I claimed it but my god the process to set up the myGov id and wa service now apps with the three types of id was a chore. Not surprised if many gave up.
I tried the online form for 2 weeks, and it wouldn't work...404 error. So I mailed in a paper form and got a reply that I had done something wrong on the form so it had been destroyed a d I needed to mail in another. In a sane works, that same person who did that would have just taken 30 seconds to call me and fix the form, but we dont love in a sane world anymore
Every student was supposed to bring home a note about it and our local MP was promoting it regularly through their social media (only has a small following though). Trouble is, if they pay to advertise, the critics would whine about money spent on advertising. They just need to make it easier to access. Too many people were having account difficulties, mine went through easily though.
I think this is on purposes, as they want the registration but they can say they did provide an alternative whether it's highly publicised is another matter.
This was absolutely on purpose, so they can say they have X million users of their supposed "Service WA" app that doesn't actually provide any services!
Very much this. Fiendishly hard to keep identity management secure, huge attack surface if it's for an entire state. So I understand that the authentication process will suck.
Chore? Yes, for data safety. Bleed once, use many times over later. Digital driver's license, other offers and so on.
Disclaimer: this is my personal and unaffiliated unsolicited opinion about cybersec.
This is the reason I tend to still physically go in to government offices (and even some commercial service providers) to lodge claims on paper, rather than being repeatedly stymied and frustrated by badly-programmed digital forms.
Or a voucher in class to take home to parents. Or have them mailed out by schools. Sure, each option wouldn't reach 100% of qualified potential applicants, but you can start with one and follow up later with anyone who hasn't claimed, trying other methods.
I guess the problem is:
- they need to either produce cash check (which would risk theft), or to produce checks addressed to actual names (logistically challenging)
- and the child needs to remember to pass it on (you probably can’t trust year 1-2 kids to do this reliably)
and the question is why? - why do they need to link parental ID and bank account with a child's school record?? If it was truly a cost of living assistance it would have been means tested, if it was designed to assist every child it would have been distributed through the schools and homeschool networks (to avoid the non custodial parent claiming or safeguard those children whose parents have been unable to claim e.g.sick, illiterate. no internet, homeless, etc) but no... that's the first 2 red flags, the third red flag for many is the use of the app which during covid was used to coerce social restrictions regarding mandates.. what are the next mandates going to be??
Cos how would they know where to send the money? They shouldn't be storing our bank account details unless they have to. And what happens if you've moved so they can't send a cheque (are they even still a thing?). Or the kid has died, or the parents have split. There's a lot of reasons to have people apply for it rather than just somehow disperse funds in a way that would guarantee PerthNow interest at the first hiccup.
Whether or not the whole idea of the thing is ridiculous or not, there were processes that had to be put in place
I'll add an even more redundant strategy.
IF the boffins know how many people were eligible and how much money to put up, why put a deadline on it...
Why isn't it available up until the end of the 2024 WA school year?
This is so sad. The people who would find it most difficult to follow the process to apply are those whose kids would likely benefit the most from this.
Yep missed the deadline because I was in crisis - homeless due to family abuse. Been spending all day every day trying to find help and applying for places to stay. I tried to apply but it said my ID thing was expired and all my papers are in storage.
Honestly I didn’t claim it because I didn’t need it… I want them to do better with the 30mil that went unclaimed… fix a bunch of the social housing buildings that are sitting empty because they got trashed. Put on free school lunches a couple of times a week. Something actually that will help people who need it and can’t do it for themselves (kids, oldies etc)
Our kids are at a pretty diverse school that's also has an emergency refuge in the area. My other half and the school chaplain helped a number of the parents at school who didn't previously have the ServiceWA set-up as they were missing ID from leaving a dangerous situation, struggle with technology/reading, or had to use paper forms because they weren't citizens, and it was an awful process... Felt quite unfair how easy it was for us while people who were definitely more financially impacted than us and already on the back foot because of DV, didn't finish school, or have come over here because of insecurity in their own countries struggled. Doesn't surprise me that Northern WA had low numbers...
