Never mind the endless Star Wars episodes (yet another one to be released this week) … in our house, the Centrelink saga continues!
In case you missed my earlier whinge about Centrelink, the problem developed as a result of Miss 19’s tendons on her left hand being sliced in a freak ice skating accident.
As a result she hasn’t been able to work since the middle of October, and as a casual employee and at not-even-19 at the time of the accident, she had no sick leave or income insurance.
However, she moved out of home at the beginning of the year, and even though she has no income, she still has to pay rent and other bills. We have helped where we can, but she was really looking forward to being able to earn her living once more from the start of January – especially as she still has to pay off her upcoming trip to Europe. She has even started selling her possessions to make a little money.
The Centrelink Saga Continues …
Alas, Centrelink in all their wisdom has decided that she is not eligible for any form of financial assistance, because:
- she is under 22;
- she has only been working over 30 hours per week consistently for the last 12 months, they say it has to have been at least 18 months (even though she has been with the same employer for 2 years, she didn’t always get the hours she wanted initially);
- she is not considered “independent” even though she hasn’t lived at home for nearly a year.
Way to kick somebody when they are down. What a cop out!
Seriously, why isn’t Centrelink paid to people who actually need it?! How do the welfare cheats get away with it?!
The poor kid, left with no money through absolutely no fault of her own. The injury was a result of some idiot showing off and skating past her, falling over, and his blade kicking up and slicing her hand open.
And now we have just been informed that she shouldn’t go back to work until February as it would place too much strain on her recently healed tendon.
We truly don’t know where to turn. It seems we have three possible options:
- Try Centrelink again (good luck!);
- Sue the ice skating rink for damages;
- Ask the ice skating rink for the incident report which should have been completed at the time, to get details of the person that injured her, and sue them for lost earnings.
Having to sue feels weird, like something people in the USA do. But what else can we do?!
If you have any ideas on how we should handle Miss 19’s dilemma, I’m all ears … feel free to leave a comment below.
Linking up with Essentially Jess for IBOT.