This client applied for the role of Senior Case Officer (APS EL1 level) in one of the Commonwealth/APS Government Departments and gained an interview. The selection panel judged my client’s application (from a nationwide pool of 90 written applications) as the best one received. Seven criteria required addressing. Following is a full example of one of the criteria.

Decision Making.

In my current role as a Senior Case Officer with the CCC, I am responsible for making decisions regarding parents’ Change of Assessment (COA) applications. In several cases, the customers that are newly separated are experiencing a relationship breakdown and financial difficulty including property settlement and custody issues. For example, I dealt with a newly separated couple; both had lodged a COA application regarding the other partner’s income and did not understand child support and what could or could not be considered. The mother had no source of income other than Centrelink payments and her living expenses were high because she remained in the family home. For a number of months the mother had access to funds from the joint bank account. However, the father could no longer afford this as he was meeting the needs of two households as well as sharing the care of the children. In addition, the parents had not finalised property settlement. I conducted an initial consult with each parent and elected to follow up with face-to-face conversations to further discuss the issues. During my discussions with both parents, I determined that the funds the mother sourced from the joint bank account could be considered when determining a child support assessment. I also negotiated with the parents that the father would continue to pay these costs and that his assessment would be reduced for a period of six months in recognition of meeting these costs, and to allow for the property settlement to be finalised. I advised them on the level of financial support that would be required from the father through the CCC, taking into account that his income was greatly reduced because of his caring responsibilities and the additional payments he made for the mother’s household. As a result, by taking the time to discuss each step of the decision making process at length with both parents, they accepted the outcome of the decision and gained a greater and more informed understanding of the processes involved.

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Cheers,

Annie Cerone