Op-Ed - Daily Telegraph, 21 March 2024 - Review is needed for better Services

In this cost-of-living crisis, many Australians are doing it tough and need to turn to Services Australia to apply for help, such as with JobSeeker or the Low Income Card. Services Australia is supposed to offer a quick, convenient one-stop shop for Australians needing support.

But all too often today, dealing with Services Australia is a source of extra stress, anxiety and pressure for Australians in their hour of need.

The figures speak for themselves.

As at December 31 2023, it took someone over 52 minutes on average to speak with a staff member on the Families and Parenting Line compared to 24 minutes under the Coalition for the financial year of 2021-22.

Processing times for Centrelink payments aren’t any better. People applying for the Low Income Card are waiting five times longer compared to when the Coalition was in government.

These worrying figures should come as no surprise, given some of the bad decisions made by the Albanese Government since taking office.

For example, the current government cut a major contract with specialist call centre operator Serco in June 2023, resulting in some 600 call centre jobs being cut.

This clearly contributed to call wait times having blown out so badly.

For months, I have been calling for there to be a root and branch review of Services Australia’s operations, so we can determine the agency’s underlying problems, and take steps to improve its performance.

A review would put politics aside and put the needs of Australians first.

Given the vast number of other reviews being undertaken by the current government, it makes no sense for Services Australia to avoid scrutiny.

My calls have fallen on deaf ears.

Instead, the Albanese Government has thrown money at the issue by announcing it will recruit 3000 extra staff.

This comes after one of this government’s first acts was to cut staffing by nearly 2000 people.

One thing the government has not yet said much about: funding for these new staff runs out at the end of this financial year.

Why isn’t Services Australia doing more to use technology, which has worked well in the private sector, to give customers a better experience?

The fact is fixing things at Services Australia will take time and patience. It won’t happen overnight.

And before things can be fixed, there must be a clear diagnosis of the cause of Services Australia’s problems.

Only then can there be a road map to fix the problems.

Without this diagnosis, the very real risk is that service levels continue to get worse – causing unnecessary stress and angst for millions of Australians.

That is why a root and branch review is needed right now.

Paul Fletcher is Shadow Minister for Government Services in the Australian Parliament