Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Housing) Share this | Hansard source

Yes, billion. Most of those savings are through the abolition of the access card—something that the member for North Sydney was very personally committed to, although it was a terrible policy idea.

The department has delivered on election commitments and is now turning to improving the service delivery system for the 21st century and beyond. Some of the seven major measures that provide extra resources for the department are the Centrelink consolidating technology capability and extra funding of $13.3 million for Centrelink in 2008-09 to maintain its IT infrastructure from the IT Refresh Project. That measure will ensure the ongoing viability of Centrelink IT infrastructure in 2008-09 by ensuring that equipment and software are replaced as they reach their end of life. For Centrelink call centre supplementation there is additional funding of $59.1 million in 2008-09. Fraud and noncompliance funding of $138 million is to expand Centrelink’s compliance activities, which will deliver an estimated net saving of $589.2 million over four years. On the Medicare Easy Claim increase take-up, we are contributing $8.6 million over four years for Medicare Australia to simplify electronic claims processes, which will then be rolled out in medical practices. I will go into a little bit more detail about that later in response to the questions.

The member for Flynn asked me about the Medicare office in Emerald. I am happy to inform you that there is funding of $1.6 million over four years for the establishment of a Medicare office co-located with the existing Centrelink customer service centre in Emerald from 2008. Congratulations to you, Member for Flynn, for campaigning so strongly for that service in your own electorate. The town of Emerald, which I was so happy to visit with you, is obviously a town of terrific people, working hard and getting on with their lives.

On service delivery reform, there is an extra $10 million for the development of service delivery initiatives in the Human Services portfolio. That funding will allow the Department of Human Services to examine new, better and more cost-effective ways to deliver social and health related services to all Australians. There is an extra $5.8 million in 2008-09 for Centrelink’s role in Close the Gap for the upgrade of Centrelink agency sites in remote regions of the Northern Territory, which will enable customers to continue accessing mainstream services in those remote areas. There are a number of other budget measures that I—

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