3/10/2006 - Myself, and man's best friend.

3/10/2006 - The Story Continues.The lazy Centrelink mongrel.

19th April, 2006.

Had a call from Centrelink ....one of their Investigative Officers,( just out of interest, we'll call him O'Connor)  wanting to know details from documents that I had released under the FOI.

When pressed as to WHY he wanted these details, he responded that he had been given the job of replying to Joe Hockey's Ministerial Enquiry, and thought that it would be easier to get the details from ME rather than have to LOOK IT UP FOR HIMSELF in my file.

Is this the height of laziness...or indifference ...that you expect from an employee when a Federal Minister is seeking information ?? This guy SHOULD be hung out to dry...when you consider that any information from me, the complainee, would be used to formulate his response to Joe Hockey !!

Is it any wonder that Centrelink have been able to frame and lie their way through the most obvious bungles and make it appear to be the Customer's fault ?? The current CEO's of Centrelink should be STOOD DOWN...any person who condones such laziness and deceit does not warrant the six figure salary that they are pulling !! Any person within the Centrelink Organisation ( a loosely used term) that is found guilty of lying or misleading the public on the ACTUAL state of affairs within Centrelink should be FIRED immediately...but then, if you extended that to ALL Govt. Office, the entire Howard Govt. would be out the door, I think. It might make certain outspoken mouthpieces of Centrelink re-assess the garbage that they spruike constantly about " satisfaction rates " and " error rates " . ( No names, Mr. Jongen )

I am expecting a response to this Hockey enquiry shortly : will be interesting to see what form it takes, based on purloined information and people too lazy to switch on a computer to get their facts !! I will post any reply I get as soon as I have it. Stay tuned !!

3/10/2006 - The Story Continues.Workers with Medical Degrees.

In Centrelink's reply to my CDDA claim, one of the arguments used by them was that " ...he has established no causal link between his medical and mental state and the debt ".Well...here it is....Look below to see a report prepared by one of Tasmania's leading psychologists after several meetings with him.

So, what we have now are TWO medical reports and ONE psychological report ,  BOTH  giving  the  diagnosis  of    " Anxiety and Stress Disorder". To the average man, that would be enough evidence ; apparantly not for Centrelink!! We are then left with the impression that Centrelink are more knowledgeable in medical matters and mental health matters than people who have dedicated half their life to their given professions !! To my mind, and to the minds of the people that have read this whole sorry saga, the case is airtight ! Centrelink : you have done the wrong thing, now own up !! Be men, and not whimpering cowards who hide and bury everything in lies and deception. It won't come off : you will be brought to account eventually, even if it takes me another 4 years like it did to have the debt proved a falsehood. As long as this drags on, I can find no peace of mind, nor will I grant you any. I will continually expose you for the liars you are. Take my word for it.

To the people who have persevered and read this whole thing, I thank you.

3/10/2006 - The Story Continues. Hockey sticks his foot in it 3.

This is the final page of my letter to Mr. Hockey, where I point out the ludicrousness of his claims that " I suffered no detriment" due to the wrongful debt.It is not an easy thing to do, to lay bare your life for people to read. I do it in the hope that others out there will take warning and be prepared for what CAN happen to them by the simple push of a wrong tab on a keyboard. Now, I'll explain what I mean by " he's hiding from me"...and why I made particular note that the original letter was signed by Joe Hockey !!

The latest development is that ,after waiting over 2 months for a reply to this letter, I pushed a few buttons and was made aware of some startling facts.

Fact # 1 : Mr. Hockey has asked CENTRELINK to respond to my letter : isn't that VERY reminiscent of the appeals process where we have Centrelink checking out Centrelink?

