[Brad Lockyer]

The federal government is calling on Australians to have their say on the state of Medibank and Centrelink in an online survey as part of an overhaul of ‘human and social services’.

The Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet says “we want to better understand the vision Australians have for service delivery in the future; how people in different communities want to work with the Australian Government in a reimagined service delivery system and what this could mean for how the government operates.”

Basically, they’re looking for your thoughts on service delivery from the government, particularly from Medibank and Centrelink. They’re also asking what human and social services we need in the future to help people live good lives, and how communities, organisations and others can work together to design and deliver services.

I’m sure many of you have a lot to say about both agencies, and their woes have been well-documented. Staffing problems at Centrelink are slowly beginning to improve after large shortages and experts have been calling for Medicare reform for years.

[Robert55]

Centrelink is hopeless. They need a lot more training in their jobs. Everything we have ever applied for has been rejected first then on appeal excepted. Is this a reflection on the quality of the people doing the employing or the people being employed. When we have appealed we are almost always told the people who did the rejection did it wrong. Just for the record the online forms you have to fill out never fit our situation. Centrelink need to get their act together there too.

[David Ryder]

The workers at our local Centrelink office are great. But they seem to be working in a flawed system. Their computer sytem is crap and their data is full of errors.
Centrelink online service is ok when it works and it often doesn’t and is also limited in what it can do.
Their phone service is ok if someone ever answers your call before you give up waiting and go to the office.

[Clelo]

Just reading the above, I thought the mention of ‘Medibank’ was a typo, but it is repeated further on in the text. Do you mean ‘Medicare’?? A National Health System is always going to be a huge weight around any government’s neck, so for it to succeed it has to be properly funded and available, in its entirety, for all people. Currently, that is not the case and, to be fair, the whole system is floundering. So the choice is, fund it and see our taxes increase markedly, or revert to the health insurance practice of the early 80s and before. To adopt the latter would probably see us venture down a path akin to that which exists in the USA and I shudder to think what the outcome would be if that happened, especially to the less financially secure amongst us, probably over half of the population. At the very least, we should be able to insure against the ‘gap’. That would mean putting a ceiling on fees and charges for all medical procedures, not leaving it open-ended as it is at the moment.

With Centrelink, I believe we have it all wrong. Why am I penalized for being judicious throughout my working life in creating some financial security for my retirement. I don’t have a lot and need to watch my spending, but I still can’t get a full pension when I have paid taxes all my life, but others, who have not been so earnest about their savings, get it all. I understand that the ‘fat cats’ should not receive a pension, but I believe the ‘bar’ needs to be raised somewhat to ease eligibility for those at the other end of the scale. It annoys the hell out of me when our elected officials seem to be the only ones who get salary increases commensurate with inflation, pretty much annually. We are told an independent body decides the amount they get, but I wonder who directs them!!

[vinradio]

I find now with centrelink that often the people who answer the phones don’t know the system well enough to give correct answers, and often have to ask a supervisor. It’s fine to employ more staff to answer the phones, but give them proper training.

[mitchell lowe]

well centrelinc is a joke
payments are well below inflation
THE LAST INCREASE WAS $9 a week and yet low income earners just received a tax cut and pay rise 9 times more than pensioners received $74 A WEEK
IF that is what the govt gave the low income earners it shows how badly we the ELDERLY ARE BEING LOOKED AFTER
WE ARE NOT LOOKED AFTER AT ALL
EVERY CPI RISE NY THESE PEOPLE WHO SAY THEY ARE LOOKING AFTER PENSIONERS ARE A
A$74 a WEEK IS $148 A FORTNIGHT AND IF THERE ARE 2 IN THE HOUSE HOLD THATS $298 a fortnight
A MARRIED COUPLe ON THE PENSION GETS $2f6 dollars

[Hammo]

My thoughts are commented upon from a husband who only has a seniors healthcare card but whose wife was in an Agedcare home and subject to both centrelink and Agedcare including being means tested at $50.00 a day.
The Agedcare centrelink coordination is just broken.
The Hank Yongen phone answer time has never been anywhere what is actually happening in real real.
2 hours maybe sometimes but I have had 4 hours ,not irregularly.
Some staff are just fantastic but others have no power to do anything at all.
Misinformation is continual.
The easiest way is to just fing again and get a more experienced person.
How to fix.
The whole dept needs a complete Private sector review.
Management needs to be renewed.
Agedcare should be separated from centrelink in terms of the public face.
The financial advice section of Centrelink should remain untouched as they are fantastic as is their advice.
The new system of staff being able to callback customers is very goon
Cheers

[Gordon Nussey]

The Age Pension is NOT sufficient for a Pensioner to Live ON, it NEEDS to be significantly increased to make it Livable, also, every Pensioner should receive the same amount.
The cut off amounts and the cut off rate should either be raised considerably, or removed completely (as in a Universal Age Pension).

[Roger Seccombe]

Centrelink is VERY under-resourced !!
Sorry if this repeats; wanted to stress: the LNP tried to destroy Centrelink/effective pensions.
The LP MUST adequately resource this essential service. Most of the ‘front-of-house’ staff are great! BUT NEED Help: more resources.

[Author]

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