Kevin Andrews (Menzies, Liberal Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

The Minister for Human Services, has provided the following answer to the honourable member's question:

(a) The setting of pay rates and conditions for departmental employees is done through the Enterprise Agreement and cannot be impacted or changed by this proposal to partner with Telstra. The department will continue to adhere to the terms and conditions outlined in the Enterprise Agreement.

(b) Telstra will:

(i) determine if they use a third party provider or Telstra employees;

(ii) not be able to relocate offshore the work that it will undertake.

(c) Maintaining the safety and security of customers' personal information is of the utmost importance to the department. Should the arrangement proceed, the department would include within the contract arrangements with Telstra, appropriate controls to ensure the ongoing integrity of the department's customer information. This would include ensuring that a condition in the contract specifies that individuals employed by Telstra are subject to the same standards, integrity and privacy requirements as Department of Human Services (DHS) employees.

(d) The department has excellent systems to ensure the integrity of customer data and these same systems will apply to the proposed arrangement. This includes mechanisms to mitigate potential fraud activity.

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