THYE.A.

Apart from Child Care benefit, which does not require the 2 years waiting period, could some one confirm whether the Rent Asssistant also available to the new migrant ?

Boomie

we were taking about this at the meet on the weekend....... yep i believe we are....

which is good news for us renters!!!!!!! Earlswood may Know more

love boomie
xx

Paul and Steph

It's all part of the same form that you fill in for child care. There is a section that asks if you are renting and if so when from and how much it's costing. Figures are calculated on estimated earnings for the current tax year in Oz I believe and they backdate any payment to the date you arrived in the country. It only takes a few days to sort out and is paid into your account fortnightly.

One other benefit that I wasn't expecting was a healthcare card which is a concession card that allows you a hefty rebate off of school fees, prescriptions and standing charges for electric etc.

I Thought they might have issued this by mistake but know a few others that have recieved it so am not looking a gift horse in the mouth.

Steph

Boomie

One other benefit that I wasn't expecting was a healthcare card which is a concession card that allows you a hefty rebate off of school fees, prescriptions and standing charges for electric etc.

I Thought they might have issued this by mistake but know a few others that have recieved it so am not looking a gift horse in the mouth.

Steph [/QUOTE]



Nice one!!!!!!

thanx for that.......

love boomie
xx

DianeOZ

I'm not sure how it works with the healthcare card(we had it when we arrived and estimated our income) but when I got a job and rang through our new estimate they cancelled the card.

What would they do at the end of the year if you were over the $32k min for the card and had used it. I am still getting the money off my leccy bill!! Oopps naughty I know but will the leccy people tally up with Centrelink and add it back onto my bill. Also what if you had used the card for other discounts?

dotty

There is a certain irony in these threads, its been mentioned before, I am escaping the scrounging immos in the UK now how much can I get in OZ

Never having claimed welfare here I cant really say wot you get, I do know tho from friends in Bris who thought they had just won Centerlink Lotto that you are supposed to declare all the money you already have. eg; Rent from house in UK, Interest on money from sale of house be it in UK or OZ, savings shares etc, also that at the end of the tax year the little bonanza you may receive is adjusted to the actual income you got, you then repay what you were not entitled to.

Centerlink Lotto is funded by Aussie taxpayers, 47cents in the dollar plus medicare, just above the average wage. Ouch!

DianeOZ

We came out here on the assumption we'd get nothing, we didn't even look into it in the Uk. I don't think that some of the staff at Centrelink know what they are doing though, we got conflicting information at various times.

When we arrived we were handed a payment of $4000 approx which they said was back dated to when our visa was granted not our entry date. I knew we shouldn't have it so I just took it and thought, thank you I'll have the interest on that and you can have it back when you realise. Which of course they did.

But I know what you're saying Dotty about coming out and reaping the benefits of Centrelink. It doesn't seem right - maybe they should make it a bit more difficult, I just don't know. It's a weird situation to be handed money for nothing when you have never claimed a penny before.

Anyway, now we are fully paid up taxpayers we just receive child benefit like we did in Uk.

dotty

Yeah Di I'm not having a go at you, I know wages in Perth are low, but it just amazes me!, people go on and on about the UK throwing money at refugees. But OZ is chucking money at people arriving with (quite often) a few hundred thousand sitting in a bank account in the UK. How can someone be entitled to rent assistance when they have the proceeds from a house sale in the UK! Or is there an asset test too.

Its a bit of a joke that people complain about the UK system, its this one here that needs a kick up the rear! Makes the aussie taxpayer look like a right mug.

DianeOZ

I have a friend in the Uk who is financially well off and decided to fill in the new form for the taxbreak thing assuming he would get the minimum of around 45 quid per month. He receives over 800 pounds per month and has contacted them on various occasions to check if they have it right, they claim they do!!

What does he do??? He is just stashing the money in an account and waiting till they pick it up. This has gone on for about 8 months.

Like you say, both systems are crazy.

mick n cheryl

Whats all this about
We have been here since June last year and were under the impression that we were not entitled to any benefits at all for at least 2 years!.
Can you please advise us on what we may be entitled to and what we ned to do
We have 3 kids 13,10 & 8 and are renting at the moment, any extra income at the moment would go down great

Thanks Mick & Cheryl

DianeOZ

Cheryl!!!

Did you assume you weren't entitled to anything so didn't fill any forms in?? i am assuming you have PR.

If so, go to or ring Centrelink and explain the situation and get the forms, your benefits may probably be backdated to when you arrived.

It depends on your income for child benefit as if you earn quite a lot you don't get any. Also do you work? If not you can get family assistance part B.

We get $82 per fortnight for our 2 and we earn about $70k with us both working so that should help you judge if you can get something.

Hope this helps
Diane

Carol in Oz

Here's me and the hubby working our butts off and not entitled to a brass razzoo!
As said on here Centrelink is a shambles. One of my daughters used to work there. Some of the stories - unbelievable!
Carol in Oz

mick n cheryl

Thanks for that Diane,
Cheryl off down to centrelink as we speak!(er post!) Cheryl not working so only one wage and we have been struggling since Chrimbo!!:scared: so hopefully good news to come
Thanks again
Mick

renth

Family Assistance is run by the Family Assistance Office. If you don't get a fortnightly payment then anything you would have been entitled to comes back to you as a tax credit when you do your return.

It's not "welfare" as such but similar to say, the Working Families Tax Credit in the UK.

thewoods

beware when claiming centrelinks payments especially if you are not working and intend to do so.....
we arrived in september 2003 and we were entitled to $360 plus $70 rent assistance per fortnight - when my husband got a job in october we gave an estimated income and it was reduce to $330 per fortnight and we lost the assitance because we boguht a house - in end jhanuary this year i started working and delared my estimate for the remainder of the year - i was informed that i have a potential overpaymnet of $3500 and i am now entitled to $84 per fortnight so what they do is look at it over the year - they look at what is earned in the tax year and what your entiltled tpo - ie $84 - then they look at all the payments you have been paid - ie 20 weeks@335=$6700 then $84 for remainder ie 15 - 15x$84 = 1260 they then calculate the 20 weeks you were paid at $335 at $84=$1680 so basically they are saying in the first 20 weeks you should have only got $1680 (but you diodnt know then then cos you werent bloody working!!)
so they add up $1260 and $1680 and deduct if from the $6700

leaving a big shortfall!!!!!

BEWARE