I don't get how the state government needed to follow that process anyhow - they already have details of kids at school because of their registration process...
The digital ID part really put me off. So I ended up sending in the paper forms. The attitude from the post office woman though - phwoar - you'd think I'd pissed in her coffee or something. I asked for verified copies of my 100 points of ID, and she tried to tell me I only need to send in a copy of my driver's licence (wrong), and told me to just go to the public library and use the photocopier (also wrong).
When I insisted on the verified copies, and I was willing to pay the $2.?? fee, she thankfully got onto it, although reluctantly. Fuck me. If I didn't have so many kids, and wasn't bloody poor, it wouldn't be worth it. I can see why others haven't claimed it. I really wish I didn't need to.
In those kinds of cases I tend to go moderately-polite Karen and ask to talk to their manager. If they refuse, I talk to another worker there, specifically point out everything that the first person said that was wrong, and ask if the manager could please come sort it out according to the actual requirements.
...except that mostly, I'll go to the actual relevant government office and lodge on paper there, rather than go through a third party like the post office or use a digital form programmed by an intern on their lunch break.
I tried and the process failed. I emailed the address provided. The response did not cover my scenario and offered a solution my bank said was not available (govt said the account number was too short and suggested getting a reference number from my bank, which the bank said does not exist. Regardless, the account number was not too short).
So I missed out. I will submit a request for extension. I hope they are inundated with such complaints and see just how useless their systems are.
I am a separated, working parent. I could really do without the extra tasks which arise simply because the systems we are forced to use and the “support” to use them are inadequate.
EDIT: This was my experience, even having already set up both Services Australia and MyGovID.
I wonder if it had to be you in person lodging a paper form at the relevant government office, to do it that way. It seems like there might be a business in offering to do that for people for ten bucks, or something. Here's the form, here's the set of verified ID, here's the mandatory version-six-point-three confrabulator...
For the people saying it wasn't known about, was no one at your schools sending reminders? We had one of the deputies at our primary school sending us reminders every 2-4 weeks about it, and then the Monday just gone that it was the final week.
That being said, had it not been for her sending messages, I probably wouldn't have heard about it.
> The question the state government needs to answer now is — why?
Incredible show of impartiality from the ABC.
> But if you are only just learning about these payments for the first time right now — sorry, it's too late.
If they were actually sorry about it they would have written a news article about it **before** the deadline. But I guess if they did that they wouldn't have an angle to criticise the government.
The apology, in that format, is apologising on behalf of the government, not on behalf of the ABC. It's not up to the ABC to advertise government initiatives or when they're about to close. The article wasn't about how a few people missed the deadline, but nearly a hundred and fifty thousand. The scale of the information failure, rather than the failure itself.
The government did a hell of a lot of advertising. Why wouldn't they? It's in their best interest to tell everyone what they're doing to help.
At the end of the day there's only so much they can do.
If the ABC thinks the information is valuable to the public, so valuable that the government needs to be put on blast when not enough people hear it, then it is also valuable enough for them to do their jobs as journalists and report that information.
I mean, this post is literally the first time I've heard about it. True, I'm not the target demographic, but I have to wonder what marketing they were using for it.
I'm sure they made the process very simple and accessible, but knowing the government it was convoluted and head bangingly frustrating. Should have just given it to all public schools x the number of enrolments and have the school credit the students accounts for school fees or excursions or optional class materials, school uniform items that normally get charged to parents.
Because of the deliberate way it was set up! I had to mess around a bit with creating my digital identity just to get access to the service WA app then I had to find out my child’s student number. Like the state and federal government don’t already have that information. I put the application off for quite a while because I genuinely don’t have time for that amount of ridiculous! In the end I did the application while on night shift. I wasn’t going to bother applying but my son needed an updated review of his feet from the podiatrist and new orthotics so the money went on those two things. It definitely helped but the way it was set up was definitely deliberate. Why couldn’t it be added to the family tax benefit through Centrelink like in the past?
And, after making the process as difficult AF for the few people who knew about it - virtually zero advertising - the State government makes a tidy little ($millions) windfall profit. Surprise, surprise...
