PRESS FREEDOM IN AUSTRALIA: Letting The Light In - Part Two

The Canberra Times, 6 June 2018:

2GB radio host Ben Fordham also revealed this week that he has been contacted by the Department of Home Affairs about his reporting, with the department investigating how he obtained "highly confidential" information about asylum seeker vessels.

Fordham said the department was seeking his co-operation with the probe, which could become a criminal investigation and "potentially" involve a police raid.

https://youtu.be/Tc8Sn6gF6KQ

The original radio broadcast……

2GB Radio, Sydney Live with Ben Fordham, 3 June 2019:

The Department of Home Affairs is investigating reports from Sri Lanka that up to six boats could have recently attempted journeys to Australia.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton admitted last week there could be a wave of illegal vessels headed for Australia after 20 Sri Lankan asylum seekers were sent back.

A senior source in Home Affairs has told Ben Fordham Mr Dutton is currently in Sri Lanka because “there could be up to six boats in play”.

Out of the six believed to be headed for Australia, some may have been disrupted.

Ben says the recent wave of illegal boats could be because of the recent federal election.

“Is there a chance that the people smugglers were able to flog seats on boats… because they thought Labor was going to win the election?”

Full original segment audio can be accessed here.

Further reading

North Coast Voices, 9 June 2019, PRESS FREEDOM IN AUSTRALIA: Letting The Light In - Part One

North Coast Voices,  June 2019, On 4 June 2019 federal police raided home of Newscorp journalist over story detailing an alleged government proposal to spy on Australians

PRESS FREEDOM IN AUSTRALIA: Letting The Light In - Part One

It has been reported that the day this article (set out below) was published by the Australian public broadcaster, the then Chief of the Defence Force and Acting-Secretary of Defence referred said article to the Australian Federal Police.

Six days short of two years after that Defence Force complaint and, after a lengthy investigation by the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force as well as the arrest of a whistleblower in September 2018, the AFP decided to raid ABC offices at Ultimo on 5 June 2019.

This raises a suspicion that the two raids conducted over the last 48 hours may have been held back so they did not occur during the recent federal election campaign - thus raising politically sensitive questions the Morrison Government might have been obliged to answer before polling day.

As this is the third instance in which journalists and a radio commentator have been approached in the last few weeks by either the federal police or the Dept. of Home Affairs and questioned over source/s of information contained in articles or on air commentary, one has to wonder what the Morrison Government and its agencies are playing at.

The original article……

ABC News, 11 July 2017:

Hundreds of pages of secret defence force documents leaked to the ABC give an unprecedented insight into the clandestine operations of Australia’s elite special forces in Afghanistan, including incidents of troops killing unarmed men and children.

The ABC can reveal that some of the cases detailed in the documents are being investigated as possible unlawful killings.

The Afghan Files

This is one story in a seven-part series based on leaked documents exposing Australian special forces troops’ role in the Afghanistan war. For context, they are best read in order.

This comes a day after the ABC revealed the alleged cover up of the killing of an Afghan boy and another alleged incident in which a father and son were shot dead during a raid.

The documents, many marked AUSTEO — Australian Eyes Only — suggest a growing unease at the highest levels of Defence about the culture of Australia’s special forces as they prosecuted a bloody, secretive war against insurgents across a swathe of southern Afghanistan.

One document from 2014 refers to ingrained “problems” within special forces, an “organisational culture” including a “warrior culture” and a willingness by officers to turn a blind eye to poor behaviour.

Another document refers to a “desensitisation” and “drift in values” among elite Special Air Service soldiers serving in Afghanistan, while others allude to deep divisions between the two elite units which primarily comprise the special forces - the SAS based in Perth and 2 Commando Regiment based in Sydney.

A large proportion of the documents are reports on at least 10 incidents between 2009-2013 in which special forces troops shot dead insurgents, but also unarmed men and children.

The Inspector General of the Australian Defence Force is investigating at least two of the incidents as part of its inquiry into the conduct in Afghanistan of special forces, which includes alleged unlawful killing…..

Read the full article here.

