Why so much bootlicking for Centrelink here? People shouldn't be expected to pay back mistakes not their fault even if they're doing fine years later, not should they be expected to understand Centrelink better than Centrelink's supposedly trained workers. CENTRELINK should be the ones accountable.

A thread was posted a couple of days ago in which the OP was ordered to retroactively pay back a debt seven years after it was incurred and despite the fact that Centrelink admitted it was entirely their fault the debt was incurred.

The OP said they were on a payment plan and were paying it back at a slow pace that will not ruin their current lifestyle or mean they need to make sacrifices by cutting out non necessaries or cancel an upcoming 30th birthday trip abroad.

So many bootlickers in the comments got mad that the OP wasn't tripping over themselves to live a bare bones existence and make a bunch of sacrifices and cancel their birthday trip so Centrelink could have their money back quicker.

Why? WTF?

If the OP had committed fraud or knowingly took extra money, that would be one thing, but the OP actually asked Centrelink at the time to double check they were eligible and they were assured they were golden. So why should the OP of that post give a single fuck about paying them back quickly?

It's insane how many people seem to think that just because you now have a decent job and lifestyle, you should be perfectly happy to pay back someone else's mistake. It's insane this is even accepted tbh! In pretty much no other situation would people accept being forced to pay money years later to fix a mistake that is not their fault.

Imagine the car dealership realising 7 years later their new guy messed up in 2018 and was meant to charge you $50k instead of $40k and they're now demanding that money back, or the airline realising the $1500 first class flight it sold you and assured you was legit was actually system glitch and are now demanding you pay them another $8k 7 years later.

It is also insane how many people expected OP to know Centrelink was wrong in saying they double checked and they were entitled to their payments. Imagine being expected to understand your surgical procedure better than the doctor or being expected to pick up a mistake by your lawyer in interpreting the law when you’ve never studied law before. Why are people with no training expected to know better than experts?

This kind of bootlicking is insane. There needs to be a statute of limitations on debts because no, Centrelink shouldn't be able to decide years later that they screwed up and want money back, and people shouldn't be forced to pay back anything to fix Centrelink's mistakes if they can demonstrate no fraud/wrongdoing was involved and they accepted the money in good faith because the error was entirely Centrelink's.

Forcing people to pack back Centrelink's mistakes means that Centrelink and their staff don't have to be accountable for their work or the decisions they make, and it's alarming how many people think they shouldn't have to be because they can just demand the worthless student or poor/disabled/elderly person pay it back at any time in the future.

It's insane how much people here hate poor people, disabled people, and students, and think that they don't deserve to be treated with basic dignity.