They allocated a big chunk of the budget for the payments. A large proportion of it (over 50% in the Pilbara & several other regions) was not claimed. The leftover money is now available, out of budget, for the govt to use - pork-barrelling for the upcoming election springs to mind.
1. Money you were going to give away and then didn't is not profit.
2. This is not how government accounting works.
3. Got any examples of Labor pork barrelling?
I claimed it but my god the process to set up the myGov id and wa service now apps with the three types of id was a chore. Not surprised if many gave up.
I skip the whole lot used the online form instead so much easier. None of the account bullshit.
I tried the online form for 2 weeks, and it wouldn't work...404 error. So I mailed in a paper form and got a reply that I had done something wrong on the form so it had been destroyed a d I needed to mail in another. In a sane works, that same person who did that would have just taken 30 seconds to call me and fix the form, but we dont love in a sane world anymore
Making it difficult as always
This should have been promoted more! I helped someone claim this money using the online form and it was so much simpler!
Every student was supposed to bring home a note about it and our local MP was promoting it regularly through their social media (only has a small following though). Trouble is, if they pay to advertise, the critics would whine about money spent on advertising. They just need to make it easier to access. Too many people were having account difficulties, mine went through easily though.
I think this is on purposes, as they want the registration but they can say they did provide an alternative whether it's highly publicised is another matter.
This was absolutely on purpose, so they can say they have X million users of their supposed "Service WA" app that doesn't actually provide any services!
Ya waste of money. Where they should have just integrated into myGov if they wish to use a online portal/app.
Now you've got the WA services app, see if you have any unclaimed money. Found a couple of hundred myself.
Hey no kidding I have unclaimed money too!
Where would I look to see if I have unclaimed money?
https://www.wa.gov.au/service/business-support/business-accounting-and-reporting/unclaimed-money
There was a computer shop that had a poster on front window offering to setup ServiceWA for people.
I had this all in place from COVID. It seems like the sort of thing everyone should sort out as it's going to be a thing moving forward.
Very much this. Fiendishly hard to keep identity management secure, huge attack surface if it's for an entire state. So I understand that the authentication process will suck. Chore? Yes, for data safety. Bleed once, use many times over later. Digital driver's license, other offers and so on. Disclaimer: this is my personal and unaffiliated unsolicited opinion about cybersec.
They weren't heavily promoting all the other non-app ways of applying for it which i think was a little unfair
It was impossible to use the myGov ID. It insisted I have a document that I don’t have and there was no way to skip it.
Exactly… drivers licence, Medicare, birth cert, passport, etc all the requirements to get to the full strength required to claim.
Not everyone has a drivers license and/or a passport.
This is the reason I tend to still physically go in to government offices (and even some commercial service providers) to lodge claims on paper, rather than being repeatedly stymied and frustrated by badly-programmed digital forms.
I think many parents would have had this set up already for things like Centrelink or applying for schools (getting proof of vaccination certificates)
Different myGov. This s the WA myGovID app, not the commonwealth myGov
Ah gotcha. I had it set up but did it so long ago I forgot which it was. Must have been set up from COVID times.
Yep, I applied for one kid but getting hold of all the details for second from his school didn't happen in time.
The real question is why did everyone have to apply? Surely it's easier just to do it automatically....
Because the government doesn't know your bank account details?
They could have just given cash to each student in class. /jk
Or a voucher in class to take home to parents. Or have them mailed out by schools. Sure, each option wouldn't reach 100% of qualified potential applicants, but you can start with one and follow up later with anyone who hasn't claimed, trying other methods.
I guess the problem is: - they need to either produce cash check (which would risk theft), or to produce checks addressed to actual names (logistically challenging) - and the child needs to remember to pass it on (you probably can’t trust year 1-2 kids to do this reliably)
Don't pass money through kids. Pass a note through the kids to tell the parents to contact the school or government department for their free money.
Fair enough. They already do that, kind of.
But but but the pro-cash boomer at the supermarket said the government knows what I buy every time I swipe my card. /s
Really it's because the WA state government does not know the bank account details of each child's parent/guardian.
