The Social Security Act and Social Security (Administration) Act each contain over 1,000 sections, most of which are designed to deny people payments, and many of which are in contradiction to other legislation.
Lottery wins, insurance payments and inheritances, when paid in more than one payment, are not classified as income by the Australian Taxation office, but they are by Centrelink. This affects tens of thousands of people on Centrelink benefits each year, right across Australia.
The legal age for voting is 18, but Centrelink expect parents to support their children until they are 22.
That is, of course, unless the parent is receiving a carer’s payment for a disabled child, in which case Centrelink consider the child an adult at age 16, and carer’s payment is cancelled.
Carers for disabled people are paid about $400 a week to care for people with disabilities, about $10 an hour. If they decide to supplement this with other work, their carer’s payment is reduced or cancelled. Centrelink consider their payment to be welfare, whereas it is actually a job.
Taxation law considers each partner in a relationship to be financially independent, as it should be. However Centrelink considers that if one person in the relationship is working, the benefits of the other partner are reduced or cancelled.
This means the non-working partner is completely dependent on the working partner, and has no financial independence. The result for tens of thousands of men and women is domestic violence in the form of economic coercion.
MPs elected prior to 2004 are able to collect a hefty pension for life, and still work full time in high paying jobs, but Centrelink cancels payments to aged pensioners if they dare to get a job. The aged pension was set up in the 1940s as a reward for working and paying taxes, but Centrelink now regard it as welfare.
These are just a few of the examples of how Centrelink works against Australia’s most vulnerable, and it is time Human Services Minister Amanda Rishworth did her job and amended this legislation.
Note: I would be interested to hear from other people about their experiences with Centrelink. You can send me an email – contact@craighill.net
While I cannot promise that I can help in all situations, I can certainly give you the contact details of those that can, and I will do as much as I can.
Craig Hill is a Brisbane-based Social Justice Campaigner, Writer, Teacher and Business Consultant. He has campaigned for social justice in Australia, promoted human rights in China and worked with the homeless in Honolulu. He holds a Graduate Certificate in Education and a degree in Management.
I am excited to announce that I intend to run as an independent candidate for Bonner at the 2025 federal election.
I know it’s a long way out, but I feel that I should start now, and put the years ahead into working out policies and strategies, and making sure I am ready for it.
Having spent 25 years campaigning for social justice, it is clear that governments formed from either of the major parties simply don’t listen to the community. The only way to get heard, it seems, is to get into parliament.
In particular, I will be learning from people on social media and in the community what the people of Bonner and the Australian public want from a representative in parliament.
My focus will still be on social justice, but there are many other areas where I have had work experience that I believe I can contribute to in parliament.
These include education, health, foreign affairs, the environment, climate change, the economy, taxation reform, social security reform, immigration, political accountabilty and sustainability, among many other things.
I don’t intend to be a candidate who runs on just one or two platforms. The work of a parliamentarian should benefit all people across Australia in all aspects of social and political life.
And of course, as a disabled person, I will still be fighting for a better deal for the aged, disabled and marginalised.
Any assistance you can give, whether financial, assisting with policies or campaigning, will be greatly appreciated.
I am excited to announce that I intend to run as an independent candidate for Bonner at the 2025 federal election.
I know it’s a long way out, but I feel that I should start now, and put the years ahead into working out policies and strategies, and making sure I am ready for it.
Having spent 25 years campaigning for social justice, it is clear that governments formed from either of the major parties simply don’t listen to the community. The only way to get heard, it seems, is to get into parliament.
In particular, I will be learning from people on social media and in the community what the people of Bonner and the Australian public want from a representative in parliament.
My focus will still be on social justice, but there are many other areas where I have had work experience that I believe I can contribute to in parliament.
These include education, health, foreign affairs, the environment, climate change, the economy, taxation reform, social security reform, immigration, political accountabilty and sustainability, among many other things.
I don’t intend to be a candidate who runs on just one or two platforms. The work of a parliamentarian should benefit all people across Australia in all aspects of social and political life.
And of course, as a disabled person, I will still be fighting for a better deal for the aged, disabled and marginalised.
Any assistance you can give, whether financial, assisting with policies or campaigning, will be greatly appreciated.
I am excited to announce that I intend to run as an independent candidate for Bonner at the 2025 federal election.
I know it’s a long way out, but I feel that I should start now, and put the years ahead into working out policies and strategies, and making sure I am ready for it.
Having spent 25 years campaigning for social justice, it is clear that governments formed from either of the major parties simply don’t listen to the community. The only way to get heard, it seems, is to get into parliament.
In particular, I will be learning from people on social media and in the community what the people of Bonner and the Australian public want from a representative in parliament.
My focus will still be on social justice, but there are many other areas where I have had work experience that I believe I can contribute to in parliament.
These include education, health, foreign affairs, the environment, climate change, the economy, taxation reform, social security reform, immigration, political accountabilty and sustainability, among many other things.
I don’t intend to be a candidate who runs on just one or two platforms. The work of a parliamentarian should benefit all people across Australia in all aspects of social and political life.
And of course, as a disabled person, I will still be fighting for a better deal for the aged, disabled and marginalised.
Any assistance you can give, whether financial, assisting with policies or campaigning, will be greatly appreciated.
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Craig Hill Media and Consulting 
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