Last Day to Claim Your Day

Beneficiary advocate Kay Brereton is expecting Monday 23 November to be the last day on which people can 'claim back their day from W&I.'

"I am asking that some of the 18000+ members of the "Claim Back Your Day from W&I" facebook page, donate some time on Monday to spread the word to others about the law change, enabling many more people to make a claim for their missing day/s back to 1998.

I am hoping that thousands more people will be enabled to lodge their review tomorrow, people without internet, who don't even realise that this has been happening. If just a fraction of the people on facebook can help others to put in reviews tomorrow it could improve so many more peoples Christmas.

I get messages from people who have been paid their days, they have been able to do things like: get the car legal, buy their son strawberries for his birthday, get Christmas presents, things like that, this money may not seem like a lot to people in full time employment, but it's been a real bonus and morale booster for so many families.

I first raised this issue in September, after discovering the Government's plan to pass retrospective legislation to change the commencement date. They were doing this to cover up the W&I failure to start benefits on the correct day since 1998, and effectively wiping over $100 million owed to people

Since then a social media campaign has seen thousands of people lodge reviews with W&I to claim their day, and hundreds of people have already received backpay.

But now the Government has rushed retrospective legislation through Parliament under urgency. People's right to lodge a review and claim their day will be lost when the Act comes into force, which is on the day after it is signed by the Governor General.

If the Governor General signs the Bill on Monday, the law will come into effect on Tuesday removing any further rights to review back to 3 June 1998,when the mistake was first made. However people who have already lodged a review before the Act comes into force are still entitled to claim their day/s.

After the Act commences people will still have six weeks to apply for a review of their entitlement, but only as far back as 20 May 2014 , the date W&I were advised of their 'error' by a judicial decision."

ENDS

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