FAMILIES IN BARKER SOUTH AUSTRALIA KEPT ON HOLD AT CENTRELINK DURING COST OF LIVING CRISIS

Residents in the electorate of Barker are among almost 2 million Australians who tried calling Centrelink between 2023-24 financial year for support but were kept on hold for longer than 60 minutes.

New Services Australia telephony figures tabled at Senate Estimates also reveal that call wait times across a range of categories have continued to worsen.

Member for Barker, Tony Pasin said the figures are disgraceful and demonstrate that Labor has no idea how to fix this mess.

“Call wait times continue to skyrocket during the cost of living crisis and struggling families are paying the price,” Mr Pasin said. 

These figures expose Minister Bill Shorten’s failures. Australians deserve a Minister committed to improving the customer experience not one waiting out time until he moves onto his next lucrative gig.

“I repeat my calls for there to be a root and branch of review Services Australia’s operations to improve this crucial agency’s performance.”

Tony Pasin said the latest data confirmed the Albanese Labor Government was not focused on supporting local families with the cost of living.

“It’s beggars’ belief that as families in Barker are struggling, they’re having to wait longer just to speak to a real person at Centrelink,” Mr Pasin said.

“I’ll continue to call out these bad decisions and wrong priorities from Labor on behalf of our community, and I encourage anyone who is having trouble getting government payments and services to contact my office.”

The below table shows the number of people kept on hold for longer than 60 minutes during the 2023-24 financial year and reveals that 1 in 5 Australians waited on hold for more than 60 minutes when calling the Social Security & Welfare Line.

The below table compares average speed to answer (ASA) (the average time it takes for a call waiting in the queue to be answered) figures at Centrelink for different time periods. The figures are displayed as minutes and seconds.