Michael Keenan (Stirling, Liberal Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Digital Transformation) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the chamber for the opportunity to make an opening statement. I'd like to start by providing an overview of my department, the operations the department undertakes and the sheer size and complexity of the work that they undertake.

The Department of Human Services, encompassing Centrelink, Medicare and the Child Support Agency, touches the lives, at some point, of almost every Australian. Second only to the Department of Defence in terms of size, my department employs around 33,000 staff. Each fortnight my department delivers payments to more than five million Australians, totalling more than $174 billion each year. In 2016-17, the Department of Human Services had more than 700 million interactions with people, including over 52 million phone calls, 19 million face-to-face visits and 629 million digital transactions. Already this financial year, we have handled 43.9 million phone calls, over 16 million face-to-face visits and almost 740 million digital transactions.

To support people in their interactions with the government, particularly in my department, the coalition has invested in major business and IT transformation projects to modernise our services. This investment has delivered an enhanced online service experience, enabling people to interact with the department in a more efficient and effective way. As part of this year's budget, from 1 July, $316.2 million will be rolled out over four years to enhance how welfare benefits are claimed and processed. The Welfare Payment Infrastructure Transformation Program, which we call WPIT, has already delivered significant improvements to the way students access Austudy and youth allowance payments. Those claiming jobseeker, age and disability pensions and carer payments will be the next to reap the benefits from digital transformation. Improving the way Australians interact with government services is also a priority, and we have allocated an additional $50 million in this year's budget to manage customer demand while the Department of Human Services continues to transform the delivery of payments and services. In addition, I announced a further 1,000 call centre operators in April to further assist with reducing call wait times. As a result of recent improvements, busy signals on our telephone lines have reduced by 44 per cent since the start of the year, which is an extraordinary result. This is a marked improvement on where we were.

The government is committed to delivering the best possible services to the Australian people. The budget allocation for social welfare makes up nearly a third of Australia's total budget every financial year. To ensure we can continue to provide a secure and supportive social welfare system, the bill must be manageable and we need to make sure that we're not leaving future generations to pick up the cost of our expenditure now.

Since 1 July 2016, this government has achieved savings of $1.7 billion through measures that crack down on welfare fraud and enhance compliance. We've introduced measures to ensure the integrity of the system. We're now proactively prompting more recipients than ever to keep their details up to date, reducing the likelihood they will incur a future debt. We're continuing to roll out Taskforce Integrity, a joint task force with the Australian Federal Police, to sites this financial year. We are increasing income data-matching checks to over 600,000 per year, half a million more than were done when the Labor Party was in government. In April this year, my department commenced notifying former customers with existing debts that interest will be charged on those debts should they not repay that money or should they not enter into a repayment arrangement with us. These measures were extended through this year's budget to build on that past success.

On the other hand, while reducing the number of compliance checks, the former Labor government decreased the value of debts raised by half, from $419 million in the 2006-07 year to just $220 million in the 2012-13 year. Those opposite are happy to have a costly system where people can help themselves with no repercussions for defrauding hardworking taxpayers. This government is committed to living within our means and better managing our spending now in order to protect the future of all Australians. The Turnbull government is continuing to provide a genuine safety net for those in need while making it more sustainable by continuing to strengthen the integrity of the system.

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