Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #Centrelink
Most recents (16)
So for the many #Medevac refugees released from detention 6 months ago on 6 month bridging visas, these need to be renewed. But the application process requires @AlexHawkeMP and/or @karenandrewsmp to ‘lift the bar’ and allow them to submit the applications. 1/
Are the ministers so incompetent, irresponsible and unprofessional that they will allow the bridging visas to lapse before allowing these people to renew???
#auspol
Let’s be clear that the process is so convoluted that a lawyer is required in each and every application. 2/
#auspol
Let’s be clear that the process is so convoluted that a lawyer is required in each and every application. 2/
Let’s also be clear that these people can’t legally work without a visa, so government ministers #HomeAffairs #Immigration are putting livelihoods at stake. Remember also that refugees on these bridging visas cannot access any #Centrelink or public housing. 3/
Thread. I'm going to talk about the interactive role between #Centrelink and Job Service Providers #JSP's. Centrelink runs under a different department from outsourced, privatised, JSPs. Centrelink wants us off #Jobseeker payments, so send us to JSPs.
When we talk to Centrelink on the phone, we may be talking to a government employee who knows what they are talking about, or an outsourced phone centre worker who is trained as far as box ticking. Either will tell us our situation as if it's fact, even if it isn't.
JSPs often only exist to be JSPs, including not for profit, where CEO's and Directors can still pay themselves huge incomes, or divert income to other enterprises. JSPs like Sarina Russo whose worth is $100m of public funds, profit administering the underemployed/unemployed.
Upon reflection, I’m now wondering when Serco took over #Centrelink call centre operations? Based on a personal anecdote.....a thread. 1/6
My late parents were both age pensioners, worked hard their entire lives. Sadly my mother died about 10 months before my dad died. But I had two quite different experiences with Centrelink. I phoned them.....2/6
about a week after Mum died to notify them of her death (my Dad had dementia & couldn’t). I was so sad & I recall having a lovely conversation with the call centre staff member. She expressed her sympathy on our loss & explained......3/6
Melbourne tower residents lodge complaints. Watch a compo claim come driven by creepy community lawyers including the Victorian Multicultural Commission. 
The end game will be money, there's no other reason why ungrateful grubs in public housing would be doing this. Apparantly they can't understand covid warnings in English but can understand to lodge a complaint.
Flemington Melbourne north housing commission flats #COVID19Victoria
Flemington Melbourne north housing commission flats #COVID19Victoria
Word is there are some tenants who work professional jobs in those housing commission towers. These "sitters" need to be found and removed from the towers and let the 45,000+ people waiting for public housing in Victoria a home.
Kensington north Melbourne covid lockdown.
Kensington north Melbourne covid lockdown.
Get this @centrelink disaster.
Wife redundant Feb. OK severance payout.
Me redundant Mar. No payout, just final pay.
Wife puts in Jobseeker application, approved, assistance starts. OMG we might get through this.
1/
#australia #centrelink #auspol .@ServicesGovAU #jobseeker
Wife redundant Feb. OK severance payout.
Me redundant Mar. No payout, just final pay.
Wife puts in Jobseeker application, approved, assistance starts. OMG we might get through this.
1/
#australia #centrelink #auspol .@ServicesGovAU #jobseeker
My Jobseeker application gets processed end April. Because we're a couple all finances are shared, which means wife's Feb severance also gets associated with me. Because my application is new, that means the association between me and wife's Feb severance is new.
2/
2/
That means it gets flagged as new income right now, which means I get denied for assistance until at least end of July.
That's not the bad bit.
3/
That's not the bad bit.
3/
I am an Australian teacher. You will not by default practice #herdimmunity on me & my colleagues. Read "I’m an epidemiologist. When I heard about Britain’s ‘herd immunity’ coronavirus plan, I thought it was satire" by William Hanage theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
Catching #Covid19 still means you can get it again. Prof Kim Woo-Ju, Depart of Infectious Diseases at Korea University. He's done SARS, Swine Flu Pandemic, Ebola, & MERS. At 8.08 he calls those who have #Covid19 & get it again as having a "reactivation'.
There were no brawls over toilet paper in Taiwan b/c everyone felt safe. Teachers in Taiwan had a Pandemic Office providing PPEs for teachers & students & highly trained cleaners as well. In Australia some schools didn't have enough soap for students to wash their hands.
For many people, #coronavirus means they are navigating the welfare system for the first time. #Centrelink is facing an unprecedented challenge and leaked emails from inside the organisation reveal confusion over new government policies. #abc730 @FarrellPF #COVID19Aus
Amanda Colton applied for #Newstart in January when her casual hours were reduced. “I don't know how many phone calls I've made to #Centrelink. However, I've only spoken to somebody once. And that was after I think waiting for two, two and a half hours.” #abc730 #coronavirus
Amanda Colton’s claim was finally approved after 11 weeks. “You couldn’t say it has achieved the goals #Centrelink is there to achieve, which is to help people as quickly as possible when they're in trouble.” #abc730 #coronavirusaustralia #COVID19Aus
Hi everyone
Another update from me on #Centrelink and employment service providers.
#COVID19Pandemic
👇
Another update from me on #Centrelink and employment service providers.
#COVID19Pandemic
👇
I know that it’s been a very stressful time for you all and I want to reassure people that my team and I are working to help fix system errors & raising issues with the Minister and Government as they arise as much as we can.
#Centrelink #COVID19Pandemic
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#Centrelink #COVID19Pandemic
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As you may know, income reporting has been suspended until Friday 3rd April meaning that people that were due to report their income THIS WEEK don't have to and will be paid automatically.
