Centrelink seizes $13,000 of jobseeker’s compensation after work for the dole injury

Mick Stuart, pictured in 2018 for the Guardian’s Life on the Breadline series, was injured during the work for the dole program. Photograph: Chris Hopkins/Chris Hopkins for The Guardian

Centrelink seized $13,000 in compensation paid to a jobseeker injured on the federal government’s own work for the dole program.

Mick Smart, 36, of Gippsland in Victoria, said he was never contacted by government officials to investigate the 2016 incident he said “destroyed” his life and left him battling to get on to the disability support pension.