Julian Hill (Bruce, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Anna from Noble Park holds a disability support pension. She has also worked part time for many years. She was advised by her employer that they were restructuring, and she was given two options: 'Do you want a new role or do you want the redundancy package?' In May she approached Centrelink to get advice on the impact on her DSP. She wanted to be fully informed before she made a decision. First, she was told she'd lose the DSP until September; then she was told she'd lose it until February 2020. Confused, she arranged for a meeting with the FIS officer. She needed clear advice to make an important decision.

Now, the FIS officer advised Anna that her payment would not be affected by the redundancy payment as, in total, it equalled 41 weeks pay, which was within the income maintenance specifications. Importantly, the FIS officer assured her several times that if she took the redundancy package, her DSP would not be affected. She was really stressed. I know this woman; I know her family; I believe her; she's smart. It was stressed to her that her DSP would not be affected, and she even got a fact sheet.

She took the redundancy payment, so she was shocked when, straight after, she received a call telling her that her DSP would be stopped until February 2020. She'd quit her job and was then left out in the cold by Centrelink. It's clear that Centrelink is understaffed and that the staff there are stressed; we know from the union that they don't have time for training. And yet this government's plan is to privatise more of them. We've now seen 3,000 jobs in the call centre privatised, with more to come. It is not a recipe for better public services, and you should be ashamed!