After moving to Port Lincoln SA in January 2010 I ended up receiving new start allowance till I found causal work in a local fish factory. Casual being the operative word because I never knew from one day to the next if I had work until a text message came through the night before. I always reported my earnings once a fortnight (at first by phone then by computer ). I always had my tax done every year and in a couple of occasions I had to pay extra tax back. Ive been out of work now for 26 months and with rent assistance get a total of $668.80 per fortnight of which $500 a fortnight goes straight to rent leaving me the grand sum of $168.80 a fortnight to live on and pay utility bills that comes with renting a house. Beginning of September 2016 I received a letter from centerlink saying if they hadn't heard from me by January 1960 they would send me a bill.
When I first read it I thought it was a joke seeing as it was 2 years before I was even born. I rang centerlink and discussed my dilemma and they said I was definitely overpaid. I cant see how as I declared every cent I earned. At first they were taking $80 a fortnight out leaving me a whole $86.80 a fortnight.
I managed to get that amount reduced to $15 a fortnight which apparently is their minimum repayment. So that now leaves me with $153 a fortnight to live on. So do I eat or do I pay bills. Unfortunately for me I can't do both. Im living on one meal a day as it is and everything like power and gas and even car regos are constantly rising. I honestly don't know how much longer I can keep going. Im 54 years old which no employer will employ because its cheaper for them to hire juniors. Even with the government $10,000 subsidy they get because they hired someone over 50. So basically I'm between a rock and a hard place with mounting debts....stuck in a rental for the next 6 months until my lease is up (yes visited my real estate agent today and explained my circumstances and was told if I broke my lease I would still have to pay rent). Have a gas bill due in 6 days time ( need gas for hot water and stove ) and an electricity bill not too far away in the mail. Car rego renewal papers arrived yesterday to find that too has risen from $353 for 6 months to $370 for 6 months. So which ever way I turn I'm F***ED.
But its good to see that politicians can give themselves pay rises and still rort the system to their gains and the big overseas companies rape our country of assets and dont give back in taxes.
All I NEED IS A BLOODY JOB.....if I can get one of those I'd be laughing.
I rang centerlink to see if they could suspend debt until I found work to which I would be happy to repay them back.....you can guess what the answer to that was....so no I'm not happy about their process of ensuring that I end up homeless and in debt to my eyeballs.