Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for the Digital Economy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The unfortunate reality, when it comes to Centrelink jobs, is that the only thing the coalition values about those jobs is the ability to cut those jobs. In just the last week we've found out that 80 roles will be cut, in various parts of the country, out of Centrelink. There'll be about 30 roles cut in the Illawarra, 22 in Adelaide and 15 in Brisbane. These roles were in the debt recovery section of Centrelink, the last line of defence against the error-prone robo-debt system in which, as we know and as many of us saw, there were alarming instances of pensioners being sent huge bills, huge debt notices, that were clearly incorrect. And they found it so difficult to get those problems resolved. The people who were put on to assist Centrelink to sort this out were specialists. Especially galling is the fact that they lose 30 positions out of the Illawarra, out of regional Australia. The government says it wants to decentralise jobs and it wants to see more work being done outside of capital cities, but then it does this.

What's even more extraordinary is the minister's defence. The minister has said that these aren't ongoing roles; these are only temporary roles and, therefore, this shouldn't be seen as job cuts. For the people who are losing that work it does feel like a job cut, especially when it's likely to happen right before Christmas. That's not the only extraordinary thing about it.

It's not as if there isn't work in Centrelink right now that these people could be used for. For example, the time taken for Centrelink to process applications for an aged pension is getting longer. It has almost doubled. It has been discovered that people who are eligible for the aged pension and are on Newstart are being forced to fill out forms and then have those considered. The great champions of red tape reduction, except when it comes to Australia's vulnerable, make those people fill out a new form to get onto the aged pension. Then Centrelink take their sweet time to approve it. It means that people are without income for ages. If you call Centrelink, you will wait ages to get that call answered. Yet you can't get enough people in Centrelink to get that job.

The only people who win out of this are contract firms, labour hire firms. They are the only winners out of the coalition's job push. What happens is that the jobs leave Centrelink and go to a contracted position. Both the jobs are gone and the service is lost as a result of the coalition's decisions. (Time expired)