B Frank, your experiences are fairly typical. Older people all seem to be routinely treated as though they are useless, suffering the onset of dementia and a nuisance to be managed rather than an asset to be utilised.

Centrelink (and its jobsearch partners) have no interest in finding us employment and direct us to voluntary work as that gets us "off their books" and they dont have to worry about us.

If under 65, we dont get the discounts and benefits associated with the aged pension and doing voluntary work saps resources from us. Most volunteer jobs need a uniform, training and you have to get to and from work. Also, while working, you will spend money (food, drinks, newspaper etc) that you would not spend at home. The whole system sucks and does little or nothing to help an older person who is out of work and struggling to live on a pittance

Yes I agree kfchugo.



The reason I opted for volunteering the past few months was to escape the imbeciles at JobNetwork, where I had Miss Goody Two Shoes, fresh from school or university with no experience in looking for work as mature aged person, suggest I go grape picking or taxi driving. She poo-hooed my seeking part-time work (because the body won't stand up to the rigors of full-time) and suggested I start door knocking for full time work.



The Dept of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR) which administers the JobNetwork, sent me a confidential survey to fill in about the standard of service I received. The first one I threw in the bin in disgust. Not do be deterred, they sent another demanding I complete and return it, which I did, plus I enclosed a letter which answered a lot of questions that should have been in the survey and highlighted the many short comings of the JobNetwork. Despite my requesting it not be passed on and despite the survey being confidential DEWR forwarded my letter on to my local JobNetwork!



I dont know (nor do I really care) what type of reception I will receive when I return there now that I have tired of being treated like a waste of space as a volunteer. Not blowing my own trumpet I think there are an awful lot of people in supervisory positions that are wary of us mature aged volunteers as we know possibly more than they do and could be seen as a threat to their jobs.

Like yourself BFrank, I also do volunteer work to avoid the imbeciles. I work for a local marine rescue organisation. Management are from the younger (comparatively) generation and with a couple of exceptions, dont have a clue. They use us "oldies" for fundraising and I am appalled at the money raised and wasted by poor decision making, lack of planning and plain wastage. The attitude seems to be "send the guys out to raise more money" each time they run short of funds. Its hard to develop enthusiasm or make any positive contribution.

The last four times I had to shower, change and drive to my job search partner for an obligatory interview, I was told that I need not have attended and the interview was postponed for one reason or another. They were mainly concerned to verify that I was doing volunteer work and promised to get back to me "in a few months"

Kfchugo once you start volunteering under the Centrelink system, filling out the Obligation Agreement etc, Centrelink should notify your JobNetworker who then only phone you every few months to see if you are still volunteering, information they could easily obtain from Centrelink. JobNetwork get cranky when we go off volunteering because I think they dont get a kickback from the govt for finding us a job.



Now that I have chucked in volunteering, Centrelink will notify JobNetwork and the crap will begin all over again, even though I am quite capable of sending out enough cold canvas letters to prospective employers to satisfy Centrelink until I retire.



Waste you say? I have seen pallets of Black & Gold dry cat food and Woolworth's Select brand tinned dog food, donated from well meaning folk dumped in the bin by an animal rescue organisation because it "was of a lesser quality". No attempt was made to blend it in small amounts with the good stuff. I was so angry at the sight of the dumping I have written this organisation out of my will.



Still the permanent staff had nice new uniforms for the million paws walk day.

From what I see, the job network partners dont give a hoot about you until you have been out of work for 12 months. THEN, you are in the "long term unemployed" category and if they find you a job, they get a much higher commission payment. So after the year (I am told) they are on your case to take ANY job whatever, just to earn the commission.

I am no longer job-seeking as I am a fulltime carer, but when I was looking for work, my job network were unable to understand my needs - having a very elderly parent, I wanted only part-time work, not too far from home, not very long hours, and having no car,I wanted to be able to get home safely, so no night work.

I also have osteoarthritis from previous jobs involving heavy lifting, which means I can neither sit nor stand for long periods of time - and most jobs involve doing just that.

I decided to do volunteering, rang numerous organisations, received hardly any replies at all! Finally I tried working in a charity op-shop, but I was lifting and arranging clothes all day and my back gave out. Frankly, finding suitable volunteer work was as hard as finding real work.

