Alan Tudge (Aston, Liberal Party, Minister for Human Services) Share this | Hansard source

May I start by agreeing with the shadow minister for human services on at least one thing, which is that we should be thankful we have such a strong social security safety net in this country. I think it is a mark of a modern, prosperous, generous society that we have such a system in place. Indeed, this system has saved thousands of people over the decades from going hungry, from going without shelter and from going without clothing. I think we should always reflect upon that and be very proud of the social security system that we have. That is probably where my agreement with the shadow minister ends—other than also agreeing with her that people with disabilities do not choose their disability. Of course they do not, and I think it is quite offensive that she would suggest we think otherwise.

I would like to start my substantive remarks on this MPI by thanking the 35,000 DHS staff who work tirelessly in support of many of the people the shadow minister referred to. Whenever I am out visiting electorates or doing other community visits I try to make an effort to drop in to the local Centrelink centre, and typically I find very dedicated staff who are working in those organisations because they want to make a difference to people's lives. Often they are under stress, sometimes they are dealing with angry people and sometimes they are dealing with aggressive people. I think they do it incredibly professionally and I hope that they do not take the shadow minister's comments from today's MPI as a reflection upon their professionalism. It should not be a reflection on their professionalism. I think the Centrelink staff actually are a very professional group of people who are doing their best.

Centrelink itself is in some respects the main government interface for millions of Australians. Our service centres and our call centres deal with thousands upon thousands of people every single day. About 600,000 interactions each day are done by Centrelink staff; 80,000 face-to-face contacts and almost 140,000 online transactions are conducted each day. In the process, they administer payments of about $150 billion. By and large, I think that the Centrelink operations overall do quite well. I am not suggesting that they are perfect—because they are not—but, overall, given the size of the Department of Human Services, it will never be perfect and will always be seeking to improve.

The biggest change, which is occurring over the next few years and which has already started, is the digital transformation which is happening right now. This will mean that people will be able to interact with Centrelink much more seamlessly in the future. I will go into that a little bit more in just a minute. But I would point out that these are digital transformations that the Labor Party, in their six long years of government, never undertook. They had the opportunity to do so but never invested in those systems which would indeed make it much easier for many Australians to be able to interact with Centrelink.

Ms Husar interjecting—

Ms Burney interjecting—

Ms Keay interjecting—

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