House debates

Monday, 17 September 2018

Questions without Notice

Pensions and Benefits

2:17 pm

Photo of Michael KeenanMichael Keenan (Stirling, Liberal Party, Minister for Human Services and Digital Transformation) Share this | Hansard source

When individual cases are raised with me, or my office, obviously we make every effort to intervene to make sure that people get the outcomes that they deserve. In regard to this, if the member wants to see me after question time, I'm very happy to look into the cases that she has raised with me.

But, in general, this is what is happening within my department. When we came to office, the Labor Party, between 2007 and 2013, had cut 4,800 people from the Department of Human Services. We, as always, are the ones who are fixing up that mess. I am getting an extra 2,750 people contracted within my department to be able to address these issues to make sure that, when people call, the phones are answered quickly and people can deal with their questions and get them the responses they deserve. Processing times are improving because of the extra resources that we have put into the department. They will continue to improve as those extra resources come online. But I say to every member of this chamber: if there is an individual case that has been brought to you then, please, come to us, raise it with us and we can fix it.

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