Centrelink has a communication problem

My case officer at Centrelink has told me that they are not allowed to send or receive emails and the same rule applies with text messages. Apparently they don’t want to commit to anything in writing.

This is compounded by the fact that it is near impossible to get through to them on the phone, and if one attends a Centrelink office, they are usually told to contact the uncontactable phone number.

I am a bit luckier than most, though. Since I went on Sunrise, A Current Affair and 7 News with my problem, and it made the national and international print media, I have been given a “personalised services” phone number and a dedicated case officer. This is code for “problem customer.” That means that I can get through to somebody in a matter of minutes.

The downside of that is that is that my local member of parliament, Labor duty senator, other MP and senators, and even Minister Bill Shorten are also unable to get any information about my case, and now refuse to take my calls about the matter. I can call them about other matters, but not about my problem with Centrelink.

This is apparently all in the legislation, though nobody can actually point me to where this legislation is. Or explain how Centrelink get to deny information to members of parliament, even the minister.

Which takes us back to why there is legislation and procedures that prevent Centrelink from communicating with their customers. In the old days, you could just call your local Centrelink office, and speak to somebody who knew you, and the details of your history with them.

Then the Howard government stopped this, and introduced national call centres. This was the beginning of the downhill slide. You never knew who you were going to speak to, if you miraculously managed to get through to somebody, and you had to explain your whole case history every time.

Again, I was a little luckier than most. In a previous job as manager of an Aboriginal corporation, I had exposed massive fraud by Centrelink staff, which had led to threatening phone calls which the minister at the time believed may have come from other Centrelink staff.

I was given a restricted record, which meant only three Centrelink staff members, nominated by me, could access my record, and nobody else. I nominated three staff members from my local office, and was given their direct phone numbers and emails.

I got to know them all quite well, and even they agreed they would prefer the old way of doing things, where any Centrelink customer could deal directly with their local office. Apparently these procedures are a nightmare for staff in local offices.

A couple of years ago, under the Morrison government, restricted records were changed. We could no longer call our local office, and had to call a national call centre, where dozens of staff members now had access to our records, and they could grant access to anybody they felt like granting access to.

These days, it is virtually impossible to deal with Centrelink, and this seems to have been a deliberate tactic by the Morrison government. Staff are no longer allowed to send emails or text messages, and phone calls are next to impossible.

One can only assume this was meant to discourage people from using Centrelink, and preventing people from complaining about problems they had. Many have just given up, as without communication channels, no organisation can operate efficiently or effectively.

I have managed many organisations in the past, and taught management at RTOs and as a corporate trainer with some of the largest companies in the world, including Walmart, IBM and Volvo-Geely. Communication is central to an organisation’s survival, and every organisation I have worked with sought ways to make communication with customers easier.

Not Centrelink, though. They have virtually eliminated communication with their customers.

This lack of communication serves Centrelink well. Complaints about bad decisions cannot be referred to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) unless there has been an internal review by Centrelink first.

Because it is virtually impossible to ask for an internal review, it is virtually impossible to make an appeal to the AAT. It would be safe to assume that hundreds of thousands of bad decisions never get reviewed, and never get to the AAT, because the Morrison government made communication with Centrelink so difficult.

Was this by design, or simply the result of bad administrative skills by the previous government? Or was it both?

Whatever the answer, Ministers Amanda Rishworth and Bill Shorten need to fix it. When I contacted Minster Rishworth’s office to suggest this, her staff told me it was legislation, and the minister couldn’t change legislation. Isn’t this exactly what ministers are there to do?

Legislation is changed at every sitting of parliament, so there is no reason this legislation can’t be changed as well. Labor have been in power for almost a year, but have done nothing about communication channels at Centrelink.

Fair enough, they have to fix massive problems with almost every government department, created by the former government, so it could take some time. The least they could do, however, is commit to fixing this problem.

To date, Labor have not done that.

Craig Hill is a Brisbane-based Social Justice Campaigner, Writer, Teacher and Business Consultant. He has campaigned for social justice in Australia, promoted human rights in China and worked with the homeless in Honolulu. He holds a Graduate Certificate in Education and a degree in Management.