Centrelink Disability Support Pension as a Couple (Victoria)

Lpianoman2022 on 28/03/2022 - 09:45

I’m at the end of a relationship and extremely depressed while typing this. I’m a foreigner and I met my partner few years back in Melbourne and we’ve been living together for over a year now. I was going to apply for a partner visa by the end of this year. We met a lawyer who deals in LGBT cases who is a part of a non profit organisation. He suggested us to register our relationship under Victoria, but by doing that my partners disability support pension will get cut off/reduced. When I read the rules I understood that as couple (I am the only person who is working) if I earn more than $320 a fortnight, 40 cents will be cut from each dollar upwards. I earn around 5k (after tax) per month as a support worker. But with that, his pension will get completely cut off and if I understood correctly that will affect the discount on his medicines and brain scans (which is a lot). We have rent, bills, loans etc to pay, which leave us with nothing at the end of the month.

I assured him to support him no matter what, but he is very reluctant in registering this relationship and doesn’t want to depend on me. He had a brain cancer around 10 years back and he had to sell his house for his surgery. If his family had helped he would have still had a house. Ever since that he’s very paranoid about money matters. Because of this situation things are very grim. We were a happy couple until this happened. I wasn’t prepared for this one from Centrelink. I am heartbroken and don’t know what to do.

Is there anything I can do? Am I missing something? Any help would be appreciated.

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Comments

  • Fredfloresjr on 28/03/2022 - 10:00
    +1

    That's the norm here in Australia. Never get married, make kids as you can, apply for single parent and continue living together as normal. Done deal.

    • clarebear on 29/03/2022 - 10:35

      You can’t live with a partner and claim single parent payments though.

  • Christown on 28/03/2022 - 10:13
    +5

    If you plan to apply for a partner visa, it may just be how things have to be.

    One of the criteria they check for partner visas is if you have told other government departments about your relationship.

    As Australian government departments share information with each other, a scenario that could play out is that later down the track centrelink could realise that you were in a relationship for a long time and had not been declaring it, and would then raise a debt for overpayment.

  • Jason Genova on 28/03/2022 - 10:18
    +1

    why are so many doom and gloom one post wonders signing up to ozbargain lately, and airing their stories?

  • Quantumcat on 28/03/2022 - 10:23
    +4

    It is dangerous to not declare your relationship. If Centrelink finds out he and probably you will have to pay back what was received, and might be up for fraud charges/jail time. If they get suspicious they will ask your neighbours and family members what their opinion of your relationship is. Unless you can keep it secret from all of them then they'll be able to find out. If you want to do it you will have to do things like have another address on your drivers license and all other official documentation, never your partner's address. Having the same address as a single person on benefits is one way they can automatically detect something for further investigation. You'll also want to never have it public information on things like Facebook. It will probably be very stressful and I would not recommend it. My recommendation would be to just date, keep your finances separate and live separately. If he is able to work in the future, or you get a higher paying job and are able to support the both of you comfortably without his pension, then you can look at co-habiting again.

    Is there a different visa you can apply for?

  • mini2 on 28/03/2022 - 10:30
    +8

    You want the partner visa but don't want your partner to lose the DSP or the Health Care Card for cheap meds? You can't have your cake and eat it, I hate to say.

  • Hithere on 28/03/2022 - 10:40

    extremely depressed

    RUOK

    https://www.ruok.org.au

  • freefall101 on 28/03/2022 - 11:03
    +3

    Lawyer is right and there's not many options beyond that.

    I'd look at the alternative options besides a partner visa because the risks keep piling up here, you said you're at the end of a relationship so you're technically lying to get the visa (no judgement, but if they find out you're going to get booted pretty quickly) and it's definitely going to eat into that disability pension. The partner visa is also incredibly expensive in Australia, almost $8k.

    Would your work be willing to sponsor you for a visa? Particularly at the moment it may be a good time due to labour shortages in some industries, it would cost less and would give you more flexibility with your relationship.

    • cookie2 on 29/03/2022 - 00:12

      Yup, everyone with the $$$ gets a fair go..

  • Hellfire on 28/03/2022 - 11:49
    +4

    You are already living together in a defacto relationship (doesn't need to be "registered") and your partner should have notified Centrelink of the change in circumstances. If Centrelink find out then they can claim the money back.

  • Drakesy on 28/03/2022 - 12:32
    +3

    Ah the classic Australian pension fallacy.

    It's a fine line between giving the disadvantaged enough to keep them alive but not happy. Yet if you work you'll quickly lose your benefits.

    It's a culture that perpetuates not wanting to work more/harder as you're better off not working those 2 shifts a week and losing your pension/Centrelink. Same happened during jobkeeper/seeker where people would rather stay at home and get $550 a week rather than work full time and get $750 a week.
    When i was on student allowance as soon as i earned more than $500 a week i lost 50c in the dollar. So i refused anymore shifts, simple as that. Boss wasn't happy but i spelt it out to them and they came around.

    As supportive as the centrelink system is it has a lot of flaws to it and definitely needs an overhaul.

    • Quantumcat on 28/03/2022 - 13:32
      +1

      I've thought for a long time they should get rid of Centrelink completely, and do benefits through ATO. Employers should report fortnightly instead of quarterly/yearly their PAYG and the ATO just tops up your income as you go (and graduated much more finely so you don't get the problem of losing a lot of money for taking a small amount extra work - the difference should be small enough [smoother curve] so that you'll take whatever work you like doing that comes your way). Doesn't matter what reason you are not working - caring for disabled child, break between jobs, following an artistic pursuit, starting a business, doing volunteer work or disabled and can't work. The amount of money they would save not paying their 35,000 employees plus thousands of IT contractors and the costs of running offices might even cover any extra money they pay out. And not to mention the department of social services that does all the policy work. And there would be an increase in productivity if people can follow their dreams and start a business without worrying about paying basic bills or spending all their time applying for jobs they can't take or going to pointless meetings at Centrelink.

  • tsunamisurfer on 28/03/2022 - 13:59

    OP wants the Green Card without the responsibilities of a Australian permanent resident human being.

    Can we please change the title to 'How can I stay in Australia and continue to benefit off the Taxpayers?"

    • [Deactivated] on 28/03/2022 - 16:37
      +1

      it's his partner who is wanting that, understandably as you never know if a relationship will break down in the future (more likely than not these days) and how much of a pain it is to get on the DSP in the first place, even if you have a legitimate disability.

      • tsunamisurfer on 28/03/2022 - 17:05
        +3

        That household grosses 80k annually this is even BEFORE taking into consideration they are also taking DSP on top of that.

        An 80k grossing household needs no taxpayer hand outs.

        • Quantumcat on 29/03/2022 - 08:17

          You forget that the partner with a disability will have medical costs to pay for if they lose DSP, that are free or discounted with DSP

  • cheekymonkey on 29/03/2022 - 09:57
    +1

    You may be entitled to claim Carer Allowance for your partner. it is not income tested, but the payment is quite small. however, it entitles the person to a health care card, which should help with cost of medication and other medical bills.

    • Quantumcat on 29/03/2022 - 10:04

      Good thinking, this may make the difference between them being able to be together, or not

  • Hithere on 30/03/2022 - 16:17

    Looks like OP has decided not to return to acknowledge any of the assistance offered.

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