IT appears it will be some time before anyone from Centrelink or the Turnbull Government admits it, but Centrelink’s effort to recover “debt” from tens of thousands of welfare recipients has been poorly conceived and executed.
Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, Human Services Minister Alan Tudge was yesterday continuing to insist that “the system is working”.
The system is not working. The Government will ignore the public outcry at its peril.
It is therefore a terrible time for Centrelink to cut back on frontline services in the community.
News that the number of frontline staff at the agency’s Huonville office has been cut from two to one — after being reduced from six some years back — is difficult to understand.
On the surface at least, it appears a retrograde step from a government agency which is supposedly in the business of supporting some of the most vulnerable members of the community.
The Centrelink office at Huonville supports a large geographical area with pockets of pronounced socio-economic disadvantage.
Much of the Huon is poorly served by mobile phone and internet services.
Some Centrelink clients struggle with literacy and many either struggle with, or do not have access to, a computer.
It should be obvious that face-to-face contact is an important way of making sure that Centrelink clients are receiving the right advice and benefits, are aware of and are meeting their responsibilities, and are not being overpaid.
Centrelink’s decision to slash services to this community risks transferring the burden of helping the growing number of people with thorny Centrelink-related issues on to the area’s already stretched community organisations. Some people may fall through the gaps and fall foul of the debt-recovery process or find themselves otherwise in breach of Centrelink’s rules.