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sarah [pinkslutz@yahoo.com.au]
comment added :: 14th November 2004, 08:38 GMT
A visitor made this comment,
hi,its great, important stuff, my only suggestion would be to add a petition to go towards reform changes that people could sign while theyre here… luv it, who has been working on it?

tai s made this comment,
Well done! Finally someone has made all this info accessable in a form other than hearsay over coffee, urban-myth style. I am an independant artist/curator and have been recieving Newstart payments for 12+ months now and it is only now that I am starting to figure out ways to best dodge/manage the quagmyere of beaurocracy that is Centrestink. Thanks for making me feel a little less alone in this crazy endeavour to stay off the streets and not sacrifice my practice. I have recently received 2 grants from the Australia Council (one to travel overseas to a conference and one to work in a mentorship position next year for a big arts festival). When I found out about them I freaked out at the prospect of not recieving any ongoing assistance in the future. What Centrelink often fail to understand is that artists rarely profit from the sum of money that they recieve from a grant, usually it goes to paying other artists fees in a show, materials, publicity and travel expenses. I have not once had it suggested by a jobnetworker for me to join the NEIS scheme. Until now I thought it was not ’suitable’ for my type of work. I fear there are many others in this boat. Thanks for making that clearer. As I was reading through a couple of hints popped into my head, sorry if I re-hash at any stage…

>When you have to do your compulsory 2 hour job search on the computers during your intensive jobsearch crap, ask if you can be logged on to Arts Hub. This is one of the only websites that posts purely arts-based jobs and usually costs around $60 to aquire a login password.
> When you reach mutual Obligation there are a few places that accept volunteers that are a shit-load better than the rest. I went to Express Media in North Melbourne (editing a visual and literary youth magazine), ACCA in South Melb(serving wine at openings and sitting shows), ACMI in Fed Square (sitting exhibits and information).
> This may sound silly, but its true; Any time you have an interview with a Centrelink worker make sure you have all your papers in an officious-looking document holder or diary. Be very precise and organised in your manner and only say exactly what you mean and what you have to. There is nothing that those people love more than someone that looks like they’ve got their shit together and often this will make them more prepared to help you cut corners or ignore minor details that are often hard for artists to hurdle.
>Get a cash job that you dont have to declare if you can. I know its illegal, but if you can find one that doesnt harm your practise and pays ok it makes things a hell of a lot easier.
> Find out the fax number for your local Centrelink. If you are saying that you are volunteering more than 20 hours a week they will often let you fax in your form rather than waiting in those awful ques, they cant be good for any of us.
> Finally, and most importantly I reckon, make sure that you dont let them make you feel like being an artist is not a career. You know why you chose it, and more often than not you are providing a much more satisfying and enlightening service to the community than they are.

Thanks again for the blog and keep me posted on the lobby group- its a brilliant and much-needed idea.
x

Hi Im an artist in Sydney. I am currently on the NEIS scheme. I highly recomend it to any artist. Even just doing the six week business course is worthwhile, If its a good one and there not all good, you can learn a lot about tax how to treat your self as a business ect. I have opened a gallery in Sydney a part of the scheem but the original idea was making lampshades, they like that crafty stuff. Once your approved just change your mind, hey they do that in business. Good luck all.

Andrew Purvis

Anonymous a musician said…

I just wanted to say thankyou
If I can think of anything useful I will let you know.

4:28 PM
Anonymous deathmember said…

Like anyone who follows their heart and is genuinely creative is shunned for that lifestyle.
I have and assume some of us have seen psychiatrists for being ‘different’.
I am quite intelligent but am afflicted with ADHD,
now on their retard scale of 20, 20 being completely bad and unable to look for work, i am at 10, which isnt retarded enough. But i can get serious intensive assistance from a disability service.
i joined one, and they help me out ALOT, they pay for things like my business registration etc…
I do not have to fill out a jobseeker diary, nor do i have any obligations except to go to fortnightly meeting with my disability officer.
that half hour interview is spent telling them how bohemian i live and how stressed out i am doing all this stuff for no money etc.
they are more lenient to our plight.
im not saying that you should fake some illness but anyone who has seen a psych, try and join a disability place without a centrelink nudge to go there.

4:29 PM
Anonymous angel gillfish said…

http://www.myspace.com/littlefishgallery
this is a realy chaep pretty much diy gallery… do you want to cross advertise? p.s. art and dole is real ace!

4:30 PM
Anonymous Thomas Aquinas said…

Another good option for getting a break is the good old Personal Support Program. Claim stress, drug addiction, or some form of emotional or psychological reason is preventing you from looking for work / or working (which I believe to be fairly true for a lot of unemployed artists anyway), they will assign you a case worker (outside of the centerlink organization) whom you can meet with every month or two for a chat, and that will be all your requirements to centerlink fulfilled. 2 years on easy street. booyah! (be sure to squeeze in a reason you can’t put your form in at all, otherwise its 3-months between forms)

4:30 PM
Anonymous djrbfm said…

the LAW has to be changed.
howard’s control of the senate has caused all this.
Centerlink now is using a model similar to the Menzies gov’t of the 60’s.
that regime did not support anyone who wasn’t a salaried worker at some point. ergo: you couldn’t get the dole unless you’d been working for someone beforehand.
no leaving school/uni and walking into SS.
Whitlam changed that - but his gov’t went broke(not because of SS, i might add).
up until Howard, most changes were blocked by the opposition, just because they could.

what is really needed is for EVERYONE receiving Centerlink payments, who is not aged or disabled, to actually stop applying for them. go broke for a little while.
that’s probably 3million aussies.
that’s a lot of problems let loose on tax-payers.
Centerlink would then loose any credibility it’s still got.

if howard’s criminal party gets back in,
it will get much worse - for all aussies - on the dole or not.

4:31 PM
Anonymous djrbfm said…

what is the point of CL supporting any of this as there is HARDLY any well paid arts work out there anyway.
this, and keating’s gov’t, pulled down most of the venues by making it harder/more expensive for venue owners to run gigs.
we need a gov’t that believes in creativity and supports it, not punishes it because it can’t tax it.
compared to the 60’s-70’s and 80’s, the place sucks now for creatives.
my advise: head overseas asap, and don’t come back.

4:33 PM
Anonymous student said…

Does anyone know the best way to get around not loosing Youth allowance payments while earning an income for your art and studying?

4:36 PM
Anonymous Edwina Hooke said…

Hello, I’m a student journalist at the University of Western Sydney. Im doing a radio feature story about what its like trying to live as an artist today. Im looking for anyone who would be intrested to talk to me about this.
Thankyou
Edwina Hooke

4:42 PM
Anonymous Cheryl Egan said…

Please check your email

4:42 PM
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4:45 PM
Anonymous bella said…

hey - great site

4:45 PM
Anonymous x x said…

thanks!

Blogger djrbfm said…

as a centerlink survivor, i can tell you this.
the only benefit coming from centerlink is they employ people(university scum, mainly).
they are useless to artists.
everything they’ve got going is lame or just plain nasty.
do not support any of it.
the more people who DO NOT rely on CL ’s “support” and make a noise elsewhere, the better.
the whole system of “support” is corrupt and centerlink workers are the lowest of the low.
if you are very good at art, then leave this country.
don’t come back.
if you become a success, don’t forget to be very critical about this country. i know i am.
i could go on, but this is already making me feel ill.

3:18 am by Intern in Uncategorized