Fact # 2 : Centrelink CLAIM to have responded to this letter on March 3rd,2006 ; a response which has, at this date, yet to reach its intended reader.After a phone call to Mr. Hockeys Office , I was informed that "I", whoever "I" was, ( no names volunteered at this high level of responsibility) will get "them" ( C/Link) to resend it, so I (me) may have it in a week or so.Quote " Mr.Hockey NEVER personally responds to correspondence unless it's by letter from a Federal House of Representatives Member or Senator" unquote. This being so, then WHO signed the letter I have, with the signature of Joe Hockey at the bottom?? It just couldn't be that someone is falsifying our Minister's signature, surely ??? I'm more willing to accept the obvious : Mr. Hockey has replied , realised he's put his foot in it, and is now doing the backward shuffle to attempt to escape accountability. Is he in charge of the appropriate Department or what ?? In this case, it's a skill handed from son to Father.The lies, and the deception, MUST stop !! If you think for one second, Mr. Hockey, I'll go away, you're mistaken. I will continue to expose the lies and cheating for as long as it goes on...and God help you if I ever find a Barrister or Solicitor with the testosterone to take this to Court !! We'll eat you alive, and you know it !!

More to come , folks..stay tuned.....

3/10/2006 - The Story Continues. Hockey sticks his foot in it 2.

Again, this page of the letter is fairly straight forward, pointing out to him yet again where his letter is full of misinformation and error.As will be explained , it is now The Minister who has contracted    " Centrelink- itis", with the accompanying symptoms of dodge and weave, pass the buck, and if all else fails, LIE !

3/10/2006 - The Story Continues. Hockey sticks his foot in it 1.

As mentioned on a previous page, the response from Joe Hockey, SIGNED by Joe Hockey, was riddled with error and misinformation. In an attempt to get clarification on his letter, I structured another letter to him, pointing out what I saw as errors and asking him to correct them. This is the first page of my letter : as yet, I've been unable to work out how to post more than one page at a time, so bear with me. I don't think this letter requires much comment : it's straight forward enough.

3/10/2006 - The Story Continues. THAT memo..Centrelink calling Centrelink a liar.

This  is the other half of the memo, recommending that all repayments made since June, 1998, should be refunded to me. I can only apologise that I was unable to smudge out the name of the person who made the memo....If Centrelink want to sue me for whatever, then so be it...

To my mind, the person who composed this memo should, in fact, be held up as an example of a valued employee. An employee NOT scared to report the truth; unlike the people before her that perpetrated and continued the lie for 4 years....this person will forever have my gratitude. I can only hope that her propensity for truth has not harmed her in any way within an Organisation that thrives on deceit and lies. It should, by now, be becoming very clear to anyone reading this that I have been wrongly done by...I have had a loss of material possessions : a loss of family structure and enjoyment of that structure: and a loss of enjoyment of my life, both phsyical and mental that every citizen has a right to enjoy, given that we live in the greatest country in the world. I will continue to campaign against Centrelink and it's lies and untruths until the day arrives that they become accountable for their actions. They are NOT ABOVE THE LAW, nor should they be !!

There is more to come....and it get's even better. Centrelink are just going to hate what I produce next.

3/10/2006 - The Story Continues.THAT Memo 1..Centrelink brands itself a liar !!

As promised, the internal memo which finally shed light upon the atrocity created by Centrelink.. Isn't it just a little bit confusing as to how one investigator reached this conclusion, when all others before had not ?? In the centre of the page, we see written " Missing periods of repayment information total 48 months"....4 years !! Yet, as we saw in my earlier page, the relevant ARO's that had been investigating the matter before had stated that they " had the ENTIRE" records to hand...So...who's lying, and who's not ?? I don't believe for one second that the party who wrote this memo was about to jeapordise their position by claiming that 4 years of it was missing....if it weren't !!!

Now....let's look a little closer at the bottom of the memo....honesty in it's purest form ...." Therefore we are saying that he didn't pay more than $40.oo over a period of 4 years. I find this hard to believe.." Isn't that the most honest statement you've ever seen?? Yet, unlike this person, the previous investigators were prepared to lie and decieve by claiming that they held the " entire records" !! This blatant attempt to lie to and deceive a customer , with the hardships that accompanied those lies, SHOULD make Centrelink hang it's head in shame. Yet, in spite of all this, they refuse to accept any liability or blame for their disgusting series of lies and deceit. It doesn't take much education to work out that a succession of lies and more lies have been constructed to cover up this atrocity !! It doesn't take much education to realise that  Centrelink  are at fault, and should " bite the bullet" and compensate both me and my wife for the misery that they visited upon us.It's a disgusting happening : and it should be rectified. The page following this one will contain the other half of this memo, and the recommendations made in it, which finally led to some accountability by Centrelink...but only to a point.

