Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie Woolf spoke with Services Australia Chief Financial Information Services Officer Justin Bott

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Katie Woolf spoke with Services Australia Chief Financial Information Services Officer Justin Bott · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: If you want to know what's happening on the local
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: political landscape, Katie Wolf has it covered on three sixty
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  Speaker 1: Every One is Listening Mix one oh four point nine.
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  Speaker 1: Joining me on the line right now is Justin Botch,
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  Speaker 1: who is the Chief Financial Information Services Officer with Services Australia.
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  Speaker 1: Good morning to you, Justin.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning Katie, Thanks so much for having me back.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's good to catch up with you now, Justin.
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  Speaker 1: I know that you wanted to make our listeners aware
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  Speaker 1: of some of these scams that well, that are going
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  Speaker 1: around at the moment, particularly that Services Australia have seen.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: So, unfortunately, scammers try and are getting more and more
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  Speaker 3: sophisticated in what they're trying to do. And obviously one
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  Speaker 3: of the things that they try and do is make
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  Speaker 3: you think that it's Services Australia that's speaking to you.
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  Speaker 3: And right now there's an email that's going around that's
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  Speaker 3: pretending to be Services Australia. It's saying that you need
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  Speaker 3: to update your MyGov inbox, your my go of information
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  Speaker 3: and there's a link in it that says click on
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  Speaker 3: this and you can do that. And that's one of
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  Speaker 3: the big clues that says, this isn't from Services Australia
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  Speaker 3: because we will never have in just an open email
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  Speaker 3: to you a link that you're supposed to click on
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  Speaker 3: or in a text there'll be some action that you're
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  Speaker 3: supposed to do. That's not how we will talk to
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  Speaker 3: our customers and give them information from Services Australia. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Right, So justin this is a concern we've had over
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  Speaker 1: the last few months. We've had a lot of people
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  Speaker 1: get in contact with us here at the station about
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  Speaker 1: various different scams not related to you know, to Services
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  Speaker 1: Australia and the myga of one that you speak of,
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  Speaker 1: but it's something that's front of mine for a lot
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  Speaker 1: of people. So can you just run through that again
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  Speaker 1: for us exactly what this email looks like so that
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  Speaker 1: I can make sure that our listeners know what to
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  Speaker 1: keep an eye out for.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure. And a great place to go and
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  Speaker 2: we'll do that.
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  Speaker 3: But a great place to go is both the Services
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  Speaker 3: Australia website. If you go to our website and.
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  Speaker 2: Search scams, all of current.
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  Speaker 3: Scams that are out there are there, so you can
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  Speaker 3: see what's out there and for Australia wide, not just
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  Speaker 3: Services Australia scam Watch, which is ScamWatch dot dot au.
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  Speaker 3: They do the same thing, so they've got all of
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  Speaker 3: the current scams that are going around so you can
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  Speaker 3: see what's out there. But this one in particular, it's
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  Speaker 3: an email. It's got images of a MyGov account, so
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  Speaker 3: it looks like it's legitimate from Services Australia, and it's
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  Speaker 3: saying things like we need you to update your MyGov record.
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  Speaker 3: Please click on this link and you'll know you have
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  Speaker 3: that blue hypertext that you're supposed.
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  Speaker 2: To click on now.
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  Speaker 3: When you click on that, it then takes you to
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  Speaker 3: and it asks you for personal details and then it
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  Speaker 3: starts asking you know, then they start really pushing it,
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  Speaker 3: asking for bank details, asking for credit card details, and
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  Speaker 3: they're trying just to get all that information off you,
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  Speaker 3: thinking that you're giving it to Services Australia.
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  Speaker 2: So when you be comfortable, yes sorry.
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  Speaker 1: When you previously deal with Services Australia, I understand that
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  Speaker 1: there will be new people probably dealing with with, you know,
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  Speaker 1: with the MyGov website and getting correspondents from Services Australia
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  Speaker 1: to you know, maybe what we've seen a couple of
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  Speaker 1: years ago as a result of COVID. So for some
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  Speaker 1: people that may be a new issue or a new
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  Speaker 1: you know, a new service that they are dealing with
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  Speaker 1: in what you know in what ways do you guys
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  Speaker 1: usually deal with clients and customers?
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  Speaker 3: Oh, Cadie, fantastic question.
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  Speaker 2: So and you're dead right. We've had so.
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  Speaker 3: Many new people coming on our books in the last
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  Speaker 3: twelve months that they've never really had any experience in this.
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  Speaker 3: So the things that you know, first of all, for
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  Speaker 3: you to be comfortable that this is safe. In the
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  Speaker 3: communication is safe is through your Mygove account link to
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  Speaker 3: your selling records, so you actually log in separately to
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  Speaker 3: my Gov. So if we do send you an email,
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  Speaker 3: all that email will say is or a text that
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  Speaker 3: will just say you have a letter in your MyGov
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  Speaker 3: in box. Log into your my Gov. There won't be
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  Speaker 3: a link to your MyGov inbox. It will tell you
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  Speaker 3: to log in separately to your my GOV. By logging
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  Speaker 3: into my goov, you've then entered that secure and safe
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  Speaker 3: environment and anything that you find on that inbox is
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  Speaker 3: from Services Australia and is guaranteed to be safe. But
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  Speaker 3: there are some cues the other things for you to
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  Speaker 3: look out for, so.
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  Speaker 2: You know that this is dodgy.
