Back in the dark ages - almost 10 years ago now - when I was a single parent, I had no idea Centrelink even paid you if you earnt money. I had my daughter assuming I'd get paid maternity leave and when I came back parttime, whatever I got from work was all I'd have to live on. I actually got approached by a Centrelink person in the hospital who gave me all the forms. I got almost a full single parent pension while I took 7 months maternity leave!

Turned out that the ideal situation to be in when you're single is to earn just under the cutoff for the single parent pension - you still get a pension card, seriously discount childcare (this may have changed, its been a long time), and the maximum rates of FTA/FTB. For me it was 3 days a week, which worked out really well. Cushy times. I was getting more in the pocket each fortnight than fulltime colleagues on higher pay bands.

Then I got a non-working partner ... *sigh* that was the end of that ....

The things we do for love