Linda Burney (Barton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Human Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Turnbull government's relentless drive to reduce the size of the Public Service is adversely impacting on Centrelink service and therefore Centrelink customers. Government statistics show that older Australians, carers and students are waiting longer to have their payments approved by Centrelink. The median processing time for the age pension payment has dramatically increased from 36 days last year to 49 days in March this year. That is a 40 per cent increase in waiting times. This means that Australians who have worked all their lives are being made to wait for two months on average just to have their age pension approved. Median average times don't take into account instances where Centrelink requests further information and then stops the clock on the process, further delaying the approval.

We've heard horror stories about how Centrelink, under-resourced and understaffed, is requiring older Australians to wait many months for their payments, all the while living on the edge of their bank accounts. The Turnbull government will tell you that, if someone's application is successful, their pension payment is backdated to the time they lodged their application. Let me share with this place two case studies that have been submitted to my office. A Tasmanian grandmother, Helen Willis-Smith, was forced to dig into her superannuation and increase her daughter's credit card limit to find the money she needed to live and pay her bills while she waited four months for her age pension to be processed. Also in Tasmania, another person waited for up to 12 months to receive their carer payment—12 months for their carer payment and allowance! And Centrelink needed to backdate the owed payment by as much as $23,000, and that was for a carer. It's absolutely shameful. How precarious and stressful it must be to live just on your savings while you wait for Centrelink to tell you if your application is successful, never knowing if or when the first payment will come. And, of course, many people don't have savings. They have to borrow from family, borrow from banks or do whatever they can to survive.

The Turnbull government is telling Australians to use myGov to apply for Centrelink services online if they want to fast-track their applications. But we know that using this online interface is not easy, and that is discouraging its use. In April this year, iTnews reported that for more than a week Australians were again wrestling with accessing government services using myGov. Many are finding Centrelink's online platform incredibly difficult to navigate. We know that older Australians are struggling with this online interface, because the number of busy signals on the age pension phone line is projected to increase from 800,000 to 1.2 million—up by 50 per cent.

Average call wait times have blown out for most Centrelink customers, but for older Australians they've jumped by 20 per cent. For older Australians, average call wait times have increased from 18 minutes and 59 seconds to 23 minutes and one second. For students, average call wait times have increased from 31 minutes and 15 seconds to 35 minutes. For Australians phoning the family-and-parenting line—incredibly important at the moment—average call wait times have increased from 16 minutes and 19 seconds to 21 minutes and 12 seconds. But this is just the average. The reality is we've heard stories of people waiting hours to speak to a Centrelink officer—absolutely hours.

In May this year, the ABC reported that some Launceston residents were waiting almost three hours to get assistance. Sensibly, older Australians are attempting to circumvent the phone lines by attending Centrelink in person. But, of course, this isn't working because instead of assistance they are finding an underresourced Centrelink office and staff directing them to online and call-up facilities. This lack of service is matched by an increase in average wait times in service centres by almost 15 minutes. No wonder older Australians are not getting the assistance they need. It's a vicious cycle of vulnerable Australians being forced to the edge of their bank accounts while they wait for the payments—or simply don't receive them at all. Labor welcomes the transition to service online, so long as it remains accessible for vulnerable Australians. But it shouldn't mean that we neglect in-person and phone services. We should also provide vulnerable Australians with the support necessary to learn to navigate the online system.

Yesterday, the ABC reported the story of Michelle Piefke. Michelle was given a number of documents after visiting a Centrelink office in Boronia in Melbourne. The documents contained highly sensitive information: bank details, residential addresses and signatures—for somebody else. It is equally concerning that the Centrelink client whose form was misplaced may not have received their payment. As I've just outlined, it can be difficult speaking to someone or seeing someone at Centrelink to resolve issues, especially issues such as this, and it can take months for someone to receive their payment, if they are lucky. So it begs the question, what happens to this person's payment? Have they received their payment? How long has their payment been delayed? This, of course, is the person I referred to earlier. And how prevalent are leaks of this kind? I think we have to say to the minister, 'You have a responsibility to come and explain how many mistakes like this are made, and how they are dealt with.'

The fact is that Centrelink is in crisis under the Turnbull government. Centrelink is underresourced and understaffed, and these stories tell of that underresourcing and understaffing. And there is not one single member of this place that can dispute what I've said, because you have all had these people in your offices, and through you, Mr Deputy Speaker, you have heard these stories yourself. It's also why it is so important that Centrelink has permanent full-time staff who are supported, familiar and skilled to manage the often complex issues facing Australians who rely on income support.

What's the Turnbull government going to do to fix deteriorating Centrelink services and reduce stress and anxiety in the community? Last year, the Turnbull government cut over 1,100 jobs from Centrelink and, in this year's budget, the Turnbull government reduced Centrelink funding by $300 million and cut another 1,280 staff. This is a total reduction of 2,500 permanent full-time staff over the past two budgets, and how can that be when there is such a crisis of confidence in this place. In their place, the Turnbull government has outsourced 1,250 positions to labour hire companies. Call centre workers are on contracts with insecure work. They are privatising the public sector by stealth. No wonder the morale at Centrelink is at an all-time low. What we are witnessing is a steady sell-off of Centrelink jobs and the growing casualisation of its workforce. This is privatisation by stealth. Everyone knows that this government isn't genuinely interested in strengthening the integrity and the sustainability of our nation's social safety net, and it needs protecting. This government is more interested in placing the burden of balancing its budget on income support recipients.

While this government is so preoccupied with its $80 billion tax cut for big business, and this includes $17 billion to the big four banks, it is actively making Centrelink so difficult, so confusing and so frightening for people that they might just give up. Every member of this House knows that I am speaking the truth, because they are getting these constituents into their offices—I know they are—giving them a sense of comfort. Please, take up their issues. It should not matter the side of the House you sit. I've had people say to me, 'I've gone to my local member and he or she won't do anything about that.' That is completely unacceptable. These people deserve our support. They are older Australians, they are people who cannot find work, they are people caring for unwell relatives, and they are students. Every single category I'm speaking about needs the support of everyone in this place, and it is incumbent on us—it's our responsibility, as members of parliament—to take up their issues, to pursue their issues and to help them get it sorted out.