Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to 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.

Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Forestry and Fisheries) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a short statement.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for one minute.

Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Forestry and Fisheries) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Regular reviews of Services Australia service centre footprint are, and always have been, part of the agency's normal business, practised consistently across governments. During its last time in government, Labor, supported by the Greens, announced the closure of 128 shopfronts commencing in 2009 as part of its service delivery reform initiative. Labor's 2011-12 budget alone expanded site closures by a further 61 sites.

With regard to the landlord of the Yarra service centre in Abbotsford, it advised Services Australia on 12 May 2020 that it will not agree to any lease extension beyond 22 May 2020 under any circumstances and only did so following media reports.

Question agreed to.