Okay, baby was born 3 weeks ago, 4 weeks early.

Last week C was told by Centrelink that if she dropped in the completed form she got from the hospital to Medicare, and then rang Centrelink and told them, she would be changed over from Newstart to Parenting payment and backpaid that day.

She then did this, but when she rang Centrelink they said they had to wait for it to come onto their system. They advised that if she went back to Medicare and picked up the form and brought it to Centrelink, they could scan it and it would be on their system and be backpaid. When she rang the Medicare office in question, they said that they have a Centrelink officer working in the office, so it wouldn't be necessary.

She called Centrelink 2 days ago to ask if it was in - not in.
She called Centrelink yesterday - told it wasn't in, would definitely be in this morning.

She called Centrelink this morning and was told it would take 5 weeks, and C can't do anything to speed it up. She was told she should've given part f the form to Medicare and brought the other part to Centrelink. When she asked what she's supposed to live on in the meantime, she was told she's still getting Newstart. 'Tis not enough.

Is there anything we can do? And is there any point to complaining about the lack of correct info?