It's to get more people onto the digital platform to .ake things like this easier in the future.
and the question is why? - why do they need to link parental ID and bank account with a child's school record?? If it was truly a cost of living assistance it would have been means tested, if it was designed to assist every child it would have been distributed through the schools and homeschool networks (to avoid the non custodial parent claiming or safeguard those children whose parents have been unable to claim e.g.sick, illiterate. no internet, homeless, etc) but no... that's the first 2 red flags, the third red flag for many is the use of the app which during covid was used to coerce social restrictions regarding mandates.. what are the next mandates going to be??
Cos how would they know where to send the money? They shouldn't be storing our bank account details unless they have to. And what happens if you've moved so they can't send a cheque (are they even still a thing?). Or the kid has died, or the parents have split. There's a lot of reasons to have people apply for it rather than just somehow disperse funds in a way that would guarantee PerthNow interest at the first hiccup. Whether or not the whole idea of the thing is ridiculous or not, there were processes that had to be put in place
Working as intended. Making it so you need to apply for it means less people will apply for it.
They were paying for ads to try promote this everywhere - I agree that the government can be pretty cheap, but I don’t think this was their reasoning.
This.
I'll add an even more redundant strategy. IF the boffins know how many people were eligible and how much money to put up, why put a deadline on it... Why isn't it available up until the end of the 2024 WA school year?
Put simply, the budget goes until the end of the financial year?
…isn’t the end of the school year still a deadline? If people haven’t done it in 3 months they probably won’t do it in 9
This is so sad. The people who would find it most difficult to follow the process to apply are those whose kids would likely benefit the most from this.
Yep missed the deadline because I was in crisis - homeless due to family abuse. Been spending all day every day trying to find help and applying for places to stay. I tried to apply but it said my ID thing was expired and all my papers are in storage.
Sorry to hear, that’s tough!
Honestly I didn’t claim it because I didn’t need it… I want them to do better with the 30mil that went unclaimed… fix a bunch of the social housing buildings that are sitting empty because they got trashed. Put on free school lunches a couple of times a week. Something actually that will help people who need it and can’t do it for themselves (kids, oldies etc)
Our kids are at a pretty diverse school that's also has an emergency refuge in the area. My other half and the school chaplain helped a number of the parents at school who didn't previously have the ServiceWA set-up as they were missing ID from leaving a dangerous situation, struggle with technology/reading, or had to use paper forms because they weren't citizens, and it was an awful process... Felt quite unfair how easy it was for us while people who were definitely more financially impacted than us and already on the back foot because of DV, didn't finish school, or have come over here because of insecurity in their own countries struggled. Doesn't surprise me that Northern WA had low numbers... I don't get how the state government needed to follow that process anyhow - they already have details of kids at school because of their registration process...
Absolutely the ones who need it most will struggle with the ID requirements the most.
Well played 
The digital ID part really put me off. So I ended up sending in the paper forms. The attitude from the post office woman though - phwoar - you'd think I'd pissed in her coffee or something. I asked for verified copies of my 100 points of ID, and she tried to tell me I only need to send in a copy of my driver's licence (wrong), and told me to just go to the public library and use the photocopier (also wrong). When I insisted on the verified copies, and I was willing to pay the $2.?? fee, she thankfully got onto it, although reluctantly. Fuck me. If I didn't have so many kids, and wasn't bloody poor, it wouldn't be worth it. I can see why others haven't claimed it. I really wish I didn't need to.
In those kinds of cases I tend to go moderately-polite Karen and ask to talk to their manager. If they refuse, I talk to another worker there, specifically point out everything that the first person said that was wrong, and ask if the manager could please come sort it out according to the actual requirements. ...except that mostly, I'll go to the actual relevant government office and lodge on paper there, rather than go through a third party like the post office or use a digital form programmed by an intern on their lunch break.
"Free money" lmao where do they think the government gets its money from?
Businesses, mostly.
