What to do?

[Thinkimjob]

The Australian government has decided to "crack down" on welfare payments.

Fair enough, I suppose. But not really.
I have been redundant for six months - spent my redundancy - and d'ya think I can get a Disability Pension?

Twenty years, I was still working despite it all.

I now have a scooter and had to spend a lot of money to remodel the bathroom, so I won't fall a over head.

Not a word from Centrelink, (our social security). Two hour "your call is important to us" phone calls.

The last time, I told the woman I was running out of money. She said, "If you get down to $600, in total, in all your accounts, we can look at giving you an emergency payment."

Seriously?

I have MS, I can't walk - here are all my medical records - you actually think I'm faking it?!?

[Mamabug]

Hopefully, someone who knows something about Disability in Australia will be along to respond to your question. What I know about SSDI (social security disability income) in the US wouldn't apply.

[Tia1]

I'm praying something comes through soon. Hang in there.

[Carolinemf]

Hi,
I'm in Aus.
I don't have any personal experience applying for disability but I do know that anything to do with Centalink has to do with the person you talk to and their perception of your circumstances.

Did you see anyone in person or have an over the phone interview?

My son recently started receiving the dole. He was on crutches at the time he applied and the Centerlink employee couldn't have been more helpful. Apparently it didn't matter that he still had some money in his account either.
He did have to run a bit of a gauntlet to get to the interview stage though.

Do you live in a larger city? is it difficult to go in to a branch in person?
As with everything it is always hard to deny a person something when you are looking them in the face. And you can obviously see they are disabled.
Hope this is helpful and please let me know how you are doing.