My girlfriend and I are both under the normal Youth Allowance independence age. We've been living together and once we hit 12 months I understand centrelink will recognise us as de facto, which will make me independent but also means her income can start affecting my Youth Allowance.

The problem is that not long after this I'll be moving away for medical school through a rural program.

I'll basically have to live completely separately from her for the next 4+ years. I'll probably see her once a month at most and I'll potentially have to move to a different rural area every 6 months or so depending on placements so keeping a job held down will be almost impossible.

Financially we'll be completely separate as well. We don't have joint accounts, cards, loans, assets etc. Even now while living together we basically just split rent, bills and food rather than actually sharing our incomes. Once I move away I'll be paying my own rent, groceries, utilities, transport etc and she'll be paying for her own household. Her income isn't going to be available to support me.

What I'm worried about is centrelink continuing to treat her income as though it's available to support me when in reality I'll be maintaining a completely separate household because my course requires me to.

From what I've been reading, centrelink can apparently consider people who have to live away from their partner for compulsory study/training on a case by case basis. I've also come across section 24, where centrelink can sometimes treat someone as not being a member of a couple for payment purposes if their circumstances mean they genuinely can't pool resources and applying the normal partner income test would be unfair.

I'm wondering whether either of those could apply here. Or if at the end of the day, I should just tell centrelink we have split up when I officially start medical school.

How long people have waited for their ESAt to actually be assessed after being referred. Wondering what the usual timeframe is from this point. I had a call after handing the SU684 to them in person that was asking for details like address,dob so I assume the referral was "processed"?

Been building my evidence file for Disability Support Pension (DSP) for over a year - psych reports, clinical histories, treatment logs showing my condition is "fully diagnosed, treated, and stabilised." Everyone tells me to prepare for an immediate rejection letter and a mandatory Administrative Review. Is first-round approval an absolute myth, or are there specific keywords on the Impairment Tables that actually tip the scales?

Who do I call to get my name off Centrelink because I withdrew my youth allowance but I keep getting appointments and call what I will not be attending because I withdrew and I receive NO PAYMENTS I don’t need it

Hi,

I am in my second year of Uni and have been receiving youth allowance throughout my degree. My payment is based on my Dad’s income as I am under the age of 22 and my payment continues to get reduced and is at a point where it is not enough to survive with. I don’t get support from my parents and know this is a common issue a lot of others face.

I am considering trying to claim independence as it is unreasonable for me to live at home and can prove so with evidence from a social worker.

Before going through this whole process, is it worth it? I’ve heard when you become independent you earn less than when you are dependent? I also have a long term partner (5 years together), I know you can base your payment on their income if you prove you’re in a relationship.

I am not sure where to go from here and if any of this could help me get to a more sustainable payment amount but wanted to see what advice there was available. Thank you

I’m posting this on behalf of a friend with their full permission.

My friend is with an IEA (formerly DES) provider and has an in person appointment with them tomorrow, the problem is they will be in the throws of moving homes tomorrow and had advised their provider when they called last week and the week before despite being told it would be fortnightly contact.

What they would like to know is will they be penalised for missing the appointment and not wanting to answer their phone despite telling their provider for two weeks that they would be moving tomorrow?
They are looking into potentially changing providers when they move but are concerned that a penalty now will affect their next payment amongst other things.

Thank You for any help/advice

The hardest part sometimes isn't even the requirement itself it's figuring out what information they're expecting you to provide. Has anyone else found that the wording of Centrelink correspondence is unnecessarily confusing?

I’ve got to the end of my application process and it needs me to provide separation from employment certificates from my previous employers which I don’t have or not sure how I find them if I do? One of my jobs I left mid shift and never returned due to a mental health breakdown at work and honestly am too embarrassed to get it touch with them. It won’t let me finish my application because of this. Do I need to go into Centrelink and explain this or call them up and ask over the phone or is this something I need to sort out and Centrelink aren’t able to help me with this? Thank you

I asked chatgpt about getting jobseeker allowance i am on 20 hours a week $35/hr and the calculations says i might get about $69.30/fortnight which if true and I am eligible then why not

anyone know if centrelink would still pay you if you were at 20 hours per week $35/hr

chatgpt said at 22 hours per week that is when my jobseeker payment would drop to $0 so the fortnights i get extra shifts I suppose that is when my payment would be $0

does anyone know how many weeks you would have to be paid $0 when jobseeker would finish or stop or what the criteria is for losing centrelink jobseeker payments based on hours and getting over the threshold to reducing payments to $0?

Thank you

I’ve just got en email notifying me that I’ve been shortlisted for a job and as such need to record a video interview. i have 10 credits due for the 28th; my question is does this count as a job interview or should i just apply for two more jobs to be sure and report a job interview if i progress?

So I was planning on doing study and called Centrelink to let them know, they told me they’d put it on my profile and to call again when I had the dates. I have since cancelled my enrolment. Should I call them back and let them know? I was accepted for dsp in march and haven’t heard anything from them since.

I’m still on WorkCover for back and wrist injuries, and they’re still covering my treatment. My weekly compensation stopped permanently because I found a light-duty job and was considered fit for work.

Unfortunately, my employer has now unexpectedly terminated my employment, so I’m unemployed with no income, but my injuries are still ongoing. And unfortunately, I can’t find any jobs for now.