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  Speaker 3: The first one is obviously it says, you know, please
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  Speaker 3: click on this link, or it's a response please speak
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  Speaker 3: to us vir SMS and we don't do that. But
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  Speaker 3: other things, it's like this communication has come out of
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  Speaker 3: the blue. You know, you're not doing anything with Services Australia,
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  Speaker 3: and then all of a sudden you've got a phone
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  Speaker 3: call or a text or an email and it's just
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  Speaker 3: it's come from nowhere. It may have some sort of
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  Speaker 3: deadline or sense of urgency to it, so you need
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  Speaker 3: to act by this date or there'll be some consequence,
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  Speaker 3: and it might be offering either a cash benefit. It's
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  Speaker 3: they've had ones that say you're owed some money, so
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  Speaker 3: please confirm your bank account detail so that we can
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  Speaker 3: that money, or the other side of it would be
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  Speaker 3: if you don't respond immediately, the Australian Federal Police are.
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  Speaker 2: Going to come and knock on your door. And the
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  Speaker 2: funny thing is, I've had that one.
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  Speaker 3: I've had that phone call and from theoretically from Services
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  Speaker 3: Australia telling me that the Australian Federal Police are going
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  Speaker 3: to knock on my door, and I think it's a bit.
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  Speaker 2: Funny going well, I know there won't work there. I thought,
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  Speaker 2: how we do?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah?
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  Speaker 1: Well, and this is the thing justin it's so important
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  Speaker 1: for people to realize, you know, the way in which
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  Speaker 1: government departments work and a lot you know, like it's
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  Speaker 1: not in a forceful manner like that you're trying to
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  Speaker 1: get information and the way in which you do it
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  Speaker 1: is obviously, you know, not by saying we're going to
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  Speaker 1: come and knock on your door. Now, as you mentioned,
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  Speaker 1: people can head to well to the MyGov website and
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  Speaker 1: also to scam Watch to get any further detail on
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  Speaker 1: those scams and some of the other scams that are
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  Speaker 1: indeed doing the rounds in Australia at the moment. I
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  Speaker 1: do want to ask you though as well. I know
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  Speaker 1: that you have got some advice from Services Australia. If
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  Speaker 1: anybody out there listening at the comen is maybe having
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  Speaker 1: a baby.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, so first of all, let me just congratulate anybody
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  Speaker 3: if they are expecting or they just had a baby.
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  Speaker 2: It's fantastic time of life.
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  Speaker 3: But there are some payments that we want to make
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  Speaker 3: sure that you're aware of and also anything that we
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  Speaker 3: can do to make that whole experience of having a
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  Speaker 3: child easier by sort of dealing with the Services Australia
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  Speaker 3: stuff first. So there are three main payments for people
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  Speaker 3: that are having a baby that they might be eligible
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  Speaker 3: for that we want to know of. The first is
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  Speaker 3: called parental Leave pay and that is for the primary
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  Speaker 3: care of the child, and it's a payment for up
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  Speaker 3: to eighteen weeks that you can receive and if you like,
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  Speaker 3: you can spread it over two years. That eighteen weeks
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  Speaker 3: over two years, and it's again just a little bit
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  Speaker 3: of money to help you well, it's a payment to
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  Speaker 3: help you spend some time looking after your bob. For
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  Speaker 3: the partner of the person that's had a child, there's
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  Speaker 3: the Dad and Partner Pay, So this is for the
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  Speaker 3: non primary care. It's a payment of two weeks that
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  Speaker 3: they can receive if they're in the first fifty.
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  Speaker 2: Two weeks, so the first year after their baby is born.
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  Speaker 3: If they do use up all their work leave and
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  Speaker 3: they've run out of that, they leave without pay, you
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  Speaker 3: can get two weeks worth of that Dad and Partner Bay.
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  Speaker 3: And the other one, of course is the one that
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  Speaker 3: most people know about, which is that ongoing payment of
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  Speaker 3: family tax benefits and so.
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  Speaker 1: Justin if there is anyone out there listening who is
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  Speaker 1: keen to find out a bit more or they're maybe
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  Speaker 1: not aware of what they are eligible for. Where's the
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  Speaker 1: best place to go?
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  Speaker 3: Best place to go is our website. So there are
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  Speaker 3: two parts of our website that you should go to.
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  Speaker 3: The first one is having a baby, so search having
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  Speaker 3: a baby and there's a whole lot of information there
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  Speaker 3: for you. And the second one is called the Payment
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  Speaker 3: and Services Finder, And the Payment and Services Finder is
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  Speaker 3: a little tool that you've got where you can put
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  Speaker 3: in your circumstances and it will give you an idea
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  Speaker 3: about how much you might be eligible for. And a
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  Speaker 3: really big tip these for people that are having above
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  Speaker 3: is that those three payments, the parentally paid and the
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  Speaker 3: pay and Family Tax Benefit, all of them can be
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  Speaker 3: claimed up to thirteen weeks before your baby is born,
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  Speaker 3: So for thirteen weeks before your baby is due. So
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  Speaker 3: if you get in early, you've done all of the work,
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  Speaker 3: or most of the work, so that it's much less
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  Speaker 3: of a thing that you've got to deal with once
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  Speaker 3: your bother has actually been born.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, very good advice. Justin Bott, the Chief Financial Information
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  Speaker 1: Services Officer with Services Australia. Great to speak with you
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  Speaker 1: this morning. Thanks again for your time.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks Katie, it's great to be here.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you.