Anyone have any idea?

[gemfyre]

If you declare you are living together as a couple (i.e. defacto) to Centerlink, but you are both financially independent (i.e. you own your own stuff, no joint ownership), does Centerwank still treat you as 1.5 people instead of 2 (and pay you accordingly - i.e. less).

Comments

[lotus79.livejournal.com]

Yes, Centrewank does indeed treat you as if you are each only 3/4 human.

Personally, I redefine their definition of living together as a couple to "combined bank accounts and joint ownership". Tell them you aren't a couple. You have to fill out a ridiculously intrusive form, because obviously ppls of the opposite sexes shouldn't live together unless they are a couple, omgwtfbbq. Seriously, they even have the nerve to ask if you are sexually involved. Have they never heard of homosexuality? Why don't same sex housemates have to prove they're not schtupping each other?

Me, bitter? Never.

[gemfyre.livejournal.com]

That's the thing. We don't have joint bank accounts or ownership.

[lotus79.livejournal.com]

Yup. In my opinion, you shouldn't be forced to share finances if you're not ready, but if you give Centrewank an inkling that you're omg!sexually involved, they'll force you to by giving you a combined payment.

So I ignore the intrusive sex questions and define myself as *not* part of a couple because I am financially independant.

[gemfyre.livejournal.com]

I want to say, "Oh, we're not sleeping together. We're both having casual sex with everyone else in the neighbourhood."

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

If you don't have joint ownership of property you're not a couple.

[gemfyre.livejournal.com]

It seems to be a case of "try telling Centerlink that."

But if it is the case, we WOULDN'T be lying to the system by saying we're NOT a couple.

[dormant-dragon.livejournal.com]

My experience is that centrelink will use any available excuse to reduce your payments, whether their reasoning reflects the reality of the situation or not.

[shadowshifter.livejournal.com]

Sorry. Once you're a couple you're suddenly a homogenous mass. Their logic is that with a combined income you need slightly less because it's combined...I'm not entirely certain how they worked that one out o_O So yes, if you declare that you're living together as a couple your pay will get cut regardless of your financial independence.

They won't cut it by too much, but yeh it's a lot if you're not getting much to begin with :) I don't know what you guys are getting though.

You could always call "just housemates" and keep your full pay, they will make you jump through a lot more flaming hoops though coz omg opposite sex people living in same house together you must be screwing.

[gemfyre.livejournal.com]

I want to say, "Oh, we're not sleeping together. We're both having casual sex with everyone else in the neighbourhood."

[firvulag.livejournal.com]

Yeah, yay for having to jump through lots of hoops for them.

I think because of seperate finances, seperate ownership, seperate bedrooms that we shouldn't be penalised any more than a couple who are living in seperate houses to avoid this. You just come over and stay every now and then, which I have no doubt a large proportion of couples do also

[jet-ski.livejournal.com]

hey well there has to be SOME advantage to being a same-sex couple, cos we're discriminated against in so many other ways :P

[gemfyre.livejournal.com]

Hehe.

Hrm... Matt dresses up as a pretty good female...

[abstract-design.livejournal.com]

You'd think. But Illy had to do the "not a couple" dance when we were still living with Rick. Eventually she phoned them and explained the situation over the phone, and the Centrewank woman just directly fixed her file. Via the paperwork route, they could NOT figure out how Illy & Rick could own a house together, yet have no sexual or otherwise romantic history. It was bizarro.

[shirazz.livejournal.com]

I agree with what everyone else says. If I wasn't..err..gay (ahem) then my payment would be about $50 a fortnight less plus I don't think you can double dip rent assistance.

Deny deny deny...yay 3 bedroom house :)

[firvulag.livejournal.com]

yeah, you can't double dip rent assistance, but you can work it so you get more as it isn't a linear amount, but increases the more you pay, so you just split the rent in such a way as to maximise this.

This doesn't matter to us as we're around the max for singles anyway :)

[jet-ski.livejournal.com]

back when i was a student and my livein partner was WORKING FOR CENTRELINK i would have got nothing if we were considered partners for centrelink purposes... so yes, it has been advantageous to me in the past :)

apparently it is IMPOSSIBLE to link two people of the same gender on the centrelink system, so same sex couples could not even be recognised as a couple if they wanted to

[mix-o-choc.livejournal.com]

oohh advantage us! now to find a boy to share a love-nest

[shirazz.livejournal.com]

Hahah didn't you know that if you don't acknowledge those homosexuals then they don't exist?
lol
*puts fingers in ears closes eyes & goes "lalalalala"*

[jet-ski.livejournal.com]

exactly!

[redmalice.livejournal.com]

As long as your sleeping together they will. But they don't reduce your payments too much. In a way i understand because 2 people buying food to eat together costs less than buying food seperately. Well in my experience it does. Soo i guess that reasoning is applied to everything else.

[tigernic.livejournal.com]

Sorry sweetie, but even if you declare that you are both financially independent, they will still see you as a couple and pay you less. You don't need to own anything together to be declared as a couple. When I moved in with Ashley, we declared ourselves as defacto (and we had our own stuff) and we each got separate payments put into our own INDIVIDUAL bank accounts, so you won't have to worry about your pays being combined in one account unless you want it that way. You guys will get paid less though as they decide that your payments are based on what your partner is earning. That's how i eventually got really screwed over once Ashley started working, so your pay will probably go down depending on how much Matt earns from his delivery driving job. Hopefully you should still be ok though. If you have any more questions, please feel free to ask =)

[annyka.livejournal.com]

Well I guess I won't be living with my brother any time soon!! Ewww - I'd hate for anyone to think I was sleeping with him...