There is more to come....stay tuned.

3/10/2006 - The Story Continues..Sarcasm replaces the Truth.

The letter below is typical of the replies I received whenever I attempted to have this debt researched.I have had to smudge out areas where Centrelink Officers have been named, or when sensitive detail was involved, for fear of legal repercussions from Centrelink. I apologise for the tattiness of it, but I had no choice.

In this letter, we clearly see where the Officer states "  I had to  request records of all events back to 1984 and trace them through.." This letter is dated in February, 2003, so we can then assume that the Officer, on his own word, had ALL the records to consult. He then goes on to say that " The witholdings were to recover the debt and fines/costs payable to the AGS." Strange that....as anyone knows, Centrelink has never been, nor will be, a collector of fines/ costs imposed by a Court of Law.!!

Just HOW thoroughly did this Officer check the records to make that statement ?? However, let's move on...

The next statement concerns the actual letter sent in 1998 stating that the debt had been fully recovered. He states "..the process the system looked at was correct internally, not in the advice generated."Up until I became familiar with computers, you could have run that by me without question. Now, however, I am aware that a computer can only generate advice equal to the information contained within it, so if the information stated the debt was recovered, that is what the computer generates !! The computer is unable to "initialise" advice ; which makes this statement a complete hoax !!And, just to add insult to injury, the next statement is as equally ludicrous.." I note that in spite of the advice,you have continued to make repayments up to date." As anyone knows, witholdings are removed before your benefit is banked, so where  is  the  choice  given to " not make further repayments?" I will post another letter, different office, claiming once more to having " the complete records dating back to 1984", which conflicts greatly with the internal memo which claims that over 4 years of the debt's records are missing. The lies go on....

3/10/2006 - The Story Continues.Why keep Business Records? Centrelink claim THEY don't have to.

Below, is a copy of the answer to my CDDA claim against Centrelink.Please note the date..April 2005. The claim was submitted to Centrelink in September 2004, with the assurance that they usually only took about 12 weeks to determine.As I discovered later, when my claim hit the desk of the person dealing with it, he then went on holidays, so it sat there, unattended, for weeks. In this letter, Centrelink claim that " ..in this case it would be required  to  establish that a duty of care was owed to accurately maintain records...". If Centrelink, an Agency that disburses over $ 60 billion of taxpayers money, has no duty of care to maintain records, then who has ?? This claim is as ludicrous as they come ; it is a legal demand and obligation that all businesses keep accurate and factual records !! How is Centrelink exempt from this ??  The truth is they aren't, but in usual Centrelink style, attempt to blind the claimant with bulldust !!

In spite of the letter from Mr. Joe Hockey, their Minister, admitting that the debt was ." re-instated by Administrative Error....", Centrelink claim here that their decision to refund the witholdings in question was merely "...a concession of which you were the beneficiary". They further state that "..the letter sent on 15 June 1998 was a clerical error and by itself did not bind Centrelink to the advice it provided." Using that logic, it becomes apparant that NO Centrelink letter can, therefore, be trusted to contain accurate advice, nor can any letter be used as truth. Centrelink have given themselves an escape clause in that statement that beggars belief !! If a letter from a Govt. Agency does not bind the Agency to the advice it contains, then why send it at all ?? A small sentence buried in the answer also needs a closer looking at : "Establishing that some of the records are incomplete does not itself establish a breach of duty ..." Hang on...is that the duty of care denied in the sentence just back a couple from  this one ?? Why should I have to prove something that they claimed doesn't exist ?? A conundrum indeed !! May I just intervene here, and inform the reader that the " some " referred to in the letter is, in fact, 48 months !! That's right, 4 years of missing records, and I have an internal memo in my hands to prove it. The memo of the Centrelink Officer states that she "..finds it hard to believe what we are claiming, and I therefore recommend we refund the witholdings back to the customer".. My God...the near apoplexy that memo must have generated. I will post that memo, along with others, in upcoming pages.

