Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Shadow Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Hansard source

Anybody listening to the last contribution in this debate, the one by the member for Jagajaga, would think the coalition years were all bad and that we cared not for Services Australia. I want to be a little bipartisan—I do. For the Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme and Minister for Government Services, the member for Maribyrnong, I will give him one thing: at least he returns correspondence. His door is open, which is more than I can say for some of his ministerial colleagues, some of whom can't ever seem to sign a letter to another member of parliament, and that's disappointing. What's more concerning is the fact that they just don't seem to take meetings, whether with another member of parliament or, perhaps even more worryingly, with stakeholders.

This is about the cost of living, this is about Services Australia, this is about delivery and this is about people. At the core of this debate, it is about people. All politics is local. When I look at my Riverina and Central West communities, they are not getting the delivery, when it comes to Services Australia. I do not blame the staff. They are hardworking, they are stretched and they under pressure. Just take some of the benefits that are distributed and the waiting times that are occurring in my Riverina electorate. For the family tax benefit, every local government area—I represent 12 local government areas, or 13 if you take into account the fact Cootamundra and Gundagai are soon going to be demerged—is outside the 80 per cent claims process benchmark of 31 days. That ranges from 8.2 days in the Cootamundra-Gundagai Regional Council's case to 29.2 days in Coolamon shire. For parenting payment partnered, every LGA is outside 80 per cent of the 28-day benchmark, ranging from 16.3 days in Cowra to 45½ days overdue in Weddin. Weddin is centred on Grenfell. Regarding the age pension, Lockhart is the only LGA which receives the age pension in the 80 per cent in 49 days parameter. Every other one of the LGAs that I represent is overdue. For JobSeeker, Cowra is the only LGA to process JobSeeker payments in the 80 per cent in 16 days time frame. The other LGAs range from two days to 14.4 days overdue.

You might say, 'It's just a fortnight, from a minimum of two days,' but it's people's money. It's people's lives, and in a cost-of-living crisis they need every dollar that is due to them, when it is due to them.

With regard to the seniors health card, Weddin is the only LGA to receive those payments within the time frame allotted. For paid parental leave, three LGAs are within the 21-day parameter for that particular payment, and the rest are overdue by up to five days. Other benefits, including Austudy, carer allowance, carer payment, disability support pension and youth allowance, are a mixture of being within and outside the parameters, but none of them should be outside the parameters. I hear the Labor members say in their contributions that they've put more staff on. Labor took office saying that they would do better, and they have not. They have failed. They are failing to deliver.

For the carer payment, if you live in Bland shire—that's based on West Wyalong—you're waiting 49.3 days over the time frame that should be the norm. It's just too much. It's people's lives we're dealing with. With reference to the disability support pension, if you live in Coolamon shire you're waiting for 41 days over the allotted time frame. It's simply not good enough.

Youth unemployment is now running at 9.3 per cent, which is higher than when we left office, and real disposable incomes have collapsed by 7½ per cent per capita since Labor came to power. When you take just those two figures alone—real wages and real disposable income—as well as youth unemployment and everything else that's exacerbating the cost-of-living crisis, the message should be clear to Labor: start delivering; start doing what you said you were going to do.

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