEP program, teaching farming on an indigenous farm. We became a team with our workers, we treated them with much respect and they treated us the same. I thought our job was to teach then, they could run the farm themselves, with real employment. Our successes were huge, and everyone was enthusiastic and happy. The community had hope, and loved there farm. Then we started noticing strange behaviour with our employers.

One indigenous man was over sixty, with one arm and had been working for WFTD scheme for 16 yrs. Then I discovered others – working for 16yrs for 20 dollar top up on there dole. We also noticed it wasn’t about finding them work. It was about them getting millions in funding to run bullshit schemes. Tickets on tickets, backhoe tickets times 3, told its a different backhoe. These participants had so many tickets with no opportunity to use them.

RJCP was about to roll out and government changed from labor to LNP. Funding was pulled and farm was as good as killed off. We closed the door on a registered kitchen we had built that was catering for RIO and making jams, pickles and sauces from extra produce to reduce waste. A veg stall that operated everyday, providing cheap fresh fruit and veg for the community. Even the township of Wiepa was enthusiastic and bought fresh produce from us.

Then there’s the new nursery we had built from funding to supply all the new trees and plants for the new boarding campus in Weipa. This we all did successfully. participants was meant to achieve cert 11 in horticulture. This didn’t happen although it was part of the funding. We were left with the only commercial nursery in the area. This was also huge, as a new area for housing had been approved in Weipa and the builders and contractors set up accounts with us to buy there plants and trees for landscaping these new houses. Even Rio approached us to start rehabilitation on mine sites. This was also huge.

This is what was closed, all this opportunity thrown away …WHY… because they want to keep the community enslaved and its not about jobs for them… I conversed with all govt, trying to not have this all go down the way it was. Everyone lied. Labour listened but everyone blamed it on retraction of funding. Work for the dole is a RORT. I even wrote submissions to govt on the RJCP rollout submissions page… This farm does not exist today and my husband and I are pissed off to the max. You can read all about it on google… Napranum Farm. Deeply saddened and now have no trust in the establishment.

It’s 6 months since I applied for the dole and I’m here at 3am, typing up my story now because I can’t believe the convoluted, flawed system that thousands of unemployed, or underemployed Australians are trying to work with.

Instead of spending as much time as possible, working up my business again, (which, by the way, is what is on my Mutual Obligation Form) I am spending way too much time arguing with my Job Service Provider, talking to the union, reading documentation to try and work out my rights and working out my next move. One of my friends is very cross with me because they told me to ‘just make up something and fly under the radar.’ But I won’t. (Please refer back to first paragraph.)

6 months ago, I finally realised my business had been so quiet for months, I had used up my savings and I had to go on the dole. I had been in denial. I didn’t want to go on the dole, but I really had no other option. I thanked goodness that I lived in a country that actually had unemployment benefits.

I tried to put aside my ego, my shame, my embarrassment, and called the Centrelink office. By the time I had waited an hour to get through, was interviewed in depth, told what (numerous) forms I needed to complete, (some of which turned out to be unnecessary) downloaded them, completed them, checked with my accountant what other information they would probably need, accessed that, it was 4 hours later and I had a splitting migraine.

I remember thinking, this was really hard work. Nobody would do this for fun.
Here’s a quick overview. I kept notes. I have a ring binder folder full. Plus an exercise book so I can keep track. The Job Service Provider thought this was my business portfolio and were amazed when I told them no, these are my notes and information because I am on the dole. Which leads me to wonder: why were they so surprised? They clearly don’t know how much work this is. Anyway, here are some highlights…

Tues 19 April: 1st call to Centrelink, documentation, dropped it in.
Wed 20 April: Call from C’link. Phone interview explaining I can get a doctor’s certificate because of my health issue, (chronic fatigue) then assessment by an occupational therapist, then don’t need a Job Service Provider.
Fri 27 April: coffee with a friend to find out about volunteering, as I am over 55.
Wed 27 April: my 1st volunteering shift at a local op shop. Asked them to give me the volunteering form to take in to C’link.
Thurs 28 April: interview with a volunteer association.
Friday 29 April: visit to a nursing home to talk to them about volunteering. Police clearance form sent to volunteering association.
Mon 2 May: phoned C’link about a letter I got that made no sense.
Tues 3 May: had a phone consultation with my doctor who has a 2 month wait list, to get a medical certificate to say I would be ok volunteering 6 hours a week, rather than the 15. (I had been working part-time for years, about 15 hours a week because of health issues. I wanted to contribute, hence the volunteering, but also wanted to have time to try and build my business of nearly 20 years back up.)
Wed 4 May: Centrelink called and advised I was approved, asked about my medical certificate.
Thurs 5 May: received my medical certificate, took it in to C’link.
They didn’t want my volunteering form yet. Set up my myGov account, set up my Centrelink account. Was advised that I didn’t need to report any income fortnightly and that I report my business income quarterly with a profit and loss statement. I was in there a couple of hours that day.
Tues 17 May: Employment service assessment at Centrelink. Advised I do not get any reduction in hours, even though my doctor says I should work no more than 6 hours. If I worked less than 15 hours, I don’t qualify for the dole. Yes, I do need a Job Service Provider. She allocated me one who works with people with disabilities.
Tues 7 June: Appointment at the Disability Job Service Provider, who saw that I had an exemption and told me he couldn’t put me on their books until that had expired.

