I received this debt out of the blue, 2 years after I am supposed to have incurred it. I am now no longer on a family tax benefit as my son has finished high school. I am actually now on a Neis payment while I try to start my own business. The money from that payment, which is already too little to live off, is now just going straight back to the Government. I spent an hour on hold when I queried the debt, at the end of which I was told that the debt held. No proof was provided. I have no information on how to further fight this so I agreed to a payment plan, which I keep defaulting on, as I don't have the money. As a result they have added interest to the original debt. My son in currently at University, but lives at home. He is on Youth Allowance study assistance and I have had to borrow money off him in order to make the payments. My son also dislocated his knee just a few weeks after I received the debt, so has been unable to work. He has had to have expensive physiotherapy sessions for the past 3 months, ongoing. I wasn't surprised really when I received the debt. Every other person I know who has ever been on a payment, mostly single mothers, have received a robo-debt in the past few years. It just makes you feel like you will never get ahead.
I feel like they haven't handled it. I feel like it is a system made by design to keep people in poverty. I will be closely watching the class action as it unfolds and I hope that the criminals running this country will finally be held accountable.