NOTE

* Details of the first AFP raid on the home of a News Corp journalist on 3 June 2019 and the 2018 article which allegedly prompted that raid is at http://northcoastvoices.blogspot.com/2019/06/on-4-june-2019-federal-police-raided.html

* Further ABC stories:

#2 An interrogation, a shooting and no witnesses

#3 What the documents reveal about killings of unarmed Afghans

#4 The spy and the SAS soldier with a loaded Glock#5Who is the enemy? Australia’s secretive rules of engagement

#6 Chaos over severed hands

#7 Relations between Australia’s special forces units on ‘knife edge’

Still waiting on the official report concerning the alleged unlawful killings……

ABC News, 8 March 2019:

A lengthy investigation into possible war crimes committed by elite Australian soldiers in Afghanistan will not be made public before this year's federal election.

Senior military and government figures have told the ABC they are not expecting the long-awaited report by the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force (IGADF) to be ready for release until at least the second half of this year, well after voters go to the polls in May.

In 2016 the IGADF began examining "rumours of possible breaches of the Laws of Armed Conflict by members of the Australian Defence Force", but inside the special forces community frustration is growing at how long the process is taking.

One special forces veteran, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told the ABC that there were "natural justice impacts" from having the inquiry extended, and that it was "painful" for those involved.

"I can only hope the ultimate findings are of sufficient gravity to justify this extended process," the former high-ranking Commando said.

For almost three years New South Wales Supreme Court Justice and Army Reserve Major General Paul Brereton has been leading the secretive IGADF investigation, which is believed to have uncovered numerous concerns about the conduct of elite soldiers, including several incidents of possible unlawful killings.

Many in the ADF had originally anticipated the inquiry would be completed by 2018, but in a statement to the ABC the Defence Department has confirmed the independent IGADF inquiry is "ongoing"……

Read the full article here.

AMA accuses Morrison Government of deliberately constraining supply of public hospital services

ABC News, 24 May 2019:

"Have you got insurance?"

It is one of the first questions any patient is asked when they walk into an emergency room in the United States, no matter how sick they are.

And now Australian doctors are warning our own health system is shifting towards a similar US managed care model — a patchwork of private and public systems, where health insurers hold an increasing amount of power.

The president of the Australian Medical Association (AMA), Dr Tony Bartone, made the comments as he addressed the group's national conference in Brisbane on Friday.

It was the first time Dr Bartone has spoken since the Coalition was returned to power, and he gave an unusually scathing assessment of Australia's health system and the Federal Government.

He called for further private health reforms, telling doctors the increasing corporatisation of the private health system had given insurers unprecedented power within the health sector.

Dr Bartone warned that could lead to a system similar to the model in the US, where patients experience significant variations in care depending on their insurance cover.

"Insurers should not determine the provision of treatment in Australia, they should not interfere with the clinical judgement of qualified and experienced doctors," he said.

"Australians do not support a US-style managed care health system, and neither does the AMA."

The AMA has consistently called for more money for public hospitals, and on Friday Dr Bartone went even further as he accused the government of "making a choice" to constrain the supply of public hospital services.

"Let me be clear. Public hospital capacity is determined by funding," he said.

"The consequences are significant. They can include increased complications, delayed care, delayed pain relief, and longer length of stay for admitted patients."

Dr Bartone said the system was "stretched so tight" elective surgeries were being cancelled.

"Our public health system should be better than this. It is unacceptable our public hospitals have been reduced to this," he said.

"Our public hospitals are struggling and require new funding to be better tomorrow.....

Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison Government May 2019: new crew on the political ‘Titanic’

With no plans to genuinely address climate change mitigation, in denial concerning the slowing national economy and pretending that Australia is not in breach of its human rights obligations on two fronts (treatment of Aboriginal adults & children and detained asylum seekers), Australian Prime Minister & Liberal MP for Cook Scott 'Liar from the Shire' Morrison released his new ministry list on 26 May 2019.

Australian Government Ministry List for the 46th Parlaiment, 26 May 2019 by clarencegirl on Scribd

https://www.scribd.com/document/411541377/Australian-Government-Ministry-List-for-the-46th-Parlaiment-26-May-2019

The 2019 federal election is over - so now the Morrison Government cuts are on again

Patient to GP Ratio [RACGP, General Practice: Health of the Nation,  2018]

Having waited until the 18 May 2019 federal election was over, Prime Minister 'Liar from the Shire' Morrison 7 his cronies are rolling out the funding pennypinching once more - and it's no surprise that it's the very young, very old and the poor who are the targets again.