Honestly,  can anyone have read this far and not have a sense of indignation that our Goverment could condone and agree with the treatment handed out to myself , and others?  I am not alone,either...there are many of us out here that have been roughhoused by Centrelink. Many out here who are struggling on reduced benefits, paying back " debts" that are, in fact, Centrelink Errors disguised as customer fault. Until this Goverment want to rid itself of the lies and dishonesty, it will go on.

3/10/2006 - The Story Continues. After 4 years, dark thoughts and depression.

Ok..by now, you have the general drift of what I'm on about...a 4 year period of lies, deception and pure atrocity visited upon a citizen of Australia by a Government Department who's rally cry is " Support the System That Supports You ".

As you can well imagine, the stress of having to battle to have your name cleared,  battling to meet normal everyday bills, and the absolute fear generated by the looming spectre of the Yearly Creditors took a toll. I started to experience deep moods of depression, in which I basically came to the conclusion that my wife would be better off without me. If I were to die, we had insurance that covered the entire amount of the mortgage we had had to take out.I had a pre-paid funeral plan. In other words, if I died, my wife would no longer be subject to the crippling conditions brought about by this phony debt. How my poor wife managed to not kill me herself is another miracle. She suffered right along with me, for a debt that had absolutely nothing to do with her !! That fact also added to my grief ; I was dragging a good woman through hell over a debt that didn't exist !!

I started to experience mood swings: I could go from medium to extreme aggravation in the blink of an eye. I would find myself crying if the least little thing went wrong ; and then I'd fly into a rage because I knew all my bad luck was a result of this lying debt. I admit right here, ( and, no doubt, if a Centrelink CEO or similar reads this, they'll use it against me), that I used to entertain very dark thoughts about my revenge on Centrelink. Many were the mental playouts where I walked into a Centrelink Office, guns blazing.The only trouble with that scenario was that it wasn't the " front line" staff who were to blame for my situation ; it was the " suits and ties" hidden behind them.

I was experiencing strange and unexplained pain attacks; pains in my chest, radiating up my arm and into my jaw. Shortness of breath, extreme indigestion, a general feeling of not being well. I was convinced that I was soon to die. My Doctor referred me to Royal Hobart Hospital, who conducted an angiogram on me, where they thread a camera through your groin and up into your heart,looking for blocked arteries or similar, which would explain the pain attacks. They found nothing. I had various scans and X-rays, all aimed at finding a physical reason for the pain. They found nothing.

I was subject to a battery of tests of all kinds : ALL returned with no physical cause for the pain. One cardiologist wrote in his report that he considered that my pain was " stress related". My Doctor wrote " Stress Psychosis" across one of my medical reports. I was referred to one of Tasmania's best Psychologists; his opinion, after several consultations with me, was that my stress was " causily related to my problems with Centrelink".

I have only scratched the tip of the iceberg here, as I cannot even remember half of the agony and grief I suffered over that 4 years. Yet, in spite of all the evidence, Centrelink STILL claim they are not responsible, nor do they admit any error. They still claim that what they did was utterly legal and proper !!

In yet another episode , I will explain the Centrelink process of appeal when they DO admit they MAY have done something wrong ; it defies belief. It is akin to sentencing Dracula to community work in the Blood Bank .

3/10/2006 - The Story Continues. The ill informed, totally dumb Joe Hockey speaks.

Below, is a letter sent to me following my questioning the Minister as to how Centrelink have claimed that they are not responsible for the 4 years of error. Let me make it quite clear right here, that the second page of this letter DOES contain the signature of Mr. Hockey, NOT one of his underlings. The reason for emphasising this will become clear in another page. As you can see, Mr.Hockey makes SEVERAL errors in his reply,  amongst which is the statement that " Mr. Cleveland's compensation claim does NOT relate to his Disability Support Pension......."........ Considering that over $ 3,000.oo of the witholdings were from that pension, I fail to see his logic. Is this just ANOTHER case where Centrelink have supplied the details to Mr. Hockey in an attempt to cover up, or does Mr. Hockey really think that I'm stupid enough to not know what happened to me ?? He further states that the debt was re-instated due to "Administrative Error"...and that I was " incorrectly advised by Centrelink"... and yet, in spite of those admissions, goes further to say that "..it was determined that the repayments Mr. Cleveland made were legally proper" So, what Mr. Hockey is saying, in essence, is that Centrelink can screw you, AND make you love the baby !!