You get the picture. Fast forward to today.

Since that appointment, I had to cancel most of the volunteering I planned to do, as I just didn’t have time. I was disappointed to waste people’s time and then let people down who desperately need volunteers but the system just made it too hard. By the way, one of the volunteers at my op shop had mentioned that he’d been told that his 20+ hours per week at the shop count for nothing and he needs to job search. I told him this was not true, but he didn’t believe me. I can understand it. Why would you believe another volunteer rather than the important looking person in the suit with the clip board sitting behind the desk?

I also tried to get my Job Service Provider changed
I found his communication quite confusing and all over the place, not able to give me clear, straight answers to my questions. I was told by Centrelink it was up to me to find another one, and then ask to transfer which may or may not be granted. I spent a day on the internet and the phone, researching a few local ones, and talking to them on the phone, chose one, went to an appointment, wanted to join them, filled out a form, then was called by my original Job Service Provider to advise that the other one is full and they cannot therefore transfer me. So I decided it was all too hard, I would just stay put and work with the one I had. One benefit: they wanted to see me ‘only’ once a fortnight, the other wanted me in every week. I have since learnt that I only need to go in once a month!

Where I am now
I am now successfully working 15+ hours a week in my business and am making more than the minimum required by Centrelink, so as well as building my business back up, I am meeting my Mutual Obligations.

However, my Job Service Provider is now telling me that I need to provide information that I don’t believe I do, telling me if I don’t, I will be cut off, that I need to job search, despite their own information sheet (and the Unemployed Workers Union info) telling me I do not.

Emails are going back and forth, I have asked for the relevant documentation so I can see where the government requires me to do this, they have said I might be right, that I don’t need to. But now tell me they will change my contract and I need to job search. I have said I will not, via email and cc’d in my local MP. I received a phone call from my Job Service Provider within 2 minutes of sending that email. (Good tip, thanks guys!)

The Job Service Provider advised me that he is getting his Contract Manager to give me a call. I said fine, as long as he is also in on the call because if he is giving me information that is different from what his manager will be telling me, he should be in on the call.

Why doesn’t he know the information she does, if he is the one telling us what we need to do? Why am I pointing out things in their documentation that he doesn’t know? This is the guy whose communication style is not good, who tells me that no, volunteering is not taken into account in the 15 hours, and then at another appointment, when there is another consultant there, he agrees with me that it is.

This is also the guy who has, on 3 separate occasions, told me that I am perfectly entitled to make a complaint if I am not happy with them. It’s like he wants a fight! I respond that I don’t want to make a complaint, I just want to have a conversation and see if we can get on the same page and make this work. I do not want a fight, but if they back me into a corner, I will come out fighting.

Which is really not good for my health. Symptoms of my condition include fatigue, lack of sleep, anxiety and depression. This week I have spent 5 hours trying to handle this situation with my Job Service Provider. And it’s only Thursday. That’s 5 hours I should be spending on my business.

This is exhausting. It’s a fulltime job.
And I am not the only one. I have a friend who is working 12 hours a week, got $500+ just to get her C’link payment that fortnight reduced by $300. She’s got 2 kids to feed and school, trying to start a little business from home as well for extra money, and trying to get a loan which she will probably now not qualify for.

The system is broken
Every time I went back to Centrelink with the information I had been requested to bring in, the next person I saw told me something slightly different. It’s like they all have their own piece of the jigsaw puzzle, but the pieces just don’t seem to fit together. The system is broken.

But I want to make something very clear. Apart from one cranky woman at Centrelink who wanted me to take my form away and submit it by SmartPhone, then got cross with me and didn’t believe me when I said I didn’t have a SmartPhone (Lady! I’m on the dole! And you want me to have a SmartPhone! Seriously!) and could I just see someone here because I had made a special trip to bring the form in, every single person that I have dealt with at Centrelink (and there have been many) has been nice, polite, very helpful and understanding. In fact, I asked to see the manager there one day and she was very pleasantly shocked when I thanked her for the great service her staff always provided.

I know why she was shocked
Being in the Centrelink office so many times and for hours sometimes, I have seen the upset, angry people who are some of their clients. I can’t blame them either. I trust I will not be in this system for very long. I know I will be fine.

But I am lucky. I have a safe home that I nearly own, a computer, a printer, a mobile phone, a bit of money in the bank and no kids to feed. I have to wonder: if someone like me who is intelligent, well educated, articulate, with all those resources is finding this Centrelink journey a tough one, how are all those who are not as fortunate going? No wonder so many people decide it’s all too hard and drop out of the system.

I didn’t mean this to be so long, but I was asked to write my story, in the hope that it builds a picture of the real people on Centrelink, who are not lazy dole bludgers and deserve a decent go.

I still say thank goodness we have the dole here in Australia.
It’s a bit of a help. But you can’t live on it.