Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to outline more National Party lies, cuts and chaos. This time it's the issue of the closing of three Centrelink service centres in the Tweed area. The Morrison Liberal-National government intends to close the Centrelink service centre, currently located on Blundell Boulevard, Tweed Heads South; the Centrelink call centre on Enterprise Avenue, Tweed Heads South; and the Centrelink administrative centre, located at Wharf St, Tweed Heads. They're all set to relocate into one premises at a yet to be determined location, and I've been inundated with concerns from locals about these changes.

I've since written to the Minister for Human Services on behalf of our community to seek his urgent commitment that there will be no redundancies or cuts to current staff numbers at any of the three centres; no adverse impacts on frontline customer contact; no adverse impacts on claim or payment processing times; and no further decline in the delivery of services to our local community.

I've also sought confirmation that any new service centre will be located only in the postcodes of 2485 or 2486; the new service centre will not be located on state significant land; the location of the consolidated centre will be easily accessible and close to public transport; and any land sale or rental agreements entered into by the Commonwealth will undergo a full and transparent process.

In total, there are hundreds employed across these centres, and they provide services to tens of thousands of people. The Centrelink service centre based at Blundell Boulevard in Tweed Heads South, which also includes Medicare, provides essential services that locals rely on, and it's imperative that they remain easily accessible. I believe this major Centrelink office should remain at its current location on Blundell Boulevard.

Seniors, veterans, people with disability, families, carers, locals seeking work and students all rely on the essential frontline services that our Centrelinks provide. On top of these closures, there are so many people impacted by this government's funding and staffing cuts to Centrelink. So many of our seniors have difficulty in accessing the pension, and I'm frequently contacted by constituents who are waiting months for their age pension claims to be processed—sometimes more than 12 months. This is clearly unacceptable. These seniors are literally living in poverty while their claims are waiting.

This is a government that refuses to properly fund and resolve the problems they've created at Centrelink, and now they're closing these three Centrelink centres. My position is very clear: I'm calling on the government to guarantee the three Centrelink centres in Tweed will not be further undermined and that there will no adverse impacts on service delivery and no future job losses to our community. The fact is: the National Party's lies, cuts and chaos are hurting our community and it has to stop.