I have an appointment today at my local branch (ie, not Sydney!) with instructions to 'just bring everything you can think of' and they'll allegedly sort out as much backpay as possible and get an emergency payment.

Not that it matters now, partner has his first full DSP payment today and I've just got the last two weeks rent so me not being paid isn't so critical for emergency payments, but no less annoying that I've got $250 from them in the last 3 weeks. I'm not working at the moment so my usual other source of income is completely missing. Going to be nice being able to go on a major shopping spree today - food!

The guy said I shouldn't have been cut off newstart until the new payment was processed. They cut me off it cold turkey, paid me a few days worth of it the next day, cut my FTA down and haven't sent me a cent since.

Still doesn't help we had several of the regular bills bounce because I was getting paid less than expected and we had to engage damage control, and my CC is almost maxed so I'm paying 20% interest instead of being able to use Real Money.

This screwup has put us a month behind in saving for the new house too. So much for getting the deposit together for Christmas. We need a savings record for the bank too ... so just one month longer with a baby in our bedroom thanks to Centrelink. He'd better still fit in the bassinet at 7 months. Blah.