The Centrelink work capacity interview

Left early yesterday afternoon to make sure I got to the Centrelink appt in time. The bus was going slowly to Central station as it was raining and cold outside and the bus driver was old and apparently cold, having the air conditioning turned up hot inside the bus and so all the windows were fogged up. He nearly didn't see me signalling him at the bus stop and I had to wave my arm up and down. Must've been a bit blind as well. One of those drivers that takes forever at every stop, farting around with the doors and the beeping register thing next to him. Traffic was heavy as everyone seems to forget how to drive when it rains here, and they all putt along like the old bus driver I had. Got to the Uni and the bus got packed full, and I had to take my jacket off as it was so fuckin hot in there I was starting to sweat. 

Got to central and waited about 10 min's for the next train to stop at Redfern. Only a short trip, and when leaving Redfern station there were about 5 police there with a sniffer dog hassling commuters. Fucks sake, hadn't they anything better to do than bust some bloke with a joint? Cops here look quite intimidating too, great big boots, pants tucked into them, a belt full of accessories (gun, capsicum spray, baton, taser) and a dark coloured police cap. They sort of look like the thought police when they're all together like that.

Crossed the road and then all these more cops started coming out of the building there. WTF? It was starting to feel like a nightmare. But then I noticed that it was the Redfern police building they were coming out of, which was right opposite from where the other ones were with the sniffer dog. Must be a slow day for the cops.

When I finally got to Centrelink there, there were about another 5 cops right at the entrance. Oh FFS! They're fuckin everywhere  I thought to myself. Walked past inside while they stared at me, I mean really stared at me like I'd done something wrong. Turned out they were there for some disgruntled Centrelink customer who was creating a ruckus about something (probably having trouble jumping through the Centrelink hoops). When I was waiting inside he came back from somewhere and there was a loud argument with the cops outside the door. Everyone inside looking, including everyone in the line. His girlfriend got involved too. I guess Centrelink called the cops as you can't behave threateningly in there, fair enough of course. 

So I waited in the waiting area while this was going on outside. Everyone was looking, it was actually quite entertaining. Strange the cops didn't arrest him, probably as they knew people were watching. All he was doing was arguing with them, but I've seen people arrested for less. He had a hood on, his girlfriend didn't, a Caucasian couple. Felt a bit sorry for them as obviously they felt very frustrated and wronged by Centrelink, but it was just unfortunate that this anger boiled over to what it did. They told him he couldn't come back for the rest of the day.

Behind me was the usual computers for people to do stuff online instead of waiting in the line, and a phone on the side where a smackie (um, heroine addict) was dribbling words into a phone that were vaguely intelligible. A bloke from England with his two kids was waiting in front of me to be called. And the line got progressively longer. After about a 20 minute wait I was called.

Went into a private little office with this guy, and copies of some of my application form were on the desk along with the report from my GP and psychologist. Thankfully at the outset he seemed very professional and I related how I'd been worried about this interview due to going over bad memories. He stated that he didn't want me to get upset but just to ask a few questions, as the psychologist had summarised much of what he needed to know. *phew* 

Asked about the HIV, and no I wasn't on meds currently due to the kidney failure beginning of last year. Wanted more info re the kidneys, and I told him to contact my GP as the kidney specialist and him were in contact with each other for my care. Think he was pretty blown away by the psychologist report. In the end the whole thing only took about 15 minutes, not an hour that I'd been told. He said I had a good chance, and that he needs to do his report or whatever on me, and then it all gets sent to someone interstate to make a further impartial decision. Said I'd get a letter in 2-3 weeks telling me the outcome. 

The fact that he's asked for more info re the kidney specialist tells me it's looking pretty well a formality that it'll be OK'd. This whole process has gone remarkably smoothly so far, certainly compared to the 5 month debacle with Canberra over my Superannuation. I left saying how painless that was, and repeated to him how worried I'd been about it. He replied that the psychologist report was very informative and so many questions weren't needed. Will have to thank the psychologist on my next visit.