Hours on hold, repeated calls, months of delay: Maryanne’s struggle to get urgent jobseeker payments

Even as a former staff member, Maryanne Watts was shocked at how long it took to get urgent assistance. Experts says she is not alone

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When Maryanne Watts applied for jobseeker earlier this year, she knew it wouldn’t be a smooth process. She had been a Centrelink worker in the 1990s and had received income support in recent years.

But even she was shocked at how difficult it was to get her application processed – even when she was about to run out of money.

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