“That ICPA (Aust) liaises with the Department of Social Services to find a solution to wait times and difficulty contacting Services Australia regarding Youth Allowance applications for rural and remote students.”
Students and families are struggling to contact a real person when they try and liaise with Services Australia regarding Youth Allowance. Is there a possibility of having a dedicated rural and remote telephone line, similar to the one that we access when contacting Services Australia regarding the Assistance for Isolated Children (AIC) Allowance.
Case Study
One of the children in our branch has returned to university to study nursing, online via Charles Darwin University. She has applied for Youth Allowance and submitted the information required in late February, but she needed to go back in and change something on the form. For weeks she rang and tried lots of different responses but the end result was always - "Thank you for calling "and the call was disconnected.
We contacted Kate Thompson, Tertiary Portfolio leader, and the response she received from Services Australia was to complete another form, highlighting the corrected areas and resubmit it.
We were unable to complete another form or amend the current one as suggested, as Services Australia says there is an application is in progress. So we have progressed no further in our application for Youth Allowance.