ABC News, 22 May 2019:

Bulk billing of children and pensioners, as well as home visits to elderly and dying patients, could be scrapped in outer metro areas across Australia because of cuts which doctors say they will not be able to afford.

An incoming change to bulk-billing incentives has pushed GPs to breaking point, medical groups have warned, requiring them to provide crucial primary health services for less than the cost of a barber's cut.

The Federal Government has changed a key geographical classification, scrapping some outer suburban zones of incentives intended for rural areas.

From January 2020, the bulk-billing incentive in outer metro areas will be reduced from about $10 to $6 per patient, per visit.

The changes will affect GP practices in as many as 13 outer metro regions, including in Canberra, Adelaide's south, the New South Wales Central Coast, Geelong and the Mornington Peninsula.

The Australian Medical Association SA president, Dr Chris Moy, said many of the affected regions are low socio-economic areas.

He said the changes could put more pressure on already costly hospital systems, because patients could no longer afford to visit their GPs regularly.

"This is an example of a just a small change. It's not a huge change, but it's enough to break the camel's back," he said.

"It's more difficult for individuals to pay a gap in those situations so it's unfortunate this has happened."

Royal Australian College of General Practitioners president Harry Nespolon said general practitioners in the city and in the country were effectively being asked to work for free.

"The Medicare rebates are insufficient to provide the care that patients need," Dr Nespolon said.

"I don't think people want their GPs to do work for nothing but that's effectively what we're being asked to do.

"If the services become marginal in the sense they don't cover their costs, then they've got a choice — they can either go out of business or charge a fee.

"GPs in practices everywhere, rural or otherwise, are considering whether or not the current amount of rebate if they do bulk bill a patient is able to keep them in business."…….

Quick explanation of rebates:

·       The Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) is a list of medical services for which the Australian Government provides a Medicare rebate.

·        Each MBS item has its own scheduled fee — this is the amount the Government considers appropriate for a particular service (e.g. getting a blood test or seeing a psychologist).

·        Rebates are typically paid as a percentage of the Medicare scheduled fee. In the case of GP consultations, the rebate is 100 per cent of the schedule fee.

·       This means that bulk-billing GPs agree to charge patients the Medicare schedule fee ($37.60 for a standard appointment) and are directly reimbursed by the Government, and there is no cost to the patient.

·        GPs who don't bulk bill charge a fee higher than the Medicare schedule fee, meaning patients must pay the difference between the schedule fee and the doctor's fee — out of their own pocket.

·       For example, if your doctor charges $75 for a standard consultation, you'll pay $75 and receive a rebate of $37.60 — leaving you $37.40 worse off.

According to the federal Dept. of Health areas which will be losing the higher bulkbilling incentives (for treatment of patients with concession cards and children under 16 years) include:

Mandurah (WA)

Mornington Peninsula (Vic)

Canberra (ACT)

Newcastle (NSW)

Central Coast (NSW)

Queanbeyan (NSW)

Maitland (NSW)

Sunshine Coast (Qld)

Gawler (SA)

Geelong (Vic)

Melton (Vic)

Pakenham (Vic)

Ellenbrook (WA)

Baldivis (WA).

However the existing patient to GP ratio in an area is not necessarily the primary factor in determining who is on or off this list.

It seems you only have to live in an area where the local town/city has grown to over 20,000 residents since 1991 to find GPs being deprived of the full incentive payment per concession card/child patient seen.

Anyone living in the regions mentioned will know that what can appear to be a comfortable patient to GP ratio is not always evenly spread and in some areas certain GPs have already closed their books and are not taking new patients or are having difficulty attracting new GPs to established practices to fill unmet needs.

Just to make matters clear. some of the named places which will see GP incentive payments reduced on 1 July fall into the categories of regional or peri-urban area and, as at 30 June 2018 Australia-wide there were only 6,994 GPs in Inner Regional areas and 3,285 GPs in Outer Regional areas, according the the federal Dept. of Health statistics.

Where Australia's finances stand ahead of the convening of the 46th federal parliament

Given that Australian Prime Minister Scott ‘liar from the shire’ Morrison has already signalled that he does not intend to allow truth to interfere with his political rhetoric – describing truth telling as verballing that he “won’t be allowing to happen” – now is perhaps the time to remind ourselves of the truth about the nation’s finances under Morrison & Co ahead of the commencement of the 46th Parliament.

