I was in Newstart allowance from July to January, whilst also earning a low weekly wage. I ceased Newstart when my wage increased in January and obviously stopped reporting my income to Centrelink because I was no longer on Newstart. Clearly my annual income to June would be higher than what I had declared up to January. But Centrelink averaged my taxable income over the year and then claimed I had defrauded them by not declaring enough whilst on Newstart. This was clearly wrong and I had declared all my weekly earnings accurately.
Appalled and outraged, and disgraced. I did not receive any request for wage evidence as I was told I had, I only received the bill out of the blue. I was stressed and angered. I wasted several days having to go to Centrelink, restart my online access because I had not used it for five years, ring several people and show photographic evidence of who I was. I was told that I should still start to pay my debt when the due date falls even though it is under review. I had made three formal complaints on the Centrelink website so far.