Here's a New Development

[rossmum]

Dad had a good, well-paying job. We had a house in Canada which we were renting out, and a house here which we were living in. After selling the house in Canada and thus paying off the one here, we decided to build on extensions; we also bought a farm. At that point, we could handle it, but only just; about half his income was going towards taxes. He then lost his job and can't get any form of financial support at all. He's nearly 60 and the only job Centrelink could offer him was as a brickie's APPRENTICE, about two hours' drive from the farm. Meanwhile, I had to blow every last cent I ever had, including what my grandfather left to me, to try and support myself while I was going to uni. That ran out pretty fast so my parents had to try and keep me afloat too, because I couldn't get a job and once again, I could not get ANYTHING from Centrelink because my father's now NON-EXISTENT income was 'too high'. My parents can barely afford a fucking thing and the only reason I'm not out on the streets is because I now get a carer's allowance - at the expense of my fucking life. I'm 19 and I'm stuck looking after my disabled grandmother all day, every day just to keep a roof over my head.

I'd like to know where all that bloody tax money went, because it sure as hell didn't go to me when I needed it, and nor did it go to any of my friends who needed it worse than me. It's a small wonder I'm getting anything now, because the first time I applied for a carer's allowance they turned me down. Apparently crippled and prone to careless behaviour and dangerous blood clots at any moment isn't disabled enough.

By the way, I was born in Edmonton and I spent the majority of my education in public schools.

[Phopojijo]

Which is why there needs to be more (access to) social programs for people like you.

[rossmum]

Exactly. I'm not arguing against the system, I'm arguing against the way it's employed over here. Most things are means-tested and the testing is immensely stupid. To qualify as independent you have to live fully independently of your parents for 18 months; I barely made two on my own money, and despite the fact barely any of dad's wages were actually going into his pocket, they still grouped him with the sorts who wipe their arses with hundred dollar notes. The fact my parents were over five hours away apparently had no bearing on how independent I was (while I was living off of my own savings). I'd heard tales about Centrelink doing nearly anything they could to dissuade people from lodging applications for benefits, and they turned out to be true. Masses of forms, huge delays, strict hours, and so on... it took about two months to finally get a letter back saying they'd denied my carer's allowance - and they could see full well I had no money, no assets I could sell and live off of, and my family wasn't much better off. The family GP happened to know exactly which boxes to tick, though, so after we got his second opinion (first time was the occupational therapist), they reluctantly started paying up.

Pretty sad state of affairs when someone in that bad a state of health just isn't sick enough to need full-time care, or when someone with no money and no prospect of getting a job which will pay enough to live off of isn't poor enough.

[Phopojijo]

Yeah... which is why I started off stating that simply voting isn't enough... you need to push your MPs, Governors, etc.

You need to keep your government representatives honest.

((Good luck man))