Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the presence of the crew of MV Portland who are in the gallery today. These are, of course, the hardworking men who lost their jobs and were taken in the middle of the night to be replaced by a foreign crew working on flag-of-convenience ships. I bring this to be House's attention because in my electorate of Newcastle the maritime workers face a very similar problem with the CSL Melbourne being taken out of Australian coastal shipping too. So, to the crew of the MV Portland, you can be assured that the people of Newcastle have your plight and your struggle very much in their minds, and I thank you for your presence today.

I would also like to bring the attention of the House to the concerns of some of my constituents who are at their wits' end attempting to access services through Centrelink and the Department of Human Services. Despite overwhelming evidence that there are significant service problems with the department, the Minister for Human Services fails to act and, indeed, denies there is a problem at all. I would like to present just one example. Earlier this week there was a constituent who called my office for assistance. He is attempting to apply for a carer payment to help look after a very unwell loved one. He needs the relevant forms to apply. He went online. The system was down. He was told to phone in. He had to wait 45 minutes. That dropped out. He had to wait another hour.

This is simply not good enough. The government needs to act.