more than 600,000 Australians kept on hold by Centrelink for over an hour

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

THE HON PAUL FLETCHER MP

Shadow Minister for Government Services and the Digital Economy

Shadow Minister for Science and the Arts

Manager of Opposition Business in the House

Almost 601,000 Australians who tried calling Centrelink between 1 January 2024 and 1 May 2024 for support were kept on hold for longer than 60 minutes, despite multiple assurances from the Albanese Labor Government that call wait times would improve.

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

Shadow Minister for Government Services Paul Fletcher 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 Fletcher said. 

“Government Services Minister Bill Shorten is hopeless and these figures expose his failures. Australians deserve a Minister committed to improving the customer experience.

“Bill Shorten needs to stop using expensive spin doctors and start working to improve service levels.

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

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.

It was also revealed that from 1 January 2024 to 1 May 2024, 1,158,196 Australians hung up with Services Australia before they were able to speak to a human being.