Services Australia
Transcript
Ms WARE (Hughes) (17:53): I rise to speak on this motion brought by the member for Bradfield. I thank him for doing so. I note that he is absolutely committed to a better system of service for Services Australia. I was here for the tail end of the member for Canberra's speech. I have tremendous respect for the member for Canberra, but, with all due respect, I think she has failed to understand the nature of the motion that has been put by the member for Bradfield and also the supporting statement given by the member for Sturt. It is not the fact that we are objecting to the number of public servants that are now employed by Services Australia. We are saying, 'What are these public servants doing?' because, by their own admission, this Albanese Labor government has vastly increased the number of public servants in this place, by around 36,000, and yet this is what we see.
We are not seeing the service delivery for those public servants that have been employed. We have no objection to there being more public servants, but public servants are here to deliver services, at the end of the day. They're not here just to collect a wage, and they are largely unproductive. The very large increase in the number of public servants has of course led to inefficiencies and government waste, and the massive overspend by this government is still fuelling inflation and the cost-of-living crisis. I note that the member for Canberra has now left the chamber, but I say to the member: of course we know that public departments run on public servants. I was a public servant. I've got tremendous respect for public servants, but why is it that more and more public servants are being employed and the services are not being delivering?
As we have seen in Services Australia's last annual report—the 2023-24 report to which my friend the member for Bradfield refers in his motion—customer satisfaction scores 79 out of 100, against a target of 85. That's a failure. Only 55.2 per cent of customers were served within 15 minutes, against a target of 70 per cent. The percentage of work processed within timeliness standards was 71.8 per cent, against a target of 90 per cent. Finally, only 50.5 per cent of Centrelink claims were processed within their respective timeliness standards. This is the issue that is being raised by the member for Bradfield, and this is the issue that we are speaking about. Wherever these public servants might have been employed, they have not been employed at the coalface to actually deliver results. At the end of the day, that is what the Public Service is there to do.
I hear this every single day from my electorate. I hear from people who have been on the phone to Centrelink. They are frustrated. They're calling my office in tears. They can't get into their myGov app, for example, or they are people that cannot use technology for whatever reason—they may be vision impaired or they may be slightly intellectually disabled—and the phone remains unanswered. This is causing tremendous stress to people who, if they are accessing these levels of government services—
Mr Rob Mitchell interjecting—
Ms WARE: I hear the interjections. I'll be very interested to hear how on earth the honourable member proposes to defend this very damning report that has been handed down.
Mr Rob Mitchell interjecting—
Ms WARE: In my electorate, this is what they're telling me, and I would bet—almost my last dollar—that they are saying the same thing in your electorate. It's the same in Lyons. It's the same across the country.
Mr Rob Mitchell: You're saying these people should use the internet?
Ms WARE: No. I'm not saying that people should use the internet; I am saying—
The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Mr Wilkie ): Order! This is not the place for a conversation between two honourable members. Please direct your comments through the chair.
Ms WARE: Deputy Speaker, in the interest of clarity, for those that have not understood what I think is a very simple proposition: there has been a great increase in the number of public servants that are working in this department, but there has not been the corresponding level of service delivery. People in my electorate say to me they can't use myGov and nobody answers the phone, and the figures in this survey bear this out. This government has failed on government services.