According to the Dept. of Finance the Morrison Government’s Assets and Liabilities as at 31 March 2019 (12 days out from the start of the 2019 federal election caretaker period) were:

• net worth minus $450.5 billion;

• net debt $376.7 billion; and

• net financial liabilities $656.4 billion.

In March 2019 the general government sector’s total revenue fell short of its total expenses by $1.5 billion.

The Australian Office of Financial Management reported on 17 May 2019 (the day before the federal election) that the face value of Australian Government borrowings (ie the national debt) stood at $538.2 billion.

The Reserve Bank of Australia’s May 2019 Statement on Monetary Policy - Economic Outlook  has expected Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth for the year ending in June 2019 at 1¾%, revised down from 2½% due to a slower domestic economy.

Morrison Government signed off on a controversial uranium mine one day before calling the federal election

ABC News, 26 April 2019:

The Morrison Government signed off on a controversial uranium mine one day before calling the federal election, and did not publicly announce the move until the environment department uploaded the approval document the day before Anzac Day.

The Yeelirrie Uranium mine, located 500 kilometres north of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia, requires both federal and state approval.

The state approval of the proposed mine is still being fought in the state's Supreme Court by members of the Tjiwarl traditional owners.

In 2016, the West Australian Environment Protection Agency advised the mine not be approved, concluding it posed too great a risk of extinction to some native animals.

The former Liberal Barnett government controversially approved the mine in 2017, just weeks before it lost the West Australian election.

Canadian company Cameco, the world's largest uranium producer, is seeking to develop the uranium mine, which would cover an area 9km long and 1.5km wide.

It would involve the clearing of up to 2,422 hectares of native vegetation.

It is also approved to cause groundwater levels to drop by 50cm, and they would not completely recover for 200 years, according to Cameco's environmental reports.

A spokesperson for Environment Minister Melissa Price said the approval was subject to 32 strict conditions to avoid and mitigate potential environmental impacts.

Traditional owner of the area, Tjiwarl woman Vicky Abdullah, said she was surprised by the announcement, and was hoping for the project to be rejected.

"It's a very precious place for all of us. For me and my two aunties, who have been walking on country," she said.

PHOTO: A Government document shows details around the approval of a controversial uranium mine (ABC News: Supplied)

Mine approval a controversial move ahead of caretaker mode

Simon Williamson, General Manager of Cameco Australia, told the ABC he was pleased Ms Price had approved the mine before calling the election.

"Yeah, that's likely to raise questions about rushed decision and all that stuff, but the state [government] made their decision in January 2017," he said.

"The timing was such that all of [the assessment] was completed to allow her to sign off before the election. I think it's quite appropriate and I think the minster would want to sign off on projects on her plate before she goes to an election……

Dave Sweeney, an anti-nuclear campaigner at the Australian Conservation Foundation said the timing suggested the decision was political.

"We need decisions that are based on evidence and the national interest, not a company's interest or not a particular senator's or a particular government's interest," he said.

"This reeks of political interference rather than a legal consideration or due process."

The approval is one of several controversial moves the Government made before entering caretaker mode, where such decisions would be impossible, including approving Adani's two groundwater management plans for it's proposed Carmichael coal mine.....

The Guardian, 27 April 2019:

A multinational uranium miner persuaded the federal government to drop a requirement forcing it to show that a mine in outback Western Australia would not make any species extinct before it could go ahead.

Canadian-based Cameco argued in November 2017 the condition proposed by the government for the Yeelirrie uranium mine, in goldfields north of Kalgoorlie, would be too difficult to meet.

The mine was approved on 10 April, the day before the federal election was called, with a different set of conditions relating to protecting species.

Environmental groups say the approval was politically timed and at odds with a 2016 recommendation by the WA Environmental Protection Authoritythat the mine be blocked due to the risk to about 140 subterranean stygofauna and troglofauna species – tiny animals that live in groundwater and air pockets above the water table.

A Cameco presentation to the department, released to the Greens through Senate estimates, shows the government proposed approving the mine with a condition the company must first demonstrate that no species would be made extinct during the works.

Cameco Australia said this did not recognise “inherent difficulties associated with sampling for and describing species”, including the inadequacy of techniques to sample microscopic species that live underground and challenges in determining whether animals were of the same species. It said the condition was “not realistic and unlikely to be achieved – ever”.

