Communication problem

Yesterday I went into Centrelink and spoke to a disability service person. I need to return to work, and most days I feel that I can at least try it. She was a lovely person, and asked me about some places in this area which I could look at. She had started with MAX, which I turned down – I’d been to MAX in Inala 3 years ago, before I went into hospital, and they shot me down and were – for me – extremely unhelpful. This woman made me an appointment at a different place in Beenleigh which would “help” me. Probably because they’re called Help Enterprises. (I don’t know what MAX stands for… Muddled And Xtreme??)

Today I went there, feeling full of practicality, my future, what I can do and what I had expected. I felt pretty good when I walked in the door. I started to feel a bit different when the receptionist, who didn’t know where I was within Centrelink, handed me what I thought were incorrect papers. I fell even further when I was called in to talk to the HELP2Support Advisor and was told that I could lose my benefit if I didn’t stick to looking for 10 jobs every month. I was in tears by that stage. I felt extremely upset until this person perhaps realised that I should have been in their DSS (Disability Support Services) group – I was recovering (still) from my stroke.

She looked through the papers I had filled out in reception, and commented about the many ticks I had put through the list of what I had previously done. Erm… yes, this resembles 40 years of me as a worker, 30 years on a computer. My last 7 years as a WHS person had resulted in my Grad Dip OHS which I can’t even use now, but any administration and computer use is what I can do.

She had handed me a bag with some papers in it (I didn’t find out just what she was called until I got home and read the papers she gave me). This included: Job Seeker Information Sheet which promptly said that they “except [me] to… be punctual… be involved… fulfil [my] participation requirements… bring Job Search evidence… be contactable between hours 9am-5pm Monday to Friday [???]… show respect…”; Service Guarantee for jobactive (which it now seems I’m registered for rather than DSS); Can’t Make Your Appointment sheet which says that if I miss an appointment I can lose my “income support payment” – which I didn’t and still don’t realise that my DSP is called that; Your Help 2Work sheet which outlines the Service Delivery Plan for job seekers; and a Job Seeker Feedback Form.

I don’t see how any of those can work for me. I should have had a DSS person who would assist me. I am on DSP, not Newstart and should never be threatened with my DSP cut-off. I can’t connect with Help “between hours 9am-5pm Monday to Friday”, even though I, this morning, told them that I could work probably around 10 hours a week to get back into it, not every week day.

And the Service Delivery Plan is, from what I can gather, an online service, not a “real” person who would have helped me or any other person like me. Nor can it help any older person who was kicked off their long-term employment when this government sold something somewhere overseas. (Hint: think China.) Those kind of people just know what they had been doing for decades, yet they are now expected to pretty much sit online and teach themselves.

The SDP sheet has a picture (circular), called the Wheel of Work, which lists everything that they claim will help us. These each come as HELP2, the outer 5 listing these: Enter, Assess, Prepare, Placement, Exit. The inner 5 lists Search, Educate, Hire, Market and Support. Confused? Yes, so am I.

I don’t need this. Before my stroke I had worked for 40 years. What I need now is a small part-time (up to 10 hours a week to start with) job which I can recover from. I don’t need the “$5.25m Transport and Logistics Training Centre” or any others. I have worked longer than this organisation existed. The SDP paper listed the Help Enterprises support people, and I can only see one person out of 6 listed, who should be helping me. This is the HELP2Market Advisor, who is supposed to “market [me] to Employers who meet your employment and career goals”.

This organisation-slash-company talks about “job(s) for everyone”. Well I’m sorry, Help Enterprises. I don’t believe you. You don’t provide assistance for someone – in fact, you registered me in the wrong place: I should be supported by DSS.

So, what did I do today? Well, I came home, burst into tears in the dining room (very embarrassing for me) and came back here and found two quotes which I have produced for my Reibus website which had maybe what I should call “aphorisms”. Have a look at them on this blog.

I hope you have a much better future than I seem to have.