Pensioner’s Centrelink drama after lotto win

Craig Hill had $500 taken from both his and his wife’s fortnightly pension following his $60,000 Set For Life win in October, which secured him $5000 a month for a year.

He injured the penalty after being deemed by Centrelink and the ATO a “professional gambler” because his winnings enter his account incrementally, and not in a lump-sum payment.

Mr Hill was diagnosed with PTSD and schizophrenia about 30 years ago after working as a prison guard, with his condition aggravated in 2019 when he was taken hostage at Townsville Prison while teaching numeracy and literacy.

He has since been working from home, unable to do teaching, and does sporadic clerical work from home which he ensures to declare with Centrelink every three months.

On October 14 when he scored the lotto win, Mr Hill decided to take some time away from work completely to focus on completing his MBA.

When reporting his win to Centrelink, he was initially told it wouldn’t affect his pension, and the ATO told him the same. Soon after however, both organisations changed their tune.

“Centrelink got to back to me and said ‘we’re going to take $500 a fortnight off your pension’,” Mr Hill told news.com.au.

Centrelink at the time told him that a lump-sum payment wouldn’t incur the same penalty, nor would it classify him a professional gambler.

Mr Hill contacted Bill Shorten’s office, having formerly been the Vice President of the Australian Democrats, which made its own inquiries with Centrelink on his behalf.

“But then Centrelink turned around and said, ‘we’re cutting your wife’s carer’s allowance as well’,” Mr Hill said.

He said while the household only had an additional $5000 per month coming in, both himself and his wife had $500 stripped from their fortnightly payments.

When he challenged the decision, he claimed he was told he could submit a complaint with the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, which might audit the past seven years of his pension.

Mr Hill felt the threat of an audit was “payback” for him asking to escalate the matter, and was an example of “toxic culture” within government departments.

“It just seems to be that 99 per cent of lottery wins aren’t affected, but this one has classified me as a professional gambler,” he said.

“Basically out of my $5000 (per month) lottery win, Centrelink are taking $2000 of it.”

The ATO has since confirmed the prize was “one off” and was unlikely to be won again, and as such he should not be classified as a professional gambler.

One-off lotto wins, according to the Centrelink website, should not affect anyone’s pension.

“It just doesn’t seem right that a $600,000 lottery win doesn’t affect the pension, but a $60,000 one does,” he said.

News.com.au has contacted the Department of Social Services for comment.