一步一个脚印

Briefing

Mr Gao, a Mandarin-speaking man, has come to a local Centrelink office. He has asked to speak to a Centrelink officer about applying for a carer payment.

Listen to Dialogue

Mandarin-English Dialogue #26 – Carer Payment

Transcript and reference translation

Centrelink Officer: Good morning. Please take a seat. Before we start could I confirm your CRN please? (早上好。请坐。在我们开始前，请告诉我您的 CRN ，那就是你的客户参考号码。)

Mr Gao: 我想你是说那个卡上的号码，对吧？我上个星期才拿到卡，号码是 524 094 104K。四太多了！ [I think you mean the number written on this card, right? I only got it last week. It’s 524 094 104K. So many fours!]

Centrelink Officer: Cheers Mr Gao. So, what can I help you with today? (谢谢，高先生。那我能为您做些什么呢？）

Mr Gao:是关于我的孙子，他叫查斯特，今年12岁了。他有唐氏综合症和智障。可怜的孩子还有癫痫病。因为我要全职的照顾他所以我没办法工作。[It’s about my grandson, Chester. He is 12 years old. He has Down syndrome and is intellectually disabled. The poor guy also suffers from epilepsy. Since I provide full-time care for him I am not able to work.]

(…)

自从我老婆失业了以后，我们家生活就雪上加霜。查斯特的医疗费用又很高。如果Centrelink可以给我们一些帮助我们会很感激的。[Since my wife lost her job, it’s been one disaster after another for our family. The medical bills for Chester are also quite expensive. We would be extremely grateful for any kind of assistance Centrelink can give us.]

Centrelink Officer: Well, you may be eligible for a Carer Payment, and I see on your file that you and your son are both permanent residents. So, when did you arrive and settle in Australia, may I ask? (您或许有机会申请照顾者津贴。我在您的文件上看到，您和您的儿子都是澳洲的永久居民。您们是什么时候来到澳洲并定居的呢，如果您不介意我问的话？)

Mr Gao:我们是2005年一月移居到佩斯的。那年七月，我老婆在。。。嗯，好像是维多利亚吧。。。一个叫做断臂山的小镇上，一个酒吧，找了一份工作。然后我们就租了一个小房子，我也到处找一些杂活儿做来补贴家用。我老婆有空的时候还会去农场樱桃园帮助他们摘樱桃来多赚点钱。[We moved from China to Perth in January 2005. Then in July that year my wife found a job working in a pub in Victoria, in a small town called Broken Hill. We then started renting a small house and I took the odd job here and there to cover household expenses. My wife also did some cherry picking in her spare time to make some extra cash.]

Centrelink Officer: Hmm, well since you live in a rural area of Victoria you may also be elligible for a Remote Area Allowance. And that should help you a little bit to deal with your living costs. (由于您住在维多利亚州的偏远地区，您或许还可以申请偏远地区津贴。那应该能多少帮您支付一些生活上的开销。)

(…)

The reason I asked about when you came to Australia is because to qualify for a Carer Payment both you and the person you are looking after must be Australian residents and they must have been living in the country for at least two years. Now, I can see this would not be a problem in your case. (我之所以问您是什么时候来的澳洲，是因为要想申请照顾者津贴，您和您所照顾的人都必须是澳洲居民，而且在澳洲住满2年。现在看来，这对您而言并不是问题。)

Mr Gao:  我想这份补助真的会帮到我们很大的忙。除了查斯特的医药费以外，我们还有汽油费，每天开两个小时的车去特殊学校。您觉得我们每个月可以拿多少钱呢？[I think this payment would help us a lot. On top of the cost of his medical expenses, there’s also petrol expenses. We have to drive two hours every day to get to Chester’s special school. So how much money do you think we can get per month?]

Centrelink Officer: Well I’m afraid I won’t be able to give you a concrete figure today. The Carer Payment is income and assets tested, so individual payments do vary. I would advise you register an ‘intent to claim’ form for the Carer Payment as soon as you can. (我现在无法告诉您具体数字。申请照顾者津贴需要审查您的收入和资产，因此每个人收到的补贴都不尽相同。我建议您尽快注册填写一下照顾者津贴的申请意向表。)

(…)

Now as part of the payment you will also receive a Pensioner Concession Card and Pharmaceutical Allowance. You may also be able to get a few other payments such as Rent Assistance and Utilities Allowance. And if you are eligible you will be notified automatically. You won’t need to apply for them yourself. (作为补贴的一部分，您还会收到一张福利金领取者优惠卡和药物津贴。您同时还可能获得一些其他补贴，如房租补贴和水电煤津贴等。如果您有资格获得的话，这些都会自动获得，无需特意申请。)

Mr Gao:  嗯，好的。我想我会去申请那个照顾者津贴。拿到津贴的第一天我就去给他买积木。[OK. I think I’ll go ahead and apply for the Carer Payment. On the first day I get it I’ll go and buy him some toy building blocks.]

Centrelink Officer: Alrighty then. I’ll put you in touch with one of our carer payment specialists. Please take a seat and we’ll call you when we are ready to see you. There are a number of forms to fill out and you may wish to ask your interpreter to sight translate some of the documents for you. (就这样吧。我会让我们负责照顾者津贴的相关工作人员和您联系。请坐，我们准备好的时候就会叫您。有一些表格需要填写，您可以让您的口译员帮您翻译一部分的文件。)