7 years ago
OLDER AUSTRALIANS THE BIGGEST CASUALTIES OF UNDER-STAFFED CENTRELINK
HON. LINDA BURNEY MP
Older Australians are the biggest casualties of an under-staffed Centrelink.
The average call wait times to Centrelink for older Australians have increased from 19 minutes in 2016/17to 25:30 in 2017/18 so far, questions from Labor Senators Lisa Singh and Murray Watt at a Senate Estimates hearing revealed last night.
Older Australians received 812,827 busy signals in 2016/17. Based on the number of busy signals for 2017/18 so far, this number is expected to rise to 1.2 million.
Turnbull announced the axing of 1,200 jobs at last year’s budget and average call wait times to Centrelink increased.
Centrelink is understaffed and under-resourced.
Centrelink needs permanent, full-time staff who are familiar with the complex issues facing income support recipients.
Turnbull is simply trying to make it so difficult for Australians to claim income support in the hope they just give up.