omg i hate centrelink! agreed?

if you can I would suggest staying at home while at uni (IF POSSIBLE)

Living on your own(or sharing)/paying bills, rent and generally worrying about stuff is just putting more stress on you. if I had the means to live at home and not work full time and have to worry about paying/living my own way, I totally would!

Just another POV to think about

Having a part time job is always a good thing, it helps with making friends, socialising, and life skills. But I disagree with putting unneeded stress on yourself while studying. When you're finished uni you can worry about all those things

haha, I'm currently living at home and studying, and I'd love to keep doing so, but it's taking a HUGE toll on me when it comes to working out public transport times, spending four hours a day on public transport, and not being able to stay and study after class at uni for fear of getting home on time. Some days I spend more time travelling to and from uni than I actually spend there! It's exhausting and inconvenient for both myself and my parents.
That said, if I can't find a place to rent and people to rent with which I can financially cope with, I don't have much choice.

alksfjasjfkdja;lsd mass frustration!
-_-' Sorry. I'm feeling very annoyed with money and the cost of living. Haha.

I hate Centrelink, but not for the same reasons you do. I hate the whole tax system in general. I hate how those of us who work our asses off in education and starting at the bottom of the line to work our way up to the top and get the pay to show this loose almost half of that in tax to fund dole bludgers. I'm sure if they worked as hard as I did they too could earn what I earn (eventually) and buy a car, a house, and fill that house with nice things. They just can't be assed finding a job. There are jobs out there.... some people just don't want to get their hands dirty. Pack shelves, clean toilets, who cares - it's a job and you are independent. Wouldn't that be a better feeling than just expecting something for nothing?

Now I have nothing against my money supporting pensioners, those with a disability unable to work, students who struggle with the study-work-life schedule, and single parents who either work and spend all that money to put their child in day care or just stay home as it's cheaper. What I do have problems with is my money funding those people who keep popping out endless amount of children and sitting at home and spending it all on themselves and not their children, and in the future if this stupid carbon tax comes in. My money will help fund those low to middle income earners. Now again I don't have a big problem with that, I have a problem with the government thinking that as a high income earner I will have no problem in paying MORE than everyone else, not only in tax but also in higher electricity bills that I won't get a handout for. I also don't understand how giving 50% of all funds raised back to the low to middle income earners will a) help the planet & b) help teach those people to reduce their independence on the grid. But that's a discussion for another time.

The other option for those thinking about Uni - don't. Do an apprenticeship instead! You get paid to learn and have a job at the end, not a big debt and endless amounts of worry

That's my 2c and I'm sure someone here will disagree...

the only problem I have with what you've said is the last part, unfortunately not all the things you can do in life can start with an apprenticeship. Some things do require uni and no amount of unpaid work or volunteering can help with that.

That is true.

Heaps of people are on Centrelink payments where I live. There is a serious lack of jobs. Weeks can go by without a single job opening.

I've had 3 jobs but I am now a jobless hippie again. I don't want to be, but I am. In my defense, my disabilities limit the type of work I can do and make me very undesirable to employers. The boss at my last job was always frustrated at me, so I quit.
My job network provider has highly recommended I apply for a disability pension. I may be spending the rest of my life being a useless piece of sh*t. I worry about what kind of example I am to my kids.

Sorry... I got off the subject. I've got a bad habit of chatting too much about myself.
btw, I really appreciate Centrelink, but the thing I hate about it is the maternity pay. What idiot thought it's a good idea to pay women $5,000 to pop out a baby? Good way to encourage teen girls to ruin their lives.

More fool the teenage girls. -_-' I mean seriously, you'd think they would realise that raising a child costs a HELL of a lot more than $5,000.

There are lots of good reasons to be on Centrelink benefits.
I was receiving benefits when I was a teen. My mother left my father when I was sixteen. It wasn't a good separation. I came from a household of mostly mental abuse. Mum finally left after 30 years of torment that culminated into physical threats. We all copped it. Mum had not worked since 1964 and was in her fifties. Doesn't look very good on a resume. So she went on the dole so that she could get us into accommodation as quick as possible (we were living in a housing place for abused women). I also got some study benefits because I was at High School. At that point in my life I was too traumatised, upheaved and depressed to be able to hold down a job and the money I received I gave to mum anyway so that we had more money to eat and live. Eventually mum got a job doing cleaning work.

I don't see anything wrong with the situation and I don't think I was a dole bludger at all.

I have been working steadily for the past ten years and have now found myself on the dole for the second time in my life. The reason being that I am studying for the first time in five years and I do work a little. But my partner is suffering from brain cancer and I found that with the pressure of a sick partner, study and work I was almost ready to fall into a deep, dark hole never to return. So I decided that I would cut back my hours and receive benefits instead. It has made living much easier for me. My job working with children is stressful enough but chucked in with the love of my life having a extremely bad cancer it was unbearable. I needed to be a ray of sunshine in my partners life not an emotional wreck because when I'm upset and sad he is upset and sad. State of mind is very important to recovering from a brain tumour. A sad mind is less likely to live over a happy mind. Also it frees up time so that I can be there for my partner emotionally and practically (driving him to radiation and such). I think that I have done the right thing. And once again I do not feel as though I am a dole bludger.

And you shouldn't, either - because you're not.

There are really, really good reasons that welfare exists.  It's there to help people in tough situations.

First - the Baby Bonus and Maternity benefits are different things.  One is being introduced now, and the other is being phased out.  The BB was introduced to INCREASE the population of Australia.  It WAS meant as an incentive for increased birth because as a country Australia is struggling to pay for itself (particularly in terms of welfare) and it's only going to get worse as the tail end of the Baby Boomer generation gets older.
I don't have stats on hand right now, but I'm going to go out there are say it actually didn't increase teen pregnancy beyond normal rates of rise.  As I said, I can't back it up right now, but I'm positive I've read it somewhere.