I didn't receive a letter in the mail. When I happened to check "MyGov" I found the letter there claiming I owe them $7000. I've had to quit work over the past year to singlehandedly take care of my newborn nephew and his five year-old brother and we're already under financial strain and struggling to find a new place to live; this is the last thing we need. I'm unclear about how I've incurred this debt as I've never intentionally given false information to Centrelink. I highly doubt I owe them $7000, but I'm sure they're targeting people like us because we're already so downtrodden and poor that it's difficult to find the resources to fight back.
They were extremely sneaky about this. No information is given when you log onto your Centrelink account; the debt notice was sent to me in an online letter, and not everybody checks their inboxes regularly. No physical letters were sent, no text messages, no phone calls. Centrelink turning into a debt collection agency attacking the most vulnerable people in our society is disgusting, and the underhanded way the government is doing this is difficult to comprehend. I feel as if they're also behind some of the recent smear-campaign stories in the news trying to frame this as "getting back at dole bludgers" when that's not the case at all. I'm ashamed of my country. I'm praying this is overturned but I don't have high hopes.