Post by Banker on Mar 25, 2012 18:58:23 GMT 7
Last year while I was in Australia I stayed with friends in Brisbane. They told me their next door neighbor had some trouble with Centrelink & ask me if I could talk with them which I did.
The married couple next door are both in their 70s, about 8 years ago he was given the OAP but worked for 6 months not telling C/L and someone put him in. C/L told him that he had to pay back all of his pension. His wife had a workers comp settlement and C/L claimed that they were not given any money from this and she would have to pay C/L about $8,000. They were not happy about this as they believed that her lawyer had made the payment to C/L from the settlement, so they contacted Welfare Rights.
Once WR had contacted C/L the couple were called into the C/L office and told by the interview officer that if they continued with the complaint to WR, that the husband would be deported, the husband had come to Australia with his mother at the age of one year old and had been called up to the army during the Vietnam war and here was this C/L jerk making threats about getting him deported, then he turned to the wife and threatened her if she continued that he would have her sent to jail for the rest of her life.
Fearing for their future they decided not to continue with the complaint, so they would still get their OAP but would have to pay all of this money back at $10, per week each which they were still paying when I met them in November last year.
I advised them to get all of the paper work they could find on the matter and return to WR and for them to tell WR their full story and also tell them that they felt they had been victimized and to also put in a letter of complaint to the Commonwealth Ombudsman.
Once Welfare Rights looked at it they asked for their file from C/L, Centrelink refused saying they must apply under the FOI act, so the couple asked for their file & C/L told them the same. After five months of investigation by W.R they have had the repayments stopped and now W.R. are trying to get all the money back that they have paid over the years and they feel confident about this, in total over $6,000.
The reason I have put this on our forum is because the couple do not know how to use a computer. I have held off with this story waiting to see the outcome, I spoke to the couple today by phone and they are so pleased and would like to thank DSPoverseas for their help.
I suggest to all of our members if a decision is made against you by Centrelink, please go through the appeals process and contact Welfare Rights if you need any help.
The married couple next door are both in their 70s, about 8 years ago he was given the OAP but worked for 6 months not telling C/L and someone put him in. C/L told him that he had to pay back all of his pension. His wife had a workers comp settlement and C/L claimed that they were not given any money from this and she would have to pay C/L about $8,000. They were not happy about this as they believed that her lawyer had made the payment to C/L from the settlement, so they contacted Welfare Rights.
Once WR had contacted C/L the couple were called into the C/L office and told by the interview officer that if they continued with the complaint to WR, that the husband would be deported, the husband had come to Australia with his mother at the age of one year old and had been called up to the army during the Vietnam war and here was this C/L jerk making threats about getting him deported, then he turned to the wife and threatened her if she continued that he would have her sent to jail for the rest of her life.
Fearing for their future they decided not to continue with the complaint, so they would still get their OAP but would have to pay all of this money back at $10, per week each which they were still paying when I met them in November last year.
I advised them to get all of the paper work they could find on the matter and return to WR and for them to tell WR their full story and also tell them that they felt they had been victimized and to also put in a letter of complaint to the Commonwealth Ombudsman.
Once Welfare Rights looked at it they asked for their file from C/L, Centrelink refused saying they must apply under the FOI act, so the couple asked for their file & C/L told them the same. After five months of investigation by W.R they have had the repayments stopped and now W.R. are trying to get all the money back that they have paid over the years and they feel confident about this, in total over $6,000.
The reason I have put this on our forum is because the couple do not know how to use a computer. I have held off with this story waiting to see the outcome, I spoke to the couple today by phone and they are so pleased and would like to thank DSPoverseas for their help.
I suggest to all of our members if a decision is made against you by Centrelink, please go through the appeals process and contact Welfare Rights if you need any help.