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- Written by Garry
Wednesday 16th October
A requirement of my application was to attend an appointment with a local employment adviser. It was a session to make sure my job searching skills were up to scratch and that I knew how to create and present a resume. I don’t want to be too cynical about this process, because for many people, particularly those afflicted with long-term unemployment, they are important skills. But for me, who is only at Centrelink in the first place as a last resort because my well developed and polished resume is achieving jack squat in the workplace, attending a meeting with a job coach did seem like a bit of a waste of time.
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- Written by Garry
Tuesday 15 October
I arrived promptly at half past nine and checked in with a different concierge at the Centrelink office. A lady came down from her desk and called my Christian name. Myself and two others with the same first name stood up. She picked me seemingly at random and we got started. Her first question was what my Centrelink number was. I informed her that I still didn’t have one. She looked up my name and date of birth in the database and confirmed that I was there and was an adult. She also confirmed all the details I had given the lady on the phone the previous day. It turned out that a few of them were wrong, so we fixed them.
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- Written by Garry
Yes, okay so there’s been quite enough philosophising about what an honour it was to be in Udon Thani, and what an incredible journey it was to get there. Geez, anyone would think I’d made the final twelve on Australian Idol or something. So what did we actually achieve as a team while we were there?
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- Written by Garry
So I’m back in Australia, and after two fantastic adventures in America and Thailand, I’m back home and right up against the pointy end of this whole unemployment business. My plans to secure work in Australia while I was gallivanting all over the world didn’t play out how I had hoped, so with my expectations in my boots and my pride scattered over the footpath somewhere, I fronted up to Centrelink to enquire about unemployment benefits. What follows is an account of my week-long dance with the bureaucracy.
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- Written by Garry
Growing up, I guess most Australian boys think that one day they’ll play for their country. Maybe it will be rugby, or perhaps soccer. Or maybe they’re that particular kind of crazy that gets up at three in the morning to train for the swimming squad. My preferred path for a meteoric rise to the top was through cricket. I was dead sure I was going to be the next Mark Waugh.