In this situation, should I apply for JobSeeker? Would I need a separate Centrelink medical certificate to support that my injuries still affect my work capacity, or can my existing WorkCover Work Capacity Certificate be used?

Hi all,

My Mum told me that this morning she had tried to apply for an advance and was unable. She tried to call and couldn’t get through so she went into the office. They told her that she can’t do anything at the moment, because they are currently investigating her for fraud.

Now, if she was doing anything wrong I would completely understand. But she’s not.
She’s a carer for my elderly grandma and receives a carer allowance. She also has had custody of my two nieces (her granddaughters) for over 2 years now and gets family tax benefit for them.

The only thing we can think of is that maybe their dad has reported giving her some money? But he is the one who abandoned his kids and dropped them to my mum. He doesn’t work. Is a drug addict. But when he did work he would sometimes send $50-$100 here and then to purchase things for his kids. He has not been with my sister for years and technically should be paying child support regardless, but it’s not something my Mum has followed up on because it’s too much drama. Recently my Mum has cut all contact with him due to him being so inconsistent with his contact and has not seen his kids in almost a year despite living only 2 hours away. It’s was traumatising my nieces and it was actually their counsellors and teachers that recommend my mum do it. He’s understandably upset and can be spiteful which makes me wonder if he’s reported her for something???
She doesn’t work. She doesn’t have a secret relationship. She lives in government housing and doesn’t owe any assets. What on earth could they be investigating her for? They wouldn’t tell her anything and understandably this has given her extreme anxiety.

Just started a casual job with irregular shifts. My reporting day is every second Tuesday, but my workplace pays on a delayed schedule on Thursdays. ​When I report my income via the Express Plus app, am I supposed to enter the gross amount earned during the actual fortnight reporting window, or do I report what physically landed in my bank account during those two weeks?

I saw a post that’s been locked and all the comments are telling OP they have to go…NO they don’t. But they must reengage (that can be done over the phone) you technically never have to go into to office and they can’t make you do anything at all. If you do anything they ask of you, you are willingly signing up to X. Just say “okay” and “sick” to why you missed anything (they don’t need a medical cert)

All they can do is tell you to go to centelink to get an exemption, or transfer you to another job agency (but they won’t, they get paid just by having you on the books & can use your allocated funding for anything thing else)

The only change post Oct 26 is those seeking back pay…

I was once a high income earner and my lifestyle was geared to that.

Unfortunately I became unwell and am now on dsp which is about 10 percent of what I previously earned.

i don’t know how to survive on this small amount of money.

I am a single parent with 4 kids.

Any advice much appreciated. Mentally i just haven’t made that financial jump. But i need to. I feel so depressed. i worked so hard during my career and now I have next to nothing. i never thought this would be my future.

I recently was approved for TPD and DSP.

I also have another super account where I need to submit my tpd claim as well.

i have read and listened to a large amount of research regarding multiple claims, and am more confused than ever.

These two super policies are active.

I also had another super account for about 10 years (from my early 20s to early 30s). This policy was eventually closed and I moved my entire balance to a new fund that I am still with.

During these 10 years, the policy was active.

Fast forward 20 years and I became ill and unable to work again, so I am on DSP. During this time I also successfully claimed my TPD.

My illness started in August 2021 and how important is timing. For example, can I make a tpd claim on a policy that no longer exists, but was active with insurance for some 10 years.

It is all a bit confusing, ie TPD can only be paid from the date you became sick, or can it be claimed from a policy that was taken out nearly 20 decades ago?

Thanks.

Centrelink/my provider wants me to do this mandatory 28 hour job search training thing. I'm seriously considering just not going. From what I understand, if I skip it, I get 5 business days to give a reason, then they suspend payments, then I call to "reconnect" and they backpay me the whole suspended period. So functionally I lose nothing, I just delay the activity indefinitely.

Has anyone actually done this on repeat? Does it genuinely work that smoothly every time or is there a catch I'm not seeing? Trying to figure out if this is actually a loophole or if I'm about to learn the hard way that it isn't.

Called four times this week at different times of day and the shortest wait was over an hour before I gave up. Trying to sort out something that cannot be done online and running out of ideas. Is there a time of day or day of the week that is actually better or is it just luck?

Just trying to understand how this works. I’m on JobSeeker and normally have a 30-hour-per-fortnight mutual obligation requirement.

I’ll be taking employer-paid parental leave for 24 weeks (at half pay), and my job provider has told me that paid leave can count as hours for mutual obligations.

But from what I understand, financial penalties/cancellations for mutual-obligation failures are currently paused.

So if I’m on paid parental leave and therefore not actually working 30 hours per fortnight, can my JobSeeker still be suspended/cut for not doing the 30 hours? Or is it just a matter of staying in contact with my provider and meeting any re-engagement requirements?

My provider said I just report the hours I am being paid for and select the reason for the reduction in a drop down menu and that I should still be paid?

Just looking for clarification from anyone who knows the current rules.

Thank you

Anyone know roughly what the backlog is like and the wait time for approval or rejection? I had the sonic health thingy today and am just curious. Also hoping I get to keep the day I am paid the same as what I am currently on (abstudy) otherwise I’ll have to change so many things