Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am sorry, but I misheard what the member on the other side was saying. He thinks it is acceptable that people have to ring on the telephone and have to wait 12 months to have an appeal heard. I do not agree with that, and I know that on this side of the House we find it totally unacceptable that people are asked to wait in this way.

I had an elderly lay come to see me in the office. She had been up to Centrelink twice; she rang the help line and waited an hour and a half on the phone; and they suggested that she try another Centrelink office. She then travelled around the other side of Lake Macquarie to the Toronto office and was told exactly the same thing there. She was handed the telephone. So, she came back around to the eastern side of Lake Macquarie to a smaller, collocated Medicare-Centrelink office behind my office in Belmont. She went up there, and they said, 'Sorry, we can't see you unless you've got an appointment.' So, they gave her an appointment. When she came back, it started again.

The reason I think this is happening is not because Centrelink officers are inefficient but because there has been a dramatic cut in the number of staff available in Centrelink. Each and every day those officers in Centrelink are being asked to deliver a lot more than they can with the resources they have. I believe the Abbott government stands condemned for the actions it has taken in relation to Centrelink.

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