Andrew Wilkie (Denison, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Human Services. Minister, Centrelink is one of the most prevalent complaints to my office. People tell me it is an impenetrable system where they call and can't get through or go to the office only to be told to call, or they try myGov which crashes or is not helpful. People often wait months for the application to be processed, documents go missing or their application stalls and they are not told. Minister, we're talking about the disabled, sick, unemployed and homeless, as well as the aged, carers, families and students—vulnerable people. Clearly, Centrelink is at breaking point, despite the very best efforts of the staff. When will you say, 'Enough is enough,' and fix it?

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

I thank the member for Denison for his question. I can inform the member that we're actually driving the largest improvement program ever undertaken in my department.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

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

Most importantly, we are completely replacing the core systems that administer the three large programs in my departments: the welfare payments system, the child support system and the Medicare system. All of these systems are 30 years old. They are systems which the former government failed to invest in, but we are doing that investment right now. The billion-dollar welfare payment transformation, for example—

Mr Husic interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Chifley is warned.

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

is already two years in, and we are seeing real results already.

Mr Husic interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Chifley has just been warned

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

We started with a focus on—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The minister will pause for a second. I have warned the member for Chifley twice: he can leave under 94(a).

The member for Chifley then left the chamber .

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

We started with a focus on the student payments, and already we are seeing the processing times for student claims halved. Just this month was the first time we have had a straight-through process of a claim, and by the end of this year about 10 per cent of all claims will be straight-through processed, which means they will be instantaneously done. We have introduced a claim tracker so that people can monitor their claim on their phone without having to call the call centre. We have introduced a virtual assistant, which means you get an instantaneous answer on your computer. Since June alone, 95,000 questions have been answered through that virtual assistant. We are moving on to the other large programs payments and doing a similar size transformation. We will soon be doing Newstart, then the age pension and then the disability support pension and other payments.

We're not just waiting for those longer term transformations but are doing the hard work now to streamline our processes. Specifically, we have re-engineered the claims processes for the farm household allowance, for the disability support pension and for the age pension. For DSP alone, we have cut the claim-processing time by half for most claims. The farm household allowance claims have been cut from four months to four weeks. On call-waiting times: as we announced in the budget, we are adding 250 additional staff, who will be progressively rolled out over the next few months.

The member mentioned the my.gov.au site. I can inform the member for Denison that we have done a complete overhaul of that site. You should take a look at it on your mobile phone. Just today we expect 265,000 people to log on to myGov, which is an increase from about 165,000 people just 12 months previously. About 10 million people are on myGov and transact digitally. This is a government that is delivering for Australians on the things that matter. (Time expired)