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Post by spaceyone on Feb 3, 2012 7:10:09 GMT 7
They all do their jobs so badly, yet stand there calling us bludgers and demanding to know why we are too stupid to have a job.
Yet in the world of private business and performance monitoring, they would not have theirs.
Yes, it is heart-breaking to have your life dictated to, and then destroyed, by people who cannot even do their own job properly.
Hugs, LD. Same advice as to Quantum: find your own job, if that is still possible in this economic climate, as once you are on their books, they will only make life more difficult.
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Post by Banjo on Feb 3, 2012 8:39:52 GMT 7
Try to stay focussed mate and keep your thoughts in the past and the future rather than the present. Do you and you wife use skype? It's a free way of talking to each other when ever you like.
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Post by latindancer on Feb 3, 2012 17:43:47 GMT 7
Thanks, folks. Spacey, I had in fact thought of creating my own job / starting my own small business but am rather lost for what I might do. Yes Banjo, she and I chat every day on the phone, and once a week on Skype (with video). It's free as she has it on her computer, and I go to an internet cafe which has a camera. I'm not letting the bastards grind me down, and I no longer suffer fools gladly. I will be making a complaint to Mission Australia about their office having caused me to waste more than 2 weeks of my life.
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Post by latindancer on Feb 21, 2012 8:29:36 GMT 7
I went for a JCA ( Job Capacity Assessment ) last week. A guy came out and spoke my name so quietly I didn't hear it because I was sitting on the other side of the room. He said he'd come out twice previously. I don't have problems with my hearing, either. We went into a room and he asked me a few questions. It was hardly a searching interview. He seemed quite naive and seemed to not be aware that it was difficult to bring my foreign wife to Australia.....even though he was a foreigner himself (came here as a child and has a slight accent). However he could have been playing up to me on this. I think he was only looking to see if I was so utterly debilitated that I am permanently unable to work, as he asked surprisingly few questions. I'll ask for a copy of his report, and it'll be interesting to see what he has said. However I won't hold my breath. I've had so much lack of service, diligence and actual focus from Centrelink employees I could puke. How do I actually ask for a copy of his report ? Do I spend 30 minutes on hold on the phone, or wait 30 minutes twiddling my thumbs in a Centrelink office ?
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Post by Banjo on Feb 21, 2012 8:52:47 GMT 7
Put your request on paper and deliver it personally. On the one occasion I did this it worked well. If they won't give it to you or fob you off you can go down the FOI road or ask Welfare Rights to get it for you.
I spent two hours waiting at Centrelink once, when I went to the desk and complained she insisted that I had been called twice. I do have a hearing problem, how hard would it be to have this come up as an alert when they access my file and call my name a bit louder. These people are supposed to be disability friendly.
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Post by howdo on Feb 21, 2012 9:07:33 GMT 7
Also LD remember to keep a copy of anything you hand over to them. I forgot to do this last year and it took them months to find it.
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Post by spaceyone on Feb 21, 2012 21:54:46 GMT 7
I went for a JCA ( Job Capacity Assessment ) last week. A guy came out and spoke my name so quietly I didn't hear it because I was sitting on the other side of the room. He said he'd come out twice previously. I don't have problems with my hearing, either. We went into a room and he asked me a few questions. It was hardly a searching interview. He seemed quite naive and seemed to not be aware that it was difficult to bring my foreign wife to Australia.....even though he was a foreigner himself (came here as a child and has a slight accent). However he could have been playing up to me on this. I think he was only looking to see if I was so utterly debilitated that I am permanently unable to work, as he asked surprisingly few questions. I'll ask for a copy of his report, and it'll be interesting to see what he has said. However I won't hold my breath. I've had so much lack of service, diligence and actual focus from Centrelink employees I could puke. How do I actually ask for a copy of his report ? Do I spend 30 minutes on hold on the phone, or wait 30 minutes twiddling my thumbs in a Centrelink office ? The JCA assessor has about 10 days after interviewing you, to write and lodge their report with Centrelink. Once it has been lodged you can ask for a copy of it to be posted to you, or you can go to your local branch and ask for it to be printed out. I did some searching in relation to how long they have to conduct an ARO appeal. I know that it is only 28 days when it comes to a DSP rejection. I could not find the information, however, everything says you have 13 weeks to apply for a review, after a decision. I doubt they would be allowed to take as long as they have LatinDancer. These timelines where bought in for just this reason, so that they cannot keep fobbing a person off, and making them wait indefinitely for an answer.
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Post by spaceyone on Feb 21, 2012 22:28:07 GMT 7
Had C/L playing games with my son again this week, and caught them completely disregarding the results of his last JCA.
