I have a false debt of thousands from 5 years ago. I am being treated like a criminal. I am being bullied. I am being told I'm a liar. The stress and anxiety this is causing is shocking. The powerlessness I feel is unrelenting. I can't sleep and I can't stop thinking about the injustice of this. I have to waste more of my precious time fighting for my rights. It's not about the debt - I am one of the very lucky ones due to the fact that I am educated, healthy, young, have a consistent income stream and secure housing - it's about the mistreatment of others that I am outraged about and distressed by. It's not about already spending over 7 hours working on this - on the phone trying to work out why I have this debt, going through my paperwork, finding payslips, seeking to understand what is being asked of me and proving that I did nothing wrong - it's about the government treating decent people like scum. People that are already struggling with the difficulties of life are being told that the government they voted in thinks they are worthless. For many this will be the last straw and I completely understand why. I feel overwhelmed by how callous our government is being.
The first I heard of the fake debt was when a debt collector from Dunn & Bradstreet gave me a call. I had heard nothing from Centrelink. They had an address for me from ages ago (strange considering they are collecting ATO info and they somehow can't get my current address?). I was told to log on to MyGov online which after finding all my reference numbers I was finally able to do. There were no letters in my inbox. There was just a tiny link with the amount of debt listing all the jobs I ever had over this time period needing review. I called Centrelink to clarify and after being on hold then transferred three times I made it to the 'Compliance' branch. I was told that the bad software they use looks at my entire income from my group certificates with ATO and incorrectly averages it out over the financial year so as I worked casual jobs on and off I will need to provide payslips for over 3 years. I will also need to provide payslips for times that I received no Centrelink payment. As I always reported what I earnt, I would sometimes earn too much for a fortnight so I didn't receive any money. Also, halfway through the last year the job I was doing casual projects for became full time so I stopped my Newstart allowance. That's a lot of payslips. I still need to find them, scan them, upload them and then call for a reassessment.
As a current tax payer I am happy to have my tax go to welfare. In fact I really want it to. People are trying their best. If a Centrelink debt is owing it's either false or they have made mistakes due to an overly complex system and were not committing conscious fraud. This idea of a 'dole bludger' and that lots of people are rorting the system is inaccurate. To be honest I'd happily see my money go to a 'dole bludger' instead of a wealthy politician, a coal mining company, or tax breaks for multibillion dollar corporations. I regret ever having asked for help and I know this is exactly what the government is hoping for. People will now be too scared to seek support when they need it most. 'Taskforce Integrity' should be turned on the politicians that created this scheme as they are the ones being dishonest and lacking moral principles. Governments that don't help the disadvantaged and vulnerable in the community but instead seek to undermine, disrespect and mistreat them need to be held accountable.