Ken O'Dowd (Flynn, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

This government is not mismanaging Centrelink. In fact, we are forging ahead with new ideas and new technology. The very idea that Centrelink is going backwards is absolute bunkum. We will become more accountable and more efficient to those vulnerable people who need our services, while the rorting and the waste so often attributed to those on the other side will be reined in. We cannot do this overnight, but we are making great headway on doing that.

Centrelink has a very, very important job, and the Centrelink staff are very important to the whole operation. They do a great job. They must deal with all sorts, from all walks of life, as we all know. I am sure we have all been to Centrelink offices and know that the variety of people coming and looking for assistance is humungous, and the way the staff generally handle these situations is very admirable indeed.

However, we are trying to make their lives better with better working conditions, and we are moving into the technology age, of digital recording and digital processing of claims. This, we hope, will bring the waiting time down from 11 days to virtually instant. This will take a little while to achieve, but that is our aim and our goal, and we will achieve it.

It will not be like the Queensland government when they changed the computer system for the payroll system; it was a mess for many, many years. I think they are still trying to claim back the money that was overpaid et cetera.

Mr Perrett interjecting—

Anna Bligh was the Premier who oversaw that changing of the computer system for the payroll system. We are moving from an old world to a new world. The new world will take individuals on a case-by-case basis and give them the control they need to go directly to where and when—they want a device that will look after their needs. They do not want to do what they do now: go to a place where they are told to sit on a chair and wait and wait. So that is where we are going and that should be good. They handle a lot of people. There are 56 million phone calls a year and 21 million face-to-face visits to Centrelink offices. That is how big the problem is and we are addressing those issues.

Labor did absolutely nothing for six years; the system never changed.

Dr Leigh interjecting—

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