Made numerous phone calls to centerlink, waiting to be contacted back

Debt amount:

$9680

Date debt issued:

Friday, 21 October 2016

Period debt occurred:

June 2014 to June 2015

Payment Type:

Newstart Allowance

Appealing Debt?:

Yes in process

Tell us about your debt and how has this affected you? e.g. anxiety levels, financial and accommodation stress:

this has put a huge amount of stress not only financially but also day to day stress as i have talked to over 10 people through centerlink and gone in to see some one for help multiple times. they all say that it doesn't seem right and that i shouldn't have to pay it.

How do you feel about the way the Government has handled this process?:

the handling of this has been terrible to say the least. i didnt even know about this dept until i got a phone call from the dept collectors in December 2016 harassing me to pay it in full or that i will be taken to court. after contacting centerlink immediately after the phone call all they told me was dont worry about them and ignore them. since then i have made numerous phone calls to the financial department on centerlink and have been waiting to be contacted back.
the funny thing is on 13th june 2013 i was in a bad car accident and was physically unable to work for the 6 months of 2014. but they are saying i worked for 12 months and claimed centerlink.