2016-06-28
A crackdown on welfare compliance is a disingenuous rehash of previous announcements when the Government should focus on repairing the broken Centrelink system, Australian Greens Senator Rachel Siewert said today.
“The Government has once again spruiked a crackdown on fraudulence and overpayment, but on the ground we know many people can’t adjust their payments because it is near impossible to access Centrelink on the phone or on-line.
“After 22 million missed calls last year amongst other issues, there are many Australian’s accessing income support of some form, be it Family Tax Benefit, Paid Parental Leave, Disability Support Pension, Youth Allowance, Newstart, Carers Allowance, who feel extremely frustrated. The missed calls are just the tip of the iceberg.
“I urge the Government to stop constantly vilifying Australian’s accessing income support and properly fund staffing and Centrelink infrastructure so that our most vulnerable get the support they need”.