Sue Stephenson, Editor: Some time ago, I wrote a piece about how tough it is being a regional student studying and living in Sydney.
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It was based on my daughter's experience and how she was working multiple jobs while trying to complete a double degree at UNSW. Even with her parents' help, she found herself suddenly facing a myriad of daily expenses.
And being 21, she wasn't yet eligible for Youth Allowance because - heaven forbid - both her parents work.
Now I have a sequel to that story.
It takes me from accommodation and cost of living pressures, to the nightmarish experience of trying to get through to Centrelink.
On its website, Centrelink advises people to apply for Youth Allowance well in advance of their 22nd birthday
Specifically, it says: "If you want to claim as independent because you're turning 22, you can submit your claim up to 13 weeks before your birthday. If you claim early, you can be considered independent as soon as you turn 22."
So she did that.
And then, 11 weeks later, and 30 minutes before her final exam of the year, my daughter received a text message to say her application had been rejected, There was no further information. The text read she would receive a letter.
Well, you can imagine the state she was in. So, I jumped in on my next day off, after she gave me authority to speak on her behalf, and hit the phone.
Over the next six hours, I was dialling the Youth Allowance line constantly. And each time, a recording said they were too busy to even accept messages.
"Please call back later", the recording would say before the call was disconnected. This happened over and over again.
I thought I'd cracked it at one stage and found myself in a phone queue with a 70-minute wait. Determined to find out why my daughter's application had been rejected without reason, I waited.
After close to those 70 minutes, I got through to an operator who answered "Aged Care Pension, how can I help you."
Argh!
After recovering from the shock of ending up in the wrong department I asked to be transferred. "We can't do that, I'm afraid," the operator said.
At 4.45pm, I decided to call Centrelink's complaints line. Surprisingly, I got straight through.
It took less than a minute for the lovely young operator to tell me that a mistake had been made.
My daughter's original application had accidentally been assessed under the wrong criteria. She would be eligible after all, but we'd have to reapply all over again.
Yesterday, she got another notification saying it had been approved.
Huzzah!
A good outcome, but not all young university students have the time to take on a six-hour phone queue (Taylor Swift tickets aside, of course).
So now you know the trick. Next time you get hung up on by Centrelink, forget the queues and go straight to complaints!
Sue Stephenson. Editor, Port News