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No help - just a litany of punishments

bennysaunders
Wed, 09 Jan 2019 02:58:02 GMT

My son had an unfair Centrelink debt which contributed to the mental health crisis that led him to suicide at Easter 2018. Centrelink then gave me (unemployed over 60) a demand notice to pay his debt within 30 days.. Legal Aid helped me with that and they backed off. Then, I picked myself up and carried on in my grief and found work via the NDIS. No points for trying. No assistance to find more of this kind of work. No business advice. (They could have at least directed me to the government business help website!) But no. Nothing from Centrelink or TURSA to encourage me. Just penalties and fear mongering until I was so stressed out, my employment officer suggested I go on sickness benefits. TO MAKE HIS JOB EASIER? I’ve found a few more hours work all by myself and should be off Newstart soon. No thanks to the services paid to help me. Transitioning into self employment is not easy. Instead of any assistance, I felt punished for having a go. As if they feared fo r their jobs if they were nice to me and supported my efforts in any way at all Really horrified how they treated my son and then turned on me.