Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

  (i) there has been a dramatic increase in Australians accessing public services due to the economic and social impacts of COVID-19,

  (ii) now more than ever we need to be strengthening our public services for people who need support, not making these services more difficult to access,

  (iii) the Government intended to close the Abbotsford (Yarra) Service Centre on Thursday 21 May 2020, but in the face of strong community objection agreed to keep it open for a further three months,

  (iv) the Government now intends to close the centre in three months, despite the landlord publicly stating Centrelink could remain on the premises and despite clear community need,

  (v) unnecessarily closing this Centrelink Service Centre will harm and inconvenience thousands of vulnerable people reliant on it, and that suggesting that people travel to a Centre almost 7 km away is not only unfair, but inappropriate at a time when people in Victoria are being told to stay at home and encouraged not to use public transport, and

  (vi) on 21 May 2020, after receiving news of the imminent closure of the Abbotsford (Yarra) Service Centre, Yarra councillors passed two motions which respectively direct Yarra Council to liaise with Services Australia over possible temporary and long-term sites for a Centrelink Service Centre in Yarra; and

(b) calls on the Government to:

  (i) recognise the value of public services and commit to keeping the Abbotsford (Yarra) Service Centre open permanently, and

  (ii) abandon any plans to shut down any further Centrelink Service Centres while Australians are experiencing the impacts of COVID-19.