I tried a couple of job network groups but their main modus operandi was to suggest you get on the phone and ring around. Well, I tried this, but as any good receptionist will know, you don't let calls like this get past reception.I know, because I have been a relief receptionist and the company directive was never to put these calls through to anyone.Companies now are too busy to speak to every Tom, Dick and Harry ringing them canvassing for work.

The whole job network idea is crap.

Finally I realised my parent was too frail and needed fulltime care, and of course then I had to jump through hoops to get the Carers Payment.But that's another story.

Miss Jacinta my Job Network suggested I go door knocking in an industrial area etc, asking for work and offering to work for nothing for a week or two (which I thought would raise the ire of Unions) to prove how worthwhile I would be to the company (and just how far I would suck up to management)



Another problem now with petrol costs going through the roof is that Centrelink will withhold payments unless you are prepared to take a job up to 90minutes travelling time from your home. It seems once again that those cretins who make these rules have never struggled to make ends meet.



As an aside, the Professor who has drafted the report on carbon trading that will soon cost us the earth, says petrol should be included in the scheme "to teach people to budget" What in the hell does he think we are doing now?? Looks like another moron being paid heaps for being totally out of touch with the real battlers.

Yes, B Frank - I also worked in an area where puppies, as young as 12 weeks were "put down" - in other words they were given the overdose of aneasthetic. I worked there for a couple of years, but I couldn't stand it anymore. One day, there was a puppy, next day, it was in the "freezer" , just waiting for it's body to be disposed.

Funny B Frank - my last job was actually 90 minutes travel from my home.Both there and back.I had to catch two trains and often one train would be late and miss the connection. The travel time was exhausting and made your day a lot longer.

I told Centrelink that I had no car and I was not prepared to travel home any later than 6pm for safety reasons, being a female.They accepted this.It is not safe walking through the streets after dark in many areas and they had to agree.

They do not consider that - if you are in the "circle", or, within 90 minutes, you have to apply, even though there is only one bus "up" and one bus "down", every second day. I know of a person, who had a very disabling back problem, but she was proposed to be sent on a "training" program that included martial arts. They are so out of touch. But what can we do?

"They are so out of touch. But what can we do?" Good question BevG



I thought I could perhaps make some difference with the survey and letter to DEWR (my earlier post) which they promptly forwarded to my Jobnetwork despite assurances everything would remain confidential. This is possibly why those at the top boldly state there is nothing wrong with the system, because people simply dont fight against it fearing the outcome. I have even said to Jobnetwork employees "you lot are gaining notoriety on the Internet with people slamming your performance". Their reply? "They give us counselling for that"!



Oh and the puppies etc? I was the one who collected the frozen bodies and dumped them in the industrial bin at another 'shelter' for removal overnight. Not pleasant especially on a hot day driving a van, with the A/C going flat out, live dogs in cages to the front, and up to thirty dead ones in body bags piled up at the rear.



One of the drivers of these huge trucks who pick up the industrial bins ( you know the ones that are hoisted up over the cabin) was upset when he saw the leg of one poor pooch sticking out of its body bag as he tipped the bin. We then had to make sure the body bags were taped shut.



Like you I gave it away. Sheer waste of resources and dogs being destroyed because they had no monetary value got the better of me after 3 months. It explains why they have a revolving door on their premises.

BevG - in my case, Centrelink did accept that travel was a difficulty for me - they said that they did not expect unreasonable travel time if it jeoperdised my safety(mind you, we had a spate of muggings and women being molested so they had to be sympathetic.) Once I told them I didn't have a car they did not expect unreasonable travel time. That is my personal experience, I realise not all Centrelink offices are so sympathetic but I do stand my ground and push issues.

I also have a severe back problem and was assigned to the CRS eventually as my job network contact - they werern't much use but they didn't expect me to do anything strenuous.

And speaking of volunteering.



I got talking to a bloke driving around the district in his own car painting out graffiti. I know he was a volunteer because he wore one of those fluro vests with 'Volunteer' across his back. It seems that while he is community minded and I commend him for it, the lousy Onkaparinga Council doesn't offer him anything for his petrol!



Hows that for mean treatment of a volunteer? I said he must be careful not to get paint from his clothes into his car, to which he replied something along the lines of 'occupational hazard'.



So here is this old bloke moving around the Onkaparinga Community painting out graffiti and slowly ruining his car with paint and the mean spirited folk at the Council cant even offer him a couple of bucks for his petrol.