3/10/2006 - The Story Continues. How it all started, and continues still today.

This account starts back in 1984. I was overpaid by Centrelink for almost 2 years. I can't deny it, and I don't. The repercussions of this were so far reaching that even today, most people have trouble believing that this could happen. However, I swear that what I am about to relate is true, and can be substantiated with documented proof.

I started repaying my debt in 1984, from witholdings when I was unemployed, and cash payments when I was working. After 14 years, in June, 1998, I received a letter from Centrelink informing me that " .....no further repayments are needed, as your debt has been PAID IN FULL". On official Centrelink paper. Dated and signed by the Area Manager, Debt Recovery.

From June, 1998, until May, 2000, I was on and off benefits. In May, 2000, I received another letter from Centrelink,informing me that I still owed $ 8,500.oo on the original debt. I knew it had to be an error....that figure meant that they were saying I'd only paid $ 3,000.oo off the debt in 14 years, or the equivalent of $ 215.oo a year, or $ 4.13 a week !! I took my letter from 1998 into my local Centrelink Office, and tried to find out what it was all about. At the time, the staff behind the counter were telling me that the new letter was probably a computer error, so they copied my original letter and said they would sort it out for me.After hearing nothing for almost two weeks, I again went to my local office and enquired about the status quo. I was informed that a letter had, indeed , been sent to me about it, and that the new letter was, in fact, correct, and witholdings would recommence from my next payday.!! During the next 4 years, from 2000 to 2004, I made over 30 attempts to have this debt erased, with no result. At no stage did it get past the ARO review process, as Centrelink informed me time and again that " we are right...you are wrong....get on with it". On two occasions I was threatened with Police arrest if I did not vacate their offices, as once again, I had attended with paperwork to attempt to have this looked at properly.

I received sarcastic and denigrating replies from my enquiries. (e.g) " Mr. Cleveland, in spite of your protesting the debt, we notice you are still making repayments..". As anyone would know, witholdings are taken out before your benefit is placed in your account, so what choice did I have? In many letters and documents I have since discovered on my file which I accessed under FOI, they refer to my attempts as "repetitive" and there is a direction there to give me a "standard answer" every time I query it.

I was placed on a Disability Pension by Centrelink in 2001, as I had suffered a high fall from a building with resultant back and neck injuries.The witholdings immediately increased, as the Pension was paid more than the Newstart Allowance. The witholdings were at a level of $ 64.oo per fortnight, but varied with time. So, when you are  already  on  the  lowest  income  in  Australia,  and Centrelink  take out over $ 1,600.oo per year, you are left in no doubt that you are in trouble financially. Those witholdings amounted to my Yearly Rates and Property Taxes, my Home and Contents Insurances, and my Vehicle Registration. Therefore, these amounts had to be found elsewhere,  and our credit cards took up the slack for awhile, but eventually these too were "maxed out ". Next to go was our 16 ft. boat, which was our way of supplementing our diet as well as a minor recreation.It was sold for a fraction of it's value, in order to satisfy the yearly requirements for the previously mentioned items.Finally, after selling all my power tools, etc to pay electricity bills and such things,( and , yes...I DO have a letter to post from a guy who bought most of the stuff)  we were left with nothing. One of my friends at the time mentioned that you could withdraw funds from your Superannuation in emergency times, so I applied to do that. At  NO  time were we " living the high life", as Centrelink demanded, and got, a detailed statement of every dollar released from the Super funds. In 2003, I had emptied my meagre Superannuation, and we were in real trouble. In desperation, my wife and I approached our Bank, to see if we could get a loan to consolidate all our debts into one. The only way the bank would do it was to take a mortgage over our home. Again, we borrowed just enough to pay out our creditors, which Centrelink cannot deny. as the Bank paid the funds directly to the creditors and NOT to us. Again, we had to give a written account of every dollar to Centrelink. I will deal later with the health and personal effects that all this stress had upon us : for now, I'm just breaking ground for people to get an idea of what was going on.

3/10/2006 - A Documented History of Centrelink Lies and Deception.

" The System That Supports You "...how friendly that sounds. However, if you place your trust in such a system to deliver a fair and unbiased caring for you, then here are a few things you should know.