The condition did not appear in the final approval signed by the environment minister, Melissa Price, which was made public after being posted on the environment department’s website on 24 April…..

Morrison Government still refusing to tackle rising greenhouse gas emissions

The Guardian, 31 March 2019:

Cuts to carbon emissions from vehicle efficiency standards have been left out of government projections for meeting Australia’s Paris climate commitments, indicating the policy has been shelved.

The office of the transport minister, Michael McCormack, said the government had not made a decision on “how or when” standards to cut carbon pollution from vehicles might be implemented.

After almost five years of submissions a spokesman said the government “is not going to rush into a regulatory solution” with regards to vehicle emissions.

New data shows Australia’s emissions from transport are soaring and projected to be 82% higher in 2030 than they were in 1990.

Australia lags behind the rest of the world in setting vehicle efficiency standards, with most countries in the OECD adopting policies to reduce emissions and improve the efficiency of cars.

The ministerial forum on vehicle emissions was set up under the Turnbull government in 2015, and stakeholders are frustrated at the lack of progress.

Fact sheets produced by the government that set out how it intends to reach Australia’s emissions reduction targets under the Paris agreement suggest any policy on vehicle emissions standards has been abandoned.

In 2015, the government produced a graph indicating it expected to achieve cuts of about 100m tonnes between 2020 and 2030 through vehicle emissions standards.

The government’s latest climate package contains no mention of this, and projects only about 10m tonnes of abatement through an electric vehicle strategy, with no reference to vehicle emissions standards....

Did Morrison & Co send your chance of getting a decent pay rise up in smoke?

“Brace yourselves Australia — everyday things are about to cost more, and your chance of a pay rise has gone up in smoke” [News Corp Journalist David Ross writing in news,com,au, 8 March 2019]

Well it had to happen. After five and a half years of an Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison Coalition Government the nation has reached what is known as a per capita recession.

This hasn’t occurred since the Howard Government’s last full year in power.

Almost sixty per cent of Australia’s Gross Domestic Product comes from consumer spending and five and a half years of deliberate wage suppression by both the federal government and the business sector means the majority of consumers have little to spend.

The economy has been markedly slowing under Scott Morrison’s economic policies, first as federal treasurer then as prime minister.

Annual growth has now fallen to just 2.3 per cent according to the Reserve Bank.

This slowing has a cascade effect.

All economists news.com.au spoke to suggested the per-capita recession would hamper wage growth and — combined with increasing costs of living — make things more expensive.

“It’s a feeling of lethargy in the economy rather than outright collapse, It makes it very hard for wages to pick up when the economy is depressed,” Mr Koukalas said.

Sad statistics are generated by Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison's war on the poor & vulnerable

Liberal MP for Cook Scott John Morrison has been a Cabinet Minister since 18.9.2013, was Minister for Social Services from 23.12.2014 to 21.9.2015, then Treasurer from 21.9.2015 to 26.8.2018 and now Prime Minister of Australia since 24.8.2018 – these are the sad statistics he leaves in his wake.

The Australian, 21 February 2019:

As Department of Human Services secretary Renee Leon faced heated questioning about the controversial “robodebt” program — which averages reported income and generates debts to current and former welfare recipients — she said it is not known whether people have taken their own lives due to the program.

“There is not an elevated death rate among the cohort who have received a debt notice. It’s not to say we are not troubled that people die,” Ms Leon said…

Greens Senator Rachel Siewert said the numbers are particularly troubling because 663 people out of the 2030 had “vulnerability indicators” attached.

Of the 2,030 people who died after receiving a Centrelink Online Compliance Intervention letter (‘robodebt’ ) which was generated sometime between July 2016 to October 2018:

102 were aged 16-25 years;

327 were aged 26-35 years;

347 were aged 36-45 years;

466 were aged 46-55 years;

536 were aged 56-65 years;

251 were aged 66-80 years; and

1 was aged 81-100 years.

By gender 637 of these welfare recipients were Female and 1,393 Male.

“If death rates remained similar throughout the period July 2016 - October 2018 ... approximately 6% of all deaths of 16-35 year olds in Australia occurred for people who were subject to Centrelink #robodebt compliance.” [Dr Ben Eltham on Twitter, 22 February 2019]

BACKGROUND

Gilbert Sullivan QC weiting in the Herald Sun, 21 February 2019:

The Model Litigant Policy of the Commonwealth is a direction issued by the Attorney-General under the Judiciary Act.

