Whilst in medical school I received Austudy.
Additionally I worked on a casual basis as I needed to be able to pay for books, fuel, bills etc. as well as rent & food.
My income was declared, an exorbitant amount of tax was paid & I finally managed to graduate in December 2014.
Only a few months later I started to get phone calls from a debt collection agency demanding payment of $560, which had been supposedly "overpaid" to me.
None of this made any sense as I declared my income when I was getting it.
Since then I have continued to have the matter looked into with multiple phone calls, visits to Centrelink, emails, lodging of appeals & requesting of reviews.
But for some reason the "debt" has alarmingly increased.
I work full-time & am often on-call & at the hospital late at night.
I am studying & paying for education fees, registrations/licenses, exams, insurance etc.
I am taxed a ridiculous amount & every year I get zero return, because I supposedly owe the government various different debts.
To date I've paid roughly $4000.
I most recently received a phone call stating that I now owe a further $7300.
This has caused considerable anxiety, financial pressure & concerns about my own physical & mental health.
I'm training to be a psychiatrist & I'm acutely aware of the correlation between suicide & debt stress.
I am desperately begging for help & have no idea where to turn.
I'm disgusted & disappointed.
I work hard to service my community & I am a law-abiding citizen.
Despite my many efforts I've received no assistance with this matter.