We received two letters earlier this month, one saying he had an appointment with C/L on the 8th, which we had missed by the time we received the letter. The second letter said he had an appointment on the 20th. I assumed they must have realised the first one would not arrive in time to advise of the interview, so they had rescheduled it.
At the interview, we found that his payments had been suspended on the 8th when he didn't show up for that appointment. The letter advising that his payment had been suspended arrived today, the 22nd.
The letters had said he was to sign an employment pathway plan. The JCA interviewer, had agreed she would refer him to a disability worker, and we were still waiting for that to happen.
When we arrived at C/L, my son asked for a pint out of his last JCA. I had instructed him to do this, so we would know what he had been classified as being able to work, before we signed any agreements. They told him at the counter that he could not have a copy of it.
Once we were with the C/L worker, and he stated that my son's payments were cancelled, I bought up the two different letters. He reinstated his payment immediately. I bought up the disability allowance. He reinstated that. I asked for a copy of the JCA, he went to print it out, but was reminded by another officer to make sure it had been marked 'as being able to be released to the client', which it was.
While my son has not been given a formal exemption from looking for work, and has been listed as being able to do 7 - 14 hours per week, the JCA report makes it quite clear that he might get to a point of not being able to do any work at all while waiting for surgery.
We also note, that the assessor was a social worker, and not a health professional (something I had suspected at the time).
Check your facts and be aware that you are being played. It was interesting to watch the Centrelink employee pretend to be informative and pointing out this, that and the other, all of which was unnecessary, to cover up for the fact that I had blown their game plan out the window and he didn't have another one ready.
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Post by latindancer on Feb 22, 2012 10:49:49 GMT 7
We received two letters earlier this month, one saying he had an appointment with C/L on the 8th, which we had missed by the time we received the letter. The second letter said he had an appointment on the 20th. I assumed they must have realised the first one would not arrive in time to advise of the interview, so they had rescheduled it. At the interview, we found that his payments had been suspended on the 8th when he didn't show up for that appointment. The letter advising that his payment had been suspended arrived today, the 22nd. Semi-automated systems ! Don't you love them ? I'm happy for you that an actual human being put it right. And that you got an empathic one !
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Post by latindancer on Mar 7, 2012 11:37:41 GMT 7
The saga continues. I got a copy of my JCA and it says that I can work 8+ hours a week. Somehow the interviewer inferred this from the four and a half questions he asked me in the very quick interview. On the assessment it says he is a QUALIFIED SOCIAL WORKER, so I guess he should know. (sardonic laughter)
I'm _STILL_ waiting for my Authorized Review to be completed. Centrelink should have never bullied me to come home, if they had looked at my file. And knowing that government agencies often simply manage people rather than help them, I think that is what they may be doing. As far as I know, they have 13 weeks to complete my Review. And that will be up next week. I applied on December 2 !!! And I spoke to the Review Officer a month ago and she said it would "probably be completed next week". That would have been 3 weeks ago. You know, since I've been back, EVERY single contact I've had with Centrelink has been either a complete cock-up or entirely unsatisfactory. I haven't even managed to register with a Disability Services Provider yet. The latest reason is that for the last two and a half days, DEEWR's ESS computer system has been malfunctioning. So Centrelink can't refer me to a Provider. And I can't do it myself. I can understand that computer systems stuff up. But prior to that, actual people screwed up. I asked to see a different Disability Services Provider but instead of giving me a casual interview, Centrelink "LINKED" me to them "PENDING" the interview outcome. They performed a de facto registration without telling me. Now, as that provider was not suitable for me ( funding provided for ongoing support but not for initial support or training, whereas I need the reverse), I am in limbo, and HAVE to go to Centrelink to get referred to a new agency. I have found a good one, but cannot register with them because the computer system is down. Centrelink "registered" me without asking my permission or even telling me. This is what I mean by saying that every contact with them has been either a screw-up or very unsatisfactory. I've been TRYING to get help getting a job since January 2. All that time I have had nothing but hurdles. Prior to all this I was taking with a grain of salt the negative things people said about Centrelink, but having experienced their systemic and individual incompetence first-hand, it's simply astounding. When dealing with individuals, the left hand never seems to know what the right is doing. And when both parties are only partly competent, it's just a complete stuff-up. What makes it even worse is that whenever I physically go in to a Centrelink office, I feel like I've just entered an institution of some kind, as most of the customers there look like they've been somehow beaten into submission. They are really depressing places.
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Post by Banjo on Mar 7, 2012 12:09:53 GMT 7
Try to stay upbeat, look upon every visit as a challenge, keep all the facts up your sleeve and never take no for an answer without wanting a full explanation why. Write anything down that you want an answer too before you go there and insist they take a copy, they hate this as it must go into your file.
