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Study Load

Debt amount: 
$5000
Has your case been referred to a collection agency?: 
No
Payment Type: 
Austudy
Appealing Debt?: 
Yes & I won
Tell us about your debt and how has this affected you? e.g. anxiety levels, financial and accommodation stress: 

Centrelinks antiquated student monitoring systems were apparently incapable of authenticating my study load and as a result they kept granting then cancelling my Austudy payment (and "raising a debt" against me). Extreme mental and marital stress - Centrelink kept calling home and telling my wife my payment was to be suspended despite her having been removed as a contact. Was forced onto Newstart in order to feed my babies, with all of the mandatory reporting palava when, as a full-time uni-student with 4 small children, I had no capacity to accept a full-time job (if one could be even found in my regional town). Was even forced to attend the worst resume writing workshop I have ever seen (pitifuil powerpoint full of spelling and grammatical errors) that went for the best part of a day, in my uni exam block!

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

If I was rich enough I would take Centrelink and the officers (individually) involved to court over their ineptness to administer the benefits under the clear legal guidelines and blatant breaches of privacy legislation. My add I even wrote to the Minister - got a cookie-cutter response "Austudy is a wonderfull scheme" that completely failed to address any of the issues raised.