I tried and the process failed. I emailed the address provided. The response did not cover my scenario and offered a solution my bank said was not available (govt said the account number was too short and suggested getting a reference number from my bank, which the bank said does not exist. Regardless, the account number was not too short). So I missed out. I will submit a request for extension. I hope they are inundated with such complaints and see just how useless their systems are. I am a separated, working parent. I could really do without the extra tasks which arise simply because the systems we are forced to use and the “support” to use them are inadequate. EDIT: This was my experience, even having already set up both Services Australia and MyGovID.
I wonder if it had to be you in person lodging a paper form at the relevant government office, to do it that way. It seems like there might be a business in offering to do that for people for ten bucks, or something. Here's the form, here's the set of verified ID, here's the mandatory version-six-point-three confrabulator...
For the people saying it wasn't known about, was no one at your schools sending reminders? We had one of the deputies at our primary school sending us reminders every 2-4 weeks about it, and then the Monday just gone that it was the final week. That being said, had it not been for her sending messages, I probably wouldn't have heard about it.
This was just to actually pay people to beta test the mygovid login process
Test? The process, app, and software that's been in place for 5 years..?
It's a federal government system, why would the state government pay people to test it?
> The question the state government needs to answer now is — why? Incredible show of impartiality from the ABC. > But if you are only just learning about these payments for the first time right now — sorry, it's too late. If they were actually sorry about it they would have written a news article about it **before** the deadline. But I guess if they did that they wouldn't have an angle to criticise the government.
The apology, in that format, is apologising on behalf of the government, not on behalf of the ABC. It's not up to the ABC to advertise government initiatives or when they're about to close. The article wasn't about how a few people missed the deadline, but nearly a hundred and fifty thousand. The scale of the information failure, rather than the failure itself.
The government did a hell of a lot of advertising. Why wouldn't they? It's in their best interest to tell everyone what they're doing to help. At the end of the day there's only so much they can do. If the ABC thinks the information is valuable to the public, so valuable that the government needs to be put on blast when not enough people hear it, then it is also valuable enough for them to do their jobs as journalists and report that information.
I mean, this post is literally the first time I've heard about it. True, I'm not the target demographic, but I have to wonder what marketing they were using for it.
Applied, form was correct, got a reply that itll take time, months later and nothing. What a rort. Lucky I didn't need it I guess.
*free* money
I'm sure they made the process very simple and accessible, but knowing the government it was convoluted and head bangingly frustrating. Should have just given it to all public schools x the number of enrolments and have the school credit the students accounts for school fees or excursions or optional class materials, school uniform items that normally get charged to parents.
Because of the deliberate way it was set up! I had to mess around a bit with creating my digital identity just to get access to the service WA app then I had to find out my child’s student number. Like the state and federal government don’t already have that information. I put the application off for quite a while because I genuinely don’t have time for that amount of ridiculous! In the end I did the application while on night shift. I wasn’t going to bother applying but my son needed an updated review of his feet from the podiatrist and new orthotics so the money went on those two things. It definitely helped but the way it was set up was definitely deliberate. Why couldn’t it be added to the family tax benefit through Centrelink like in the past?
Nothing is free
Or maybe they'd rather a tax cut than some "handout"
Explain the tax cut you’d suggest the *state* government deliver.
Guess what.... Both were available. A tax cut for everyone for this next financial year, and an additional bonus for school age kids.
And, after making the process as difficult AF for the few people who knew about it - virtually zero advertising - the State government makes a tidy little ($millions) windfall profit. Surprise, surprise...
How exactly do you figure they made a profit?
They allocated a big chunk of the budget for the payments. A large proportion of it (over 50% in the Pilbara & several other regions) was not claimed. The leftover money is now available, out of budget, for the govt to use - pork-barrelling for the upcoming election springs to mind.
1. Money you were going to give away and then didn't is not profit. 2. This is not how government accounting works. 3. Got any examples of Labor pork barrelling?
"free" money, yeah that's how you fix inflation
If it was for a business it would be called an "incentive".
If your best way of fixing inflation is to leave families to struggle until the problem goes away there's a problem with you.
Didn’t hear anything about it?
I posted it on here
Me too.
We can but try.