I had an aortic dissection and anneyurism almost 14 years ago, I was advised I would never be able to work again by surgeons and my GP.
After a few years I did some adult study as I wanted to do something to contribute to society.
After a complete life style change and many years of recovery I obtained employment in a kindergarten doing part time work. I was once again contributing to society and reporting all of my income earned correctly.
I received a request from centrelink 18 months ago for me to prove I had not been overpaid by them for what they deemed, approx $6000
I did not have payslips, I spoke to many people at Centrelink and was given conflicting information, one person advised 'the information from ATO to us at Centrelink is going to produce a debt no matter what'.
I ended up supplying Centrelink with bank statements from 2013 to 2017.
I called Centrelink to confirm they had been received. I was told I had to wait on phone while they processed and if they had any questions.
I advised, 'I was not going to wait on phone while they processed information I had supplied', staff member told me, 'If you do not wait on phone it can take months for information to be processed'.
I advised again, 'I am not waiting on phone for over 2 hours while you process information' and I hung up.
My support pension did not appear in my account the following Monday.
I called customer compliance, they said, nothing to do with them.
I spoke to a gentlemen in payments and he advised, customer compliance had put a stop on my payment.
I contacted local member and they assisted me in getting my payment back on track.
Their person who works at Centrelink advised, 'I do not know what they think they are doing in customer compliance as it is illegal to stop a persons payments'.
I sent 100 pages of bank statements in August 2018. I had not heard from them until the end of May 2019. I had a message on landline advising me to call customer compliance. I called next day, woman placed me on hold for 7 minutes came back and advised it was about a debt from a year ago.
I asked, 'do I have a debt?' she could not advise me.
She wanted to go through a few things with me.
I hung up. I contacted my local member again, who has been most helpful.
I have had severe headaches, I am in constant body pain from my surgery and arthritis, I have had suicidal thoughts due to this supposed debt and have just felt that my life would be much easier if I did not work at all.
With my anxiety being up, my body pain is also up.
Some days I can not get out of bed. I seem to have a constant cold and stomach issues.
They do not care about me, they are trying to bully me into paying a supposed debt they deem I have.
I have been bullied throughout my childhood and some of adulthood, I will no longer be bullied.
I feel I am being punished for wanting to contribute to society even though I was advised by specialists I would never be able to work again.
I would love to tell them to shove the disability support pension up where the sun does not shine. Due to ongoing health issues and only able to work 15 or less hours a week, I can not.