Mentally breaking down - this is wrong!!

Debt amount:

$19473

Date debt issued:

Tuesday, 6 November 2018

Period debt occurred:

June 2015 to December 2017

Has your case been referred to a collection agency?:

Yes

Payment Type:

Austudy

Appealing Debt?:

I don't know how to

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

I haven't even been on centrelink for over a year, and they sent me letters a few months ago once I lodged my tax return saying that I need to update my employment details (as I moved to full time from casual)

I didn't think twice about this as I do not recieve centrelink payments nor have I for ages (I'm not even studying right now!!)

Then they sent another letter, so I went onto the website to update it but I couldn't even find out where to update my information I thought nothing of it as they did not give me any warning they were going to apply my new jobs employment to my past payments and then they sent me a final letter saying as I have not responded to the letters of updating my employing history they have applied this and I have an outstanding debt of $19,473 !!
THIS IS ABSURD!

I immediately broke down, feeling so anxious and stressed out, I have never had that kind of money in my life and they expect me to pay that?
I know this must have been a mess up and now that I have seen this page I know I won't give up until something is done about this.
They are not taking my money!!

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

Terrible, I never received any phone calls - I'm so stressed and upset.