A mistake that left tens of thousands of dollars in debt: this is how Andrea Peel, a 40-year-old immigrant from South Africa who now lives in Sydney, describes her experience with Centrelink.
Key points:
- Migrant Australians frustrated by confusing Centrelink correspondence
- Some are paying off debts they don’t fully understand
- Advocates have described Centrelink’s communication as an ‘alien language’
In 2018, she received a letter saying her Child Care Benefit payment had been overpaid for almost two years.
“I basically got a letter saying we owed close to $30,000 for not saying I was associated,” Ms Peel said.
“When I got the letter I started crying because we were already living on one salary.”
Ms Peel said she had submitted documents from Centrelink showing she had moved in with her partner in 2016, as well as a marriage certificate when they married a year later.
Centrelink told him it never received these details.
Andrea Peel says she has struggled to get clear information from Centrelink. (ABC News: Chris Taylor)
Unfamiliar with the system, and after her request to review the charge was denied, Ms Peel began paying what she owed.
“I didn’t feel like I had a choice,” he said.
After nearly paying off her debt, Ms Peel received two more letters from Centrelink in May this year: she owed another $3,300.
She still isn’t sure why.
“They [Centrelink] they don’t give you answers, they just say you’ve been overpaid.”
Do you have a story to share? Email Specialist.Team@abc.net.au.
Ms Peel contacted the Welfare Rights Centre, a community legal center based in Sydney, to find a way to appeal their decisions.
Senior counsel Daniel Turner said the center receives several cases a day relating to vague communications from Centrelink, which he likened to an “alien language”.
“The system is not adapting and responding to specific needs such as the cultural and language needs of Centrelink customers,” he said.
Turner said people can get stressed and confused when appealing Centrelink decisions.
“When they haven’t lived in Australia or been born overseas, they were afraid of their own government, so it takes a while to get them into a position where we can get some basic instruction,” he said.
Daniel Turner likens some Centrelink communications to an “alien language”. (ABC News: Chris Taylor)
Khatema*, a 22-year-old immigrant from Afghanistan, also contacted the Welfare Rights Center after struggling to understand Centrelink’s communication.
In 2021, after the Centrelink Newcomer Resident Waiting Period was reintroduced, your Youth Allowance was suspended.
The new resident waiting period is the time spent in Australia as a resident before someone can claim Centrelink payments. The wait can be up to four years, but was suspended at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Khatema contacted Centrelink and was told her payment could not resume until she had completed the rest of the waiting period.
She believes that under Centrelink rules as a dependent of a refugee, the waiting period should not apply.
“It was hard for me to say what I wanted, because my English is not that good, but I knew what my rights were,” Khatema said.
“We cannot solve our problems and say our feelings as we want in our language.”
“They don’t try to understand us or help us.”
As frustrating as her experience has been, Ms. Peel feels fortunate that she speaks English well.
“If you don’t have the English skills, to receive a letter like this, I can imagine how difficult it would be.”
“We have to reshape the provision of services”
Mohammad Al-Khafaji, chief executive of the Federation of Ethnic Community Councils of Australia, said many people of migrant background were giving up on trying to understand their situation with Centrelink.
“We have to understand that many of these people have fled countries where interacting with the government is a scary concept and if they don’t comply there are repercussions,” he said.
Al-Khafaji said more needed to be done to ensure government services were inclusive for all Australians.
“We are becoming more multicultural rather than less. Policymakers and bureaucrats need to reshape their thinking about service delivery,” he said.
“It will make a huge difference to how vulnerable and minority communities are included in the delivery of government services.”
Al-Khafaji said that, most of the time, migrant parents rely on their English-speaking children to try to find information.
Melbourne-based Gulden Kanmaz is a primary school teacher who teaches English as an additional language and helps her Turkish-Australian family understand Centrelink communication.
Ms. Kanmaz helps her parents by clarifying the information written in the letters.
“I’ve even had to read the forms a few times myself just to say… ‘Is that exactly what they mean?’
Gulden Kanmaz has been helping his family understand Centrelink communication. (ABC News: Norman Hermant)
“Writing can be quite difficult at times,” he said.
Ms Kanmaz said the school where she teaches had impressive results in translating letters into various languages.
He would like Centrelink to do the same.
“It would be great if the letters could be translated into (the recipient’s) language. So, you know, you get the English copy along with, say, the Turkish or Arabic copy.”
“You feel like you’re getting nowhere”
Services Australia, the government agency responsible for Centrelink, said in a statement it was committed to communicating clearly with participants.
“We know how important it is that people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds have the support they need to interact with Services Australia,” CEO Hank Jongen said.
Services Australia offers a multilingual telephone service, community-based multicultural service agents and interpreters for more than 200 languages and dialects, he said.
What to do if you get a notice from Centrelink that you don’t understand:
- Contact Centrelink and ask for an explanation
- Seek advice from legal or social rights organisations
- You can also apply for a review of the decision, internally through Centrelink or externally through the Administrative Appeals Tribunal
“We recognize that people have different levels of literacy, which is why we offer and encourage the use of interpreters to help people fully understand their rights and obligations.
“If someone does not understand a letter they received or has questions about a payment or service, we encourage them to contact us directly in the first instance.”
But Ms Peel believes there are more problems than just language difficulties.
The culture also needs to change, he said, so those looking for answers feel Centrelink really wants to help.
“You just feel like you’re not getting anywhere,” he said.
“I just feel like a number… there’s no human connection. It’s just, ‘you owe us,’ and that’s it.”
*The name has been changed