Linda Burney (Barton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the minister for his attendance in the chamber today. It is a shame that the Human Services portfolio is only allowed 30 minutes for consideration in detail. It makes sense, though, given the complete lack of detail the minister has included in his departmental budget. We cannot consider where his 1,188 job cuts will come from—the department does not know, and the budget papers do not tell us. We cannot consider how his department will implement his drug-testing policy—the department says it has not planned it yet. We cannot consider how much it will cost—he does not know. He cannot tell us if it will work—he has not even looked at the experience with similar policies overseas. We cannot consider his new demerit system—he has not provided us with any actual detail, other than a few words he has provided to the media. We cannot consider his 250 privatised call centre jobs—he will not say how much they will cost or how much of a difference they will make.

Those opposite are very fond of dropping stories to the media, but, when it comes to detail, they are nowhere to be found. This is what we do know. The minister is happy to smear suburbs and electorates as being full of dole bludgers. He was happy to let robo-debt continue for months, even though everyone knew it was broken, and he has no problem expanding it to vulnerable age pensioners and DSP recipients. He knows there are 42 million calls a year which cannot get through to Centrelink. He sees no problem in making age pensioners wait over 20 minutes on the phone just to hear a human voice, while people with disability wait over half an hour. And he has no issue in paying PricewaterhouseCoopers $150,000 to provide a report on how to improve service standards and then totally ignoring its recommendations.

This is typical 'lifters versus leaners' thinking. The problem with this view coming from the top of the Department of Human Services is that it infects the culture of the entire organisation. Staff are demoralised and feel helpless to assist with those who contact them and who clearly need assistance. I know because I meet with them. This is the thinking that saw a woman who contacted my office recently—after leaving, with her children, a violent relationship and obtaining an AVO against her violent ex-husband—unable to get assistance from Centrelink for months. Centrelink staff wanted to help, but they did not feel that they could. This is the thinking that saw an age pensioner's payment withheld after she was wrongfully accused of owing a debt. It is the kind of thinking that says that it is age pensioners, people with disability and jobseekers against everyone else.

Overwhelmingly, people do not choose to be unemployed, Minister. They certainly do not choose to get older and live with a disability or to have a sick family member and have to become a carer. People who can work should work, and those who do not need assistance or are defrauding the system should be punished. There is no disagreement on this side with those points. But, given the minister's behaviour over last year and his claim yesterday that he would save $600 million through the government's ninth or 10th welfare crackdown, my question is a simple one: after robo-debt, after the fudging of the figures on call wait times, after his ethically reprehensible privacy leak, which we still have not gotten to the bottom of, how on earth can we trust this minister? How on earth can we trust this government to do the right thing by people who are seeking to do the right thing?

The robo-debt debacle was shameful, absolutely shameful. You know, in the department, that people have become sick, people have hurt themselves and people have taken their lives because of the blunders of this minister and the blunders of the top end of the department. I met with Centrelink staff the other day up in the Tweed, and they told me how they are feeling. They told me what they thought of the higher echelons of this agency. My question is: Minister, do you have a plan to improve service standards to make sure there are enough Centrelink staff to enforce compliance and answer phones, or do you just have a plan to punish honest Australians? That is my question, Minister.

See this speech in context