Hi Celeste
I had a bad Centrelink experience a few years ago on a different sort of matter, but I discovered that the best way to deal with it is to write to the Minister! If the office gets a ministerial complaint they have to investigate - in my situation I got an apology from the office manager and the staff member was counseled - didn't really change anything but gave me a small sense of satisfaction at having gotten an apology from the bureaucrats!
Marian