The claims reported to have been made by Centrelink are said to target 1.5 million people and aim to claw back $4.6 billion in what are alleged to be overpayments of welfare.

The claims date back to 2010 and Centrelink demands the repayment of what it alleges to be overpayments caused by the understatement of income; but it knows very well that it is unable to prove these claims.

Centrelink has destroyed its records and is entirely dependent on information obtained from the Australian Taxation Office. It divides the gross annual income obtained in this way by 26 to calculate what it terms an “apportioned actual income”.

It then proceeds to claim the difference between the fortnightly income declared by the payee and the apportioned actual income as an understatement by the recipient which it then claims as a debt.

It is only by sighting pay-slips or bank statements that the accuracy of the declared fortnightly income can be verified. Centrelink’s claims rest on it proving that the fortnightly income was falsely declared.

It can only succeed if it can prove this on the balance of probabilities. The ATO information on its own is worthless and needs a point of comparison in the form of contemporaneous records. Annual income does not translate into fortnightly income.

The absurdity of this methodology is obvious.

A full-time student in 2010 on a youth allowance may well have had a part-time job to support their studies. Some weeks they may have earned, say $150, other weeks nothing.

They may have entered the work force full-time in the last two months of the financial year and earned say, $8000.

Dividing the yearly income by 26 cannot establish a dishonest understatement for the weeks the student earned $150 or nothing. Without the contemporary records, no understatement can be proved.

This methodology is in breach of model litigant obligations in a number of respects.

First, the mathematical basis underpinning it is invalid and known to be so by Centrelink; and the maintenance of a claim known to be invalid is a fundamental breach of the obligation to act as a model litigant.

Second, to imagine that casual employees retain pay slips from 2010 is ludicrous; many of the employers from that time no longer exist and it is inconceivable that anyone can produce pay-slips.

Further, while some bank records are obtainable, they are archived and expensive to obtain. Placing the onus on a recipient to procure bank statements is yet a further breach of model litigant obligations.

There is no reason why Centrelink could not obtain these records by subpoena or otherwise. Furthermore, the actions of Centrelink reverse the onus of proof which, of itself, is a breach of model litigant obligations.

MammaMia, 21 February 2019:

“It was demeaning, embarrassing, and if it wasn’t for my son… I considered suicide.”

“It was dehumanising. I had only lost my husband months before… I was grieving.”

These two sentences represent how two women, from two different walks of life, in separate states felt – when they received a Centrelink debt notice.

Or more exactly what happened when they tried to deal with the fallout of a Centrelink debt notice……

The Centrelink letters are sent out through an automated system. In the old system, it equated to about 20,000 a year, but thanks to a new system in 2016 – it’s generating 20,000 letters a week.

Gabriella* received one of those letters just last year.

She received it when she was trying to come to terms with the death of her husband who had died in a boating accident a few months before.

She was left with two young children trying to work out how to move on with life.

She had never received anything from Centrelink, she hadn’t needed to. But Centrelink had sent her $13,000 in weekly increments, and they wanted their money back.

“The stress… I was already dealing with enough… I knew I didn’t owe them money,” she told Mamamia.

Turns out Centrelink had been sending her money that she hadn’t applied for – which had been bouncing back for months.

“I made a phone call first, they realised they’d made a mistake. But she [the person on the phone] couldn’t fix it.”

She was given a different number.

“I spent hours on the telephone waiting for them to answer [to help]. It’s impossible to get through,” explained Gabriella.

So instead, she was forced to take a day off work and go into the Centrelink office itself.

“She looked at me like I was lying,” Gabriella told Mamamia, of the moment she explained her story – yet again.

Gabriella is most frustrated at the time and effort she had to put in to fix this wrong. A wrong that was made by an automated letter, and which cost her a days’ wage, and almost cost her $13,000.

“I am grieving, but I am pretty stable… my head is pretty OK. But there are people who get these letters and they are not OK,” said a teary Gabriella.

“I am actually in the mental health industry, so I am probably more equipped than a lot at noticing triggers in myself. But what if I wasn’t?

“My situation never should have happened, if there had been a human being looking at my account they would have realised it was bouncing back.”

“It was dismay. It was a shock to the system. It is scaremongering, they don’t explain anything, and it’s very… dehumanising,” she said of her experience..........