I have fallen victim to Centrelink’s robo-debt program. Well, technically not me, but my wife was sent a letter recently saying that she owes Centrelink, the Australian government’s social security program, over $7300. That’s not a nice letter for anybody to receive. Yes, due to my wife having a young child, and due to my income being under a certain amount, my wife had been entitled to a fortnightly payment over the last three and half years, that is, since the birth of our daughter. She's had to report our income every fortnight in order for Centrelink to calculate the correct payment amount. Some fortnights, she doesn’t receive anything, because my income is too high. Other fortnights, she only receives $50, or $100. The maximum she can receive in any given fortnight is a touch over $500. So anyway, fast forward three years, and it turns out that she owes the government $7300 due to over-payment. I was a bit peeved, because we had done everything that the government had asked. There’s obviously issues at Centrelink. I’m not exactly sure what they are, but from what I’ve experienced in the last week or so, there’s certainly communication issues. One department don’t seem to know what the other departments are doing. Different workers give different advice. The income reporting process is flawed as it allows for all these mistakes to occur. Robo-debt is a sham and is hurting many normal Aussies. Centrelink has become a place where the government punish the poor. It’s culture needs improvement. It’s processes need improvement. They’ve got to end this stupid robo-debt program and start treating recipients for what they are — people who need a helping hand. MY GEAR Samson Meteor USB Microphone: https://amzn.to/2LJVbtN FIND US ON FACEBOOK https://www.facebook.com/DailyRantAustralia/ #australiangovernment #debt #welfare ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ClbuqL12NE

A week ago, more than 60% of Australians rejected reforming the constitution to create a new Indigenous Voice. Indigenous leaders called for a week of silence to grieve and mourn over the results, and also requested that the country fly the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags at half mast out of respect. Now that the week of silence is over, Indigenous leaders have penned an open letter to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, as well as MPs and senators, calling the results appalling and mean-spirited. Specifically, they wrote, “That people who came to our country in only the last 235 years would reject the recognition of this continent’s First Peoples — on our sacred land which we have cared for and nurtured for more than 65,000 years — is so appalling and mean-spirited as to be utterly unbelievable a week following. The constitution belongs to white people and no reform of it that includes our peoples will ever succeed.” It is unclear who signed the letter but it’s understood that some Aboriginal leaders had distanced themselves from an earlier draft of this statement, and did not want their names associated with it. The Guardian are reporting that Indigenous groups claim the referendum ‘unleashed a tsunami of racism’ – “The scale of deliberate disinformation and misinformation was unprecedented, and it proliferated, unchecked, on social media, repeated in mainstream media and unleashed a tsunami of racism against our people.” SBS are reporting, “Shameful act”, “unprecedented”, and again, “a tsunami of racism”. “The truth is that the majority of Australians have committed a shameful act whether knowingly or not, and there is nothing positive to be interpreted from it.” The Northern Territory Aboriginal land councils released a statement saying, “The result of the referendum can not be separated from a deep-seated racism. It is fair to say that not everyone who voted No is racist, but also fair to say that all racists voted No. The vitriol and hatred that were part of the campaign existed prior to, but were given licence through the process.” It seems they still think that by continuing to call the majority of Australians racist, that will somehow win people over. And now that everyone’s angry, Jonathan Sriranganathan, a candidate for Lord Mayor of Brisbane, is calling for Brisbanites to start “Paying the rent” to Indigenous organisations, with the Brisbane Council having to fork out tens of millions of dollars in Indigenous grants. According to his bio, he used to live in rental sharehouses, but now he lives on a small houseboat with his partner on the Brisbane river. I guess they can’t afford to rent in Brisbane anymore. That’s all right. We can just give tens of millions of dollars of rate-payer money to Indigenous causes instead. And the Queensland Government have decided it’s the opportune time to start promoting the teaching of Indigenous languages. Minister for Treaty, Leeanne Enoch, today announced that Queensland Indigenous community groups and organisations will be given hundreds of thousands of dollars in new grants to help preserve and revitalise First Nations languages across the state. The government’s plan features 40 actions, including using First Nations languages for place names. She said, “Ensuring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages were strong, acknowledged, maintained, and accessible was vital to truth-telling amid the Path to Treaty process. Ensuring children learn Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages is an integral part of preservation.” Look, I’m not against people learning languages. I learn languages myself, but I learn languages that I can use. I learn languages that are useful throughout the world. I’m not saying people shouldn’t learn Aboriginal languages, but should this be taxpayer-funded? According to Crikey, one in three Australian children failed this year’s NAPLAN maths and English tests. Taxpayer money should be used in the most efficient way possible to prepare our children, including Aboriginal children, with the knowledge they need to be successful in the modern world. INDIGENOUS LEADERS BREAK THEIR SILENCE, CALL REFERENDUM DEFEAT ‘APPALLING AND MEAN-SPIRITED’ https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-22/indigenous-leaders-call-referendum-defeat-appalling/103004646 YES SUPPORTERS SAY VOICE REFERENDUM ‘UNLEASHED A TSUNAMI OF RACISM’ https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/oct/22/indigenous-groups-say-voice-referendum-unleashed-a-tsunami-of-racism ‘SHAMEFUL ACT’: INDIGENOUS YES LEADERS BREAK SILENCE OVER VOICE REFERENDUM RESULT https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/indigenous-yes-leaders-break-silence-over-referendum/inldxkxgb QUEENSLAND GOVERNMENT RELEASES NEW STRATEGY TO PRESERVE STATE’S INDIGENOUS LANGUAGES https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-23/indigenous-languages-action-plan-queensland/103008010 MUSIC Allégro by Emmit Fenn ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-eAra_d9hw