Centrelink nearly killed me... Guilty until proven innocent.

My false debt occurred in 2015 when i commenced the Green Army Program 29/6/2015. I was given a letter from Job Futures - Green Army it was to be processed at my local Centrelink office. I attended my local office within the time constraints used by Centrelink (14 days) i stood in a queue and was eventually seen by the meet and greet Centrelink staff member who advised me(incorrectly) that due to system changes that had just come in that they would no longer be dealing with such letters and instructed me to take it down the road to Mission Australia(Providence) as they(employment providers) were now dealing with such matters instead. So i obviously followed the instructions i was given and lodged my paperwork with Mission Australia on 7/7/2015 four days before the fourteen day deadline. I was advised by the staff member at Centrelink and the staff at Mission Australia to report my earnings as normal(incorrect).

Recieved a request for infomation on 31/8/15 which said if i did not make contact by 23/9/15 my payments may be stopped. I was not recieving any payments after 30/7/15 which i assumed was due to reporting my earnings and depleting my work credits that were at this time zero.I did not make contact straight away as i was busy participating in the Green army program.

I first discovered i had a debt when Dun & Bradstreet phoned me while i was on lunch break at work. My first debt letter is dated 30/9/15. The phone calls came thick and fast about 4 a day from multiple phone numbers. By the bitter end i counted around 28 different phone numbers all from D&B. I asked D&B staff what the debt was for and they told me that i had failed to notify Centrelink of my participation in the Green Army program and had been over paid.

I refused to set up a payment plan with D&B until i could speak with Centrelink and find out more detail.
I recieved an urgent and overdue notice from D&B dated 7/10/15.

This is where things get messy:
I lodged a review at an unknown date with an Authorised Review Officer which involved me explaining my situation to a Centrelink staff member at a desk and the staff member typing what was said. I received a letter dated 21/11/15 explaining that my review was unsuccessful.

The 3 page letter concluded with this:
"I have also considered the rules that allow a debt to be waived. Section 1237A of the Act requires the Commonwealth to waive the right to recover a debt if it is attributed solely to an error by the Commonwealth and the person recieved the payments in good faith. 'Solely attributable to an error by the Commonwealth' means that the debt resulted from an error of the department and the debtor played no part in it's accrual."

Then this:
"I have not found that the debt was caused solely by administrative error. Changes in a person's circumstances are required to be advised within 14 days. The first notification of you recieving a Green Army Allowance was recieved when you reported on 18 July 2015 and this is not within the 14 days of 29 June 2015."

I rang the Authorised Review Officer to explain that i had been turned away by a staff member at Centrelinks reception on the 7/7/15 and she said "well that's just to bad i stand by my decision."

26/11/15 is the end date for my Green Army contract the day i handed in my exit letter which i had copied signed and stamped by a staff member at Centrelink.

Over the course of my debt i became highly Stressed and Deppressed, I was afraid of answering the phone, I missed so many days of work due to stress. I went into Centrelink and cried to a staff member about my failed review i told her i was sick of dealing with it and that i intended to take my own life.

After i left the office i went to Legal aid to see if they could help i made a phone appointment to speak with a lawyer.

When i came back to my car i cried then a Police car pulled up next to me. The officers said they had recieved a call from Centrelink concerning my safety. The officers suggested that i let them take me to hospital and i agreed. The Officers were very nice and compassionate toward me. More than i could say about Centrelink ever. I went to hospital and waited in the Emergency depatment for a very long time eventually i was seen by a mental health worker and given a sedative and sent home i wasn't admitted into hospital.

I suffer from Generalised Anxiety Disorder, Social Phobia and Major Depressive Disorder the department knows this and has known it for years( since 2010 or 2011).I also recieved a diagnosis of a new kind in 2015/16 Borderline Personality Disorder.

I admitted myself into PARC(Prevention and Recovery Center) on 1/12/15 a respite facility for people struggling to meet their daily needs due to extreme mental illness. Whilst in PARC i was contacted by legal aid who didn't think my case was worth it because the amount of money wasn't big enough. I contacted VMIAC and The Mental Health Legal Centre who also could not help me. I got a phone call arranged with a centrelink staff member who visited people in mental health facilities on welfare it took 8 days for him to call me after initially saying i'll call tomorrow. A staff member at PARC accompanied me to a meeting i had with the social worker at centrelink wear we discussed my failed appeal and all the points that did not make sense like the amount of money owed, specific laws that had been applied, incorrect information in the review and the fact that i had no way of proving my case but was not willing to pay.

I recieved a phone call from the social worker a couple of days later. The social worker made me agree to start paying off the debt before telling me that my debt had increased due to an advance payment that i received a few months before starting work with Green Army. I was furious with Centrelink for never making me aware that an advance payment would turn into a Commonwealth debt! The advance payment i thought would have just continued to come out of my Centrelink payments as before had now been lumped in with my already existing (questionable)debt. I had to agree to pay off the debt to stop the phone calls as they were still happening in December.

12 Febuary 2016 I recieved another letter from the Authorised Review Officer waving both debts due to personal circumstances under section 1237AAD of the Social Security Act 1991 (the Act). The same section of the Act she used against me the first time.
I never asked for my advance payment to be waived i just wanted it to go back to being an advance payment i could pay off.

Due to illness and damage caused by all this i was unfit to sign up for another six month contract with Green Army and struggled to pay rent for the remainder of my lease that when ended i moved out immediately because the rent without the low wage I was receiving from Green Army was too much. I could no longer afford to live in my house.
I have reluctantly lived with my Mother since and have been unemployed for over 12 months due to illness and damage caused by Centrelink.