#Centrelink #COVID19Pandemic
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#Centrelink #COVID19Pandemic
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To every single person who didn't vote for a @billshortenmp
government: you're a bunch of utterly selfish morons.
I just sent his office an enquiry to find out if there is a new glitch at #Centrelink for those of us already on benefits as the system is showing that our benefits
government: you're a bunch of utterly selfish morons.
I just sent his office an enquiry to find out if there is a new glitch at #Centrelink for those of us already on benefits as the system is showing that our benefits
are now suspended. 10 minutes after I sent that email BILL SHORTEN CALLED ME.
Let me repeat that for you:
BILL.
SHORTEN.
CALLED.
***ME***
Let me repeat that for you:
BILL.
SHORTEN.
CALLED.
***ME***
Not a staffer. Not a recorded message. It was Bill Shorten himself. HIMSELF.
While I was in shocked fangirly tears, wondering if this was a joke, he assured me he would be looking into this immediately. The genuine empathy in his voice made me cry even more.
While I was in shocked fangirly tears, wondering if this was a joke, he assured me he would be looking into this immediately. The genuine empathy in his voice made me cry even more.
AUWU is proud to be a founding signatory of the @InstituteGreen #NobodyLeftBehind campaign.
Here's what it's all about:
"These times call for extraordinary measures from governments to introduce a floor below which no one in our society can fall ..."
Here's what it's all about:
"These times call for extraordinary measures from governments to introduce a floor below which no one in our society can fall ..."
"... to assure all people that they will not be left behind, that they will be cared for and provided with necessities of life"
#NobodyLeftBehind
#NobodyLeftBehind
"As the long and dangerous queues at #Centrelink offices and the unmanageable demand on the MyGov website demonstrate, the current approach, even with these important shifts, is insufficient"
#NobodyLeftBehind
#NobodyLeftBehind
An update from me on #Centrelink 👇
My office has been inundated with calls & emails this week from people on Centrelink payments who have not been able to use #MyGov or talk to a Centrelink team member due to the huge spike in people using Centrelink services.
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My office has been inundated with calls & emails this week from people on Centrelink payments who have not been able to use #MyGov or talk to a Centrelink team member due to the huge spike in people using Centrelink services.
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I know this is very stressful and that many people have either not been paid or had their payments cut off as a result.
#coronavirusaustralia #Centrelink
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#coronavirusaustralia #Centrelink
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Going into the weekend I want to reassure people that my team & I have spent this week following this up with the Minister who has informed me that staff are working to fix a systems error to ensure that people will be paid.
#coronavirusaustralia #Centrelink
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#coronavirusaustralia #Centrelink
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#COVID19Aus Thread. The LNP is congenitally unequipped to deal with crises that require the mass mobilisation of government resources to help people. It is contrary to their ideology of small government. In #Morrison's case, there is another factor... 1/6
Morrison's faith incorporates "prosperity gospel", so proper responses to this crisis crash against his belief that some people deserve help, others don't, according to their "worthiness". 2/6
When he was announcing the coronavirus payments for people who are losing work because of shutdowns, Morrison actually said that these will support people without income "through no fault of their own". 3/6
[Thread] If you haven’t heard about the #indue #cashlessdebitcard used for some #centrelink payments. Ohh boy. Strap yourself in, you’re in for a ride. The Liberal government have been “trailing” the card at 6 sites across Australia since 2016. #auspol #AuspolSoCorrupt
The sites are Ceduna, Kununurra, Wyndham, Goldfields, Bundaberg and Hervey Bay regions.
The idea is to ‘quarantine’ 80% of a persons payment onto the indue card. This is meant to stop a person from using their payment to buy alcohol, illicit drugs, make cash withdrawals or gamble. This is to “tackle” the scourges affecting communities.
#CashlessDebitCard #indue #Robodebt #Welfare #DHS #centrelink #auspol2019 #dignity #SocialJustice #auspol #LNPfail #ALP #Greens #Cruelty #SocialSegregation #ScottMorrison #Poverty #Fascism #cashlesswelfarecard #GovernmentWarOnPoor
Imagine the social segregation of not being able to attend your best friend's 40th Birthday party because it's held in a restaurant that doesn't accept #indue #CashlessDebitCard
Imagine not being able to take your mum out on Mother's Day or dad on Farther's Day for lunch or dinner because local businesses aren't pre-registered for #CashlessDebitCard #indue
.#Centrelink office visit lesson eleventy thousand: Do not cry, do not say that you are frustrated after 7 months of trying to get help for an ill family member. Even when you say it quietly & politely, you will be assessed as a threat, sat behind a glass screen separated from 1/
..the worker w/ a surveillance camera overhead. You’ll be told that this happened as “you’re upset”. Being treated as if you are a safety risk & a threat is intimidating and threatening. No raised voice, no discourtesy, no violence but you are threat.
...you will be a threat as your presence @Centrelink asks workers to be human in a system that is set up to dehumanise you and them. It’s no surprise that more people are homeless & killing themselves. It’s a despairing & hopeless system. #RaisetheRate
The Government must suspend #robodebt during the legal challenge in the Federal Court #centrelink #auspol #greens
theguardian.com/australia-news…
theguardian.com/australia-news…
Two years ago I chaired the senate inquiry into the #robodebt debacle and the evidence we heard was both devastating because of the human consequences and gobsmacking in the brazen way the Gov threw out fairness to pick on some of the most vulnerable people #auspol #greens
Since that senate inquiry the Government has tweaked around the edges, but it has not addressed the underlining unfairness of the program and people are still being harassed for money they do not owe and cannot pay #auspol #greens #robodebt #centrelink
