A struggling mother claims she has been waiting for help from Centrelink for weeks after giving birth to her second daughter.
Tegan Wood from Western Australia welcomed her little girl into the world on August 3, but after four weeks she claims she has still not received her first parental leave payment.
Feeling frustrated, she slammed Centrelink in a lengthy TikTok video next to the tag ‘Australia doesn’t look after the taxpayers’.
In the clip, Tegan said she requested the service via the app in July, before her baby was born. The mother received ‘no confirmation’ and visited Centrelink three times but no progress was made.
‘I don’t understand what’s going on with Centrelink. If you don’t have the money, if you’ve overspent it somewhere else, let people know,” Tegan said.
‘We do not care. At least then we can prioritize what we need to do to make ends meet in life, because with today’s rising cost of living, you can’t survive on one wage.”
In the video, Tegan addressed Centrelink directly as if she were speaking to the organisation.
‘I applied for paid parental leave before my baby was born, I completed it in July 2023. My partner uploaded it to your unfriendly app, which you recommend because it’s a lot easier to do,” she said.
“So that’s what we did. We had everything in order. Our P’s and Q’s were all aligned.”
However, despite these claims, Tegan did not receive a message confirming that the application had been received.
So the couple went straight to Centrelink a week later and were told that ‘all was well’ and that their application was ‘on track to proceed’.
“Still no word, no confirmation letter, nothing in the app,” Tegan said.
Tegan Wood, from Western Australia, gave birth to her second daughter on August 3 and applied for paid parental leave from Centrelink in July. However, she claims she waited weeks for the first payment
The following Monday, Tegan claims they returned to Centrelink, waited 45 minutes and hoped the problem would be resolved.
‘We had our newborn daughter with us all the time. The lady we saw was a little more argumentative, not a good day for her and that’s fine, we didn’t want to get into an argument,” Tegan continued.
‘Still nothing. She told us it all made sense.
‘Funnily enough, we had just picked up our daughter’s birth certificate. She (the worker) said, “I will make a copy of it and we will put it up there too.” No problem… still no word.”
When Tegan had her first daughter in 2020, she said the Centrelink service was “a lot faster” despite Covid.
“They can’t tell me they’re understaffed now…I feel like that’s just an excuse these days,” Tegan said.
On September 4, she returned for the third time.
“Today I’m going back, she wanted me to wait another 45 minutes to see another lady who told me the same thing, and I just didn’t have the patience for it,” said a frustrated Tegan.
“We’re quite patient people and if it was the shoe on the other foot, Centrelink would be asking, demanding and harassing me for their money back. Do you know what I mean?’
The Services Australia website states that customers will typically receive their first payment 14 days after the start date if a birth certificate has been provided and the claim has been finalized (stock image)
Another member of staff then came to help, who Tegan claims was the same member of staff who served her on her previous visit to Centrelink.
“I said to her, ‘Don’t you recognize me anymore?'” she said, and the woman replied, “I see what the problem is. It looks like you didn’t fill it out correctly.”
This only infuriated the mother of two.
‘I just don’t understand. The third time you tell me I don’t have my papers in order, but every other time I went there you said it was fine?’ Tegan said.
“Then she says, ‘Have you tried calling family services?’ Of course I fucking did that. Do you think I like coming here and waiting? No, not with a newborn baby.’
At the end of the video, Tegan complained that one salary is not enough to support a family.
‘My partner earns a good wage, but it is still not enough. We have a mortgage, we have cars, we have children. Come on, throw us a bone,” she said.
Services Australia’s website states that customers will generally receive their first payment 14 days after the start date if birth certificate has been provided and the claim has been finalized.
Hank Jongen, managing director of Services Australia, told FEMAIL: ‘We know that bringing a new baby home can be a busy and stressful transition for parents.
‘We sincerely apologize to this family who did not experience the service they expected from us, and for having to wait for their parental leave benefits.
‘This year, our peak period for family tax benefits and childcare subsidies is combined with policy changes that increase eligibility for parental leave and childcare subsidies, resulting in a greater volume of claims overall.
‘We are there to help people in financial problems. We encourage anyone in these circumstances to contact us or visit your local service center to speak to one of our staff about how we can support you.”
Both parents can now claim parental leave 97 days before the expected date of birth or adoption of their child.
Services Australia encourages people to make a claim online early where possible and ensures they provide all relevant documents and information so we can quickly assess their claims.
Parents should monitor their online Centrelink accounts via myGov for any outstanding tasks and letters.
If a parent’s application for parental leave has been granted, he or she has provided birth certificate and has not yet received any payments, it may be worth checking with the employer.
In most cases, employers are responsible for providing parental leave to parents.
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