Aside from the financial hardship of having to pay such an enormous amount of money to the government - which I do not believe to be legitimate - this has caused a great deal of anxiety as recourse and appealing the decision is such an arduous process. You can't get a Centrelink person on the phone for love nor money without wasting hours and hours of your life and racking up a huge mobile phone bill. Trying to use the online system is an exercise in futility. Is it just me, or are they deliberately making contacting them more and more difficult?
Appallingly. They should really focus on delivering an efficient data matching system that actually works and is accurate before sending out debt letters. No private company would survive on such disgraceful error rates. It sickens me to my stomach that in the Land of the Fair Go this rubbish is tolerated by the citizenry particularly when the government and opposition turn a blind eye to corporate tax avoidance.