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AussieLedger
22 guides

Government services & ID

myGov, Medicare, Centrelink, the ATO, passports, birth certificates and the 100-point identity check that gates all of it.

What to do if your Centrelink payment stopsMost stopped Centrelink payments are suspensions, not cancellations, and the money is usually back-paid. This covers how to diagno…14 minverified 2026-08-06
How to apply for a passport for a childA child passport needs consent from everyone with parental responsibility, not just the parent applying. Here is who must sign, wh…11 minverified 2026-08-05
How to apply for the Age PensionThe Age Pension is not automatic and not means-tested on income alone. You can claim thirteen weeks early, deeming counts income y…12 minverified 2026-08-04
How to challenge a Centrelink debtA debt notice is a decision, and decisions can be reviewed. This covers how to get the calculation, the difference between an expl…12 minverified 2026-08-05
How to claim a Centrelink paymentIdentity first, then the claim, then the waiting periods almost nobody expects. This covers choosing the right payment, what Centr…12 minverified 2026-08-04
How to claim Carer Payment and Carer AllowanceCarer Payment is income support; Carer Allowance is a supplement. Different tests, different forms, and you can claim both. This c…12 minverified 2026-08-05
How to enrol to vote in AustraliaEnrolling is compulsory, not optional, and the roll closes days after an election is called. This covers who must enrol, how to do…10 minverified 2026-08-04
How to get a health care or concession cardFour different cards, three issuing rules and a long tail of state concessions almost nobody claims in full. This explains which c…12 minverified 2026-08-05
How to get a police checkA national police check is a point-in-time snapshot, not a permanent clearance, and not a Working with Children Check. This covers…11 minverified 2026-08-04
How to get a Working with Children CheckEvery state runs its own child-related clearance under a different name, and none of them is a police check. This covers who needs…11 minverified 2026-08-05
How to get an Australian passportProving citizenship is the real bottleneck, not the form. This covers the documents, the referee and guarantor rules, photos, the …12 minverified 2026-08-04
How to get legal aid in AustraliaLegal aid is not a general right to a free lawyer. It is rationed by a means test, a merits test and published guidelines that fav…12 minverified 2026-08-04
How to set up myGov and link your servicesmyGov is the single sign-on for federal government services in Australia. This covers creating the account, choosing between a lin…8 minverified 2026-07-30
How to recover your ATO online services accessThe ATO end of myGov fails on its own terms, with its own error codes and its own identity check. This covers the linking question…15 minverified 2026-08-06
What to do if you are locked out of myGovEvery myGov lockout has a different fix. This sorts them by failure mode — a locked account, a lost password, codes going to a dea…13 minverified 2026-08-06
Losing your Australian passport overseasReporting a passport lost cancels it permanently, so make certain it is gone before you call. This is the overseas sequence: the r…17 minverified 2026-08-06
Lost your wallet — the order to do things inA lost wallet is six or seven separate replacement processes owned by different bodies. This is the sequence that limits the damag…15 minverified 2026-08-06
Your myGov or ATO account has been hacked — what to do nowA myGov takeover is not one problem but one per linked agency. This is the operational sequence: retake the sign-in, audit every l…16 minverified 2026-08-06
How to set up myID and fix it when it breaksmyID is the government's Digital ID app, and its identity strength lives on the handset, not in the cloud. This covers setup, the …15 minverified 2026-08-06
How to recover a state or territory government accountEvery state and territory runs its own citizen account with its own reset flow, its own lockout rules and its own phone queue. Thi…15 minverified 2026-08-06
The 100-point ID check, and how to reach 100 from a standing startAustralia's identity system is circular: you need documents to get documents. This explains what each document is worth, the order…7 minverified 2026-07-30
What to do when someone dies in AustraliaThe administrative sequence after a death, in the order it actually happens: the first calls, the coroner, registering the death i…16 minverified 2026-08-06
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