Firstly : if you have any dealings at all with Centrelink which involves the reporting of changes to your details, living arrangements or income, put it in writing and hand it to them. Never, ever just go in and verbally tell them.When you do put in into writing and hand it in, ask for a copy, and insist that it is datestamped.Then, check the datestamp ! There have been occasions where documents have clearly been datestamped on a Saturday or Sunday, which we all know is totally untrue. If you do not do it, then you are leaving yourself wide open, 2 or even more years down the track, to having Centrelink slap a huge debt upon you for " failure to properly declare....whatever it was".

Another event to be aware of is that Centrelink, every 2 years, or so it's reported by their own staff, clear all records that they consider to be " no longer relevant".....that means that the only proof you had of proving your innocence has been " conveniently" deleted .If you do not have your hardcopy backup, you cannot prove you did, indeed, report the changes in your circumstances that Centrelink now claim have been the origin of this debt.A little later on , I will give you examples of where the details were reported correctly, yet they were recorded wrongly by the Centrelink staff member, which resulted in an Administrative bungle of monumental proportions. The event was so badly strung together that a whole family was put to the point of bankruptcy, and lost most of their assets and Superannuation trying to recover.

I will further prove that lies were told, over and over again : documentation went missing or was destroyed, yet Centrelink claimed that their decisions were made based on having a               " complete " file of the event. I will further show you where a customer was denied his right to the judicial system, based upon threats made by Centrelink to " forcibly sell his home to recover costs if he attempts to gain compensation in a Civil Court."

I will produce documentation of letters from The Minister, Mr. Joe Hockey, where he admits that " Adminstrative Error occured and the customer was incorrectly advised by Centrelink on a number of occasions..".

Please stay tuned..as I build on this, I will reveal more and more which you will find hard to believe....but, as I claimed at the beginning, I will back each and every claim with documentation to prove its validity.

3/10/2006 - CENTRELINK + HOCKEY + JONGEN = INCOMPETENCE.

29th September, 2006.

Received a letter from CentreFink : Your Disability Pension has been cut off !!

It seems, according to the figures they have, that my wife and I are earning $2,502.oo per fortnight. Bloody heck, I think....why do I need a Pension then ??

It'd be bloody great, IF IT WERE TRUE.

What the idiots have done, is put the entire earnings for an 11 week period into ONE fortnight, and decided that we have exceeded the limit of earnings allowed.

Not only is this particular error dumb, but the fact that it has been repeated TWICE by the SAME BUMBLING TWIT IN THE SAME OFFICE in a period of 3 months is extra dumb !!

There is OBVIOUSLY NO educational qualification standard for gaining employment with CentreFink ???  The figures stated on the front page of the letter SHOULD HAVE had someone's suspicion raised .... quote :::::

Combined Fortnightly Income ......$ 2,502.oo

Combined Annual Income ............$  3.12

Thats's right !! Three Dollars and twelve cents !!  How do you get that out of $ 2,502.oo a fortnight ???  Only the dumbasses of CentreFink will know that.

The above figures were arrived at IN SPITE of having a SIGNED, DATED statement from my part time employer showing that I earn $ 200.oo per fortnight.

One one page of the letter from CentreFink, is the figure of $ 2,000.oo per fortnight for 10 hours work !!  My partner also has submitted a SIGNED,DATED statement from her part time employer that she earns $ 184.oo per fortnight for 8 hours work, yet somehow they managed to raise that to $ 502.oo per fortnight !!

The incompetence goes on...and meanwhile, the CentreFink spin doctor, Mr. Hank Jongen, CONTINUES to bald faced lie and deceive the public into believing that 98 % of the errors are CUSTOMER generated !! I'd like to see him spin his way out of this one.

The media are just as guilty. They continue to give air and paper space to the liars, and deny to us any coverage, even when we CONCLUSIVELY prove that it is indeed CentreFink who are causing the problems, NOT the customers. The media fall over themselves to pander to the whims and lies of those such as Hockey and Jongen....and deny any justice or hearing to those LEAST ABLE to defend themselves against these liars and deceivers !!

THE MEDIA SHOULD HANG THEIR HEADS IN SHAME  !!!!!!!!!