A newbie reporting for duty

[raff]

Hi folks.
I would guess that I am one of many who is freaking out just a little with the recent news regarding DSP portability.

I have been on DSP for perhaps a decade (my memory is a wee bit dodgy) and in that time have travelled as much as I can. Considering the quality of life I have while here in Oz on the amount of money I receive, my travel was more trying to lead a relatively positive life rather than just a long holiday.

Without boring folks with too much detail my ailment is of a mental nature rather than purely physical although the lines are pretty blurred at times.

Please feel free to ask me any questions as believe me I shall be asking as many as I possibly can.

All the best and I hope to get to know you guys in due time.
Raff

[Banker]

Welcome to our forum raff.

[Banjo]

We have no interest in anyone's disability raff, as long as your on the DSP you're one of us.
Welcome and have a look at the board, there's a lot of stories and advice here.

[raff]

Thanks so much for the welcome guys. I must confess to feeling somewhat alone these days due to my disability. I have some great friends around me but at the end of the day they can only go so far in understanding what it is like to be in my/our situation.

I have a couple of questions that have been burning a hole in my brain since I heard the news (yet again...) that we are in the governments crosshairs.

[Banjo]

Just keep in mind that we don't necessarily have any answers, we have a lot of experience in dealing with Centrelink but we haven't always got it right.
There's some strange stuff happening and the proposed 6 week portability totally blind sided us.

[anotherdsp]

yep gday raff, we all are in the same boat mate!!

[raff]

I thought it was bad enough when they scrapped the 6 month travel provisions (plus I got the 12 month jobbie a couple of times) but it seems like they will not be happy until we are stuck here in Oz living on bloody food stamps...

Luckily my Doctor is a legend and he always goes into bat for me. But at the end of the day if both sides of the political spectrum want to play the "I'm tougher on DSP bludgers than you are" game than the space we survive in will just get narrower and narrower.

I just wish there was some kind of accountability for politicians doing bloody backflips to suit themselves. If this does all go pearshaped for us and we are forced to somehow eek out a living here in Oz on DSP then I will be chaining myself to the doors of a few pollies offices...

Also, do any of you blokes have any info on what I need to do to get upgraded to a more user friendly portability status?? I wanna try and get up to scratch before anymore changes in case they decide to grandfather the thing.

[Banjo]

My personal campaign in this business is to get people to:

i) Upgrade their Australian residency status.
ii) Downgrade any permanent connections overseas.

This means have a strong address in Australia, strong ties with family and friends.
Make sure that your trips are holidays, don't sit on your duff on the same beach and live in the same guest house everyday. This is a residence.
Check out our website here, there's quite a bit of stuff on residency there.

www.australianpensioner.org/residency.html

Edit: don't forget to click on a few ads, they pay the occasional bill.

[zorro1]

welcome Raff

CL have made it totally unfair by rewarding those with zero potential a lifetime pass / get out of jail card and come to think of it is similar to a jail and we are on parole.

on the other hand those that miss out bu 1 point on the new scale have been handed a straight jacket, locked up forever

amazing centre link !