Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Human Services) Share this | Hansard source

Notwithstanding the efforts that have been made to bring the system into the 21st century—and dragging it through the 20th century, in fact—that 1980s foundation does make things needlessly complicated for staff, for government and, in fact, for our customers on a number of occasions. This is largely because it is built around individual payments and not around the person or their family and their particular circumstances. If you are a customer who starts a new claim, even if you are an existing customer, the current system treats you as a new customer; so you are required to provide all of your details again, even if they been provided previously, and it does build a certain level of frustration amongst both staff and customers.

We would like to be able to deliver seamless digital services. They are commonplace in the private sector and there is a certain expectation amongst customers that that is what they should receive. If you want to order online you can often track your delivery. You cannot do the same, necessarily, with your payments. (Time expired)