Centrelink

I spotted a job ad in the newspaper a few weeks ago. It was from Centrelink. The ad has been playing on my mind since then. I can’t recall the job title exactly, but they were advertising to fill a position in their organisation to investigate fraud. On the face of it, no decent, law-abiding citizen would object to such a notion. A minute later the penny dropped: Centrelink wanted some help in detecting individuals who were claiming more than they should have. I expect they wanted to recoup payments made to single parents if, for example, they had a cash windfall that week (ie. casual work they hadn’t declared), or students who had to change their enrolment and were no longer eligible for austudy payments. To me, that’s not so much fraud as people just trying to get by on the little they have. It’s difficult enough trying to live on the edge, when you are just making ends meet, and then Centrelink employs fraud investigators to check up on you. Yes, I know there are real fraudsters out there, but Centrelink does spend needless effort checking and haranguing honest people and not actually helping them.

Why does the government spend such an effort trying to save a few dollars like this and then drops millions in the drink on other projects. Today the Australian Government announced it had allocated $2.9 million to search for the HMAS Sydney, which sank off the WA coast in 1941. I find it difficult to reconcile government policy that will prosecute people who are struggling and might stretch the truth on their dole form, and the spending of millions of dollars searching for rusty metal at the bottom of the sea. And this funding is in addition to the $1.3 million that has already been allocated toward the search.

Anyway, let me continue. I was unemployed not so long ago, was keen to get back into work, and to help me get by I registered with Centrelink. I tried to adopt a receptive and co-operative attitude, but there is something within that organisation that kicks you in the guts. Of course, my experience with Centrelink was only with unemployment benefit. It’s possible that the recipients of the range of other benefits that Centrelink provides may well have a pleasant experience. I don’t know. I can only refer to my own experience, and it was none too agreeable.

From my first encounter with Centrelink, which involved a ‘seminar’ through to the dreary fortnightly queue in which you have to hand deliver your claim form in order to receive your benefit, the memory of the experience almost makes me shudder. To anyone currently going through this, you have my heartfelt commiserations.

The ‘seminar’ established a them-and-us attitude, that I suspect did more to alienate people than welcome us into a support network. The seminar included the screening of a video which emphasized the consequences of cheating the system, rather than providing a caring environment. Okay, I’m an optimist, but Centrelink was going flat out to turn me against them. The presenter was patronizing, dictatorial, and showed his disdain for the people present. I found the emphasis by the staffer presenting the ‘seminar’ that the benefit was provided by taxpayers and we should be grateful. That’s offensive. My immediate thought at the time, given the age of the staffer, and my own age and years in the workforce, was that I probably had more tax deducted from my salary during my working life than this guy had actually earned as salary in his lifetime. Unemployment benefit is not a gift or simply a handout; it’s a right, and there should be no guilt felt in taking it.

I can empathize with the staff, to some extent. Running these ‘seminars’ must be boring for the staff; the same thing week in week out. And the staff working at the front desk faced with such a variety of emotions from the people making claims must be mind-numbing. Centrelink, you do have an attitude problem. Perhaps you should review your staffing policies. Or do you select your staff to behave the way they do? Thankfully, there are a few decent people there, but too few in my experience.