I panicked, cried, and feared that every year I had ever used Centrelink benefits for a short time that i would now have to pay it back. Had the rules changed? Why didn't they tell me when I applied for benefits at the time? I answered the yes or no question on the website, and found my tax return for that year. Yes the amount was correct. There was no dialogue box to explain that I was only on benefits for 4 months of that year. So I knew it was their mistake. The next day i received an email to tell me I owed $5365.
I found the website impossible to navigate: where was the address to upload my review request? My payslips? My explanation? I downloaded the request for review form and handed it in to Centrelink in person. After some effort I was able to produce details of payslips and handed up 39 pages of these along with another review request. I tried to call the debt hotline, and was repeatedly hung up on after listening to vivaldi for an hour. I realised I should have asked for a receipt number for my submitted paperwork, and considered handing it up again. There seemed no human being i could contact to help me. The prevailing attitude of Centrelink staff was smug and gaslighting: if i have a "debt" then I must be a "fraud". I became so anxious I was almost in need of medication and to make matters worse my family members told me it was my own fault.
I read on the Guardian Hank Jorgen wanted people to write to him if they had a complaint. So I emailed him, and My local member of parliament, and made an appointment with legal aid, looked into the Ombudsman and prepared to hand up my paperwork a third time. Only after I rang to wrong number on the debt hotline (participation, apparently) was i put throught to a human and arranged to pay my debt $20 per fortnight. I was called by a staffer from Hank Jorgen's office and when I explained that I had provided evidence to support my innocence the debt was then reduced to $9.07 which was then waved due to the small amount and the payment witholding cancelled. My advice is if you can provide bank statements, payslips, or statute of declaration then do it and complain to as many people as possible. Don't give up.
We have social security in this country as a safety net for people who are in need for whatever reason. People who need it also pay taxes, and deserve to be treated like human beings, by human beings. This system of sending out debt notices before any actual debt has been raised is fraudulent, malicious and in this country illegal. This government is the worst ever for human rights abuse.