AUWU launches new dashboard to chart Centrelink’s failures — in real time
Centrelink is currently in the worst shape we’ve ever seen – yet, neither Bill Shorten or his Department are taking this clear breakdown of service remotely seriously.
Today, the AUWU is launching #CentreStink: a live dashboard that charts people’s interactions with Services Australia.
This is a new platform where people can record how long they’ve waited for Centrelink to pick up the phone, how many times they’ve failed to get through, and how successful the agency has been at resolving their issue.
The results are already shocking. In the last 24 hours:
The average wait time for people on hold to Centrelink is 106 minutes.
People have recorded 119 attempts to contact Centrelink, with only 19 successful connections to an operator.
At the same time, we can see how badly processing times for Centrelink applications, documents, and appeals have swelled – disturbingly, 20% of people are saying they’ve been waiting at least 3 months for a decision or claim to be approved.
Beyond the data, the stories that users are sharing to the CentreStink site also reveal the scale of service breakdown:
"I try calling multiple times throughout the day but only get through rarely, and then I get someone who won't or can't help"
“Had to go in [to a physical office] after having hip surgery as the phone line AI would hang up and then not allow the call to progress through”
"One day I tried several times to ring them with no one answering. I spent about 4-5 hours trying to ring them.”
We will be sending some of these responses directly to Minister Shorten’s office.
Thanks to consecutive governments’ chronic underresourcing and neglect, it’s clear that people on Centrelink are being denied the basic support they need to survive.
We demand that Bill Shorten and his Department immediately address this disaster. In order to boost the capacity of Centrelink, his government should:
Suspend all debt recovery operations, abolish mutual obligations and compliance activities, and deploy all available resources to processing claims and manning the phones.
Significantly increase the staffing levels at services Australia, hire new public service workers with experience using these systems, and immediately agree to the CPSU’s demands for better pay.
Raise the rate above the Henderson Poverty Line, so fewer people need crisis support to begin with.
Media Contact:
Jeremy Poxon / 0404 089 575