Centrelink have decided upon receiving details from the ATO, that I was not entitled to Maternity Leave payments. For the year long period in question, I was on maternity leave for 5 months, and not working for another month. I had my child end of July 2014, and was off work until February 2015. I earned a whopping $22k that entire financial year, and was receiving maternity leave payments (that I was entitled too by Centrelink by providing them with all the information that was current at the time, if my situation changed, I notified them) from my employer via Centrelink, but this obvious break down isn't shown with the ATO, so they decided i shouldn't have received any maternity leave. The only time in my working career (I have worked fulltime since I left school) that I have ever needed Centrelink assistance was when I had my child, and now I am paying for something I was entitled to. During that year, I also had mortgage repayments to make. I don't know how they have cross examined this information, I am a low income earner, i work full time again now, i am raising a toddler now, and they expect me to pay back a debt that i was eligible and entitled to receive. I have declared everything, all the time, I don't know how this happens. You have to jump through hoops just to show your eligibility, so how can they approve it, just to make you pay it back two years later. I am an optimal stress level, I feel like I have no control but am a pawn to Centrelink, I have high anxiety, and do not see myself and my family ever getting ahead. I have always worked, I have always paid my taxes, and I have always been honest with my finances to Centrelink as I would never want to receive anything that I was not entitled to. This whole situation has definitely made what should have been the happiest time of my life (having a child), now covered in a black card of a supposed debt that I do not owe.
I feel disgusted, hurt and cheated. The Government needs to put an end to this Centrelink and automated systems, rude, uncompassionate customer service. How about they hire real people to do the manual tasks, and get more people off the welfare system by giving them proper jobs and not relying on systems and machines and technology to do a bias flat review based on a yearly income overhaul, and remember that they pay fortnightly, not yearly. When you work hard, and don't earn much money as it is, you shouldn't be paying for a debt that you were entitled too. I have been an honest, hardworking, loyal citizen to Australia, and this whole debacle is atrocious and disgusting. I only have one child, and if I was considering another, those hopes and dreams are surely lost now, as we'd never survive in this country with these financial atrocities and systems in place. Your control should support you, investigate one on one, not pile you in with the people that are doing the wrong thing.