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Post by latindancer on Mar 7, 2012 14:58:09 GMT 7
What irks me is that Centrelink stuck their dirty fingers into my life, bullying me into returning back to Australia after my having been married only 3 months. They have presumed to regulate my life when in fact I had things going fine on my own. I had found a really lovely person to be my life partner (and I don't mean just a pretty face, I mean as a person), and things were rosy. We were planning to return to Australia together when her Migration Visa was finally processed. Then I was forced back here prematurely, only to be subjected to THIS. If they were mildly helpful or competent, it might be more bearable. But THIS ?? Now I have been stuffed around and disempowered so much for the last 9 weeks I'm in a state of depression and haven't even got my act together to help her submit her Migration Visa. All our attention and energy has been put into applying for a Tourist Visa so she can come here for 3 weeks in April to see me. The ( considerably more ) bureaucratic stuff needed for a Migration Visa has had to be put to one side.
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Post by rowdy on Mar 7, 2012 15:10:06 GMT 7
What irks me is that Centrelink stuck their dirty fingers into my life, bullying me into returning back to Australia after my having been married only 3 months. They have presumed to regulate my life when in fact I had things going fine on my own. I had found a really lovely person to be my life partner (and I don't mean just a pretty face, I mean as a person), and things were rosy. We were planning to return to Australia together when her Migration Visa was finally processed. Then I was forced back here prematurely, only to be subjected to THIS. If they were mildly helpful or competent, it might be more bearable. But THIS ?? Now I have been stuffed around and disempowered so much for the last 9 weeks I'm in a state of depression and haven't even got my act together to help her submit her Migration Visa. All our attention and energy has been put into applying for a Tourist Visa so she can come here for 3 weeks in April to see me. The ( considerably more ) bureaucratic stuff needed for a Migration Visa has had to be put to one side. Just a suggestion. Give that processing for offshore partner visa application is currently 10 months, why not put the partner visa in ASAP together with a tourist visa to visit Australia during the processing of the partner visa application. Also it is only a requirement to make a valid application (not a complete application) under the Migration Regulations. The further outstanding documentation can follow. In any event the application wont even be looked at for 10 to 12 weeks, and you would just keep the case officer updated once allocated. At least when you put the partner visa application in the clock starts running.
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Post by latindancer on Mar 7, 2012 15:49:40 GMT 7
Thanks for the suggestion, Rowdy. I didn't know I could put in an incomplete application. The Tourist Visa guidelines emphasize that we have to put in a complete application, and that is still circling around in my head. We are in fact trying to "get our ducks in a row", so to speak. Hence the Tourist Visa application, soon to be followed by the Migratrion Visa application. Then she may be able to be here for a few months while her visa is processed. I was advised to not volunteer the fact that we want a long Tourist Visa so she can do this......too much information is often counterproductive. Let's hope that the bureaucrats in the embassy are better than the bureaucrats here in Centrelink. Though from what I've read on ThaiVisa forum, I'm not holding my breath.
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Post by rowdy on Mar 7, 2012 16:11:02 GMT 7
Thanks for the suggestion, Rowdy. I didn't know I could put in an incomplete application. The Tourist Visa guidelines emphasize that we have to put in a complete application, and that is still circling around in my head. We are in fact trying to "get our ducks in a row", so to speak. Hence the Tourist Visa application, soon to be followed by the Migratrion Visa application. Then she may be able to be here for a few months while her visa is processed. I was advised to not volunteer the fact that we want a long Tourist Visa so she can do this......too much information is often counterproductive. Let's hope that the bureaucrats in the embassy are better than the bureaucrats here in Centrelink. Though from what I've read on ThaiVisa forum, I'm not holding my breath. A tourist visa application must always be complete due to the fact that processing is usually 5 business days from date of application. An incomplete application will result in a refusal for sure. It is very common for incomplete partner visa applications to be submitted. The Migration Regulations provide that only a valid application is necessary, which in short requires the correct application form, the current visa application charge and the address of the applicant for correspondence. Whilst I am not saying you don't want to not give as much of a complete application as you can, if you are struggling, the further information can follow later. Always keep the Australian Embassy Bangkok up-to-date though. I am probably telling you things you already know, but if you lodge the tourist visa first you can apply for more than 3 month stay. The Australian Embassy Bangkok have recently started only granting 3 month tourist visas for those that already have or are submitting a partner visa application at the same time as the tourist visa. The reasoning behind this is that don't want partner visa applicants to be in Australia for an extended period of time in case they are needed during the processing of the partner visa, and as you probably already know a decision can only be made whilst the applicant is offshore. You are quite within your right to apply for say a 6 month tourist visa, then once it is granted lodge the partner visa application.
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