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 . |
