Basics of government: Call wait times drop at Centrelink, claims processed faster
Australians are getting money from the government faster and spending less time on the phone or in waiting rooms, fresh data reveals.
Government Services Minister Bill Shorten says the improvements over the past six months justify a mammoth investment to beef up the number of public servants answering calls and processing claims for payments ranging from disaster support to paid parental leave and aged pensions.
Average times for processing claims have fallen across the board — in some cases by 90 per cent — compared with the end of 2023. They’re also down since the 2018-19 financial year, the best pre-COVID comparison point.
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Congestion messaging, when people are told that staff are too busy to answer their call and given the option to use online or automated services, was at nearly 4.4 million calls in the January to March quarter.
It had dropped to 929,824 by the July-September quarter.
Mr Shorten said it was vital the governments do the basics right for people like answering the phone and processing payments in a timely manner.
“When you see disenchantment with government, it’s when you can’t do the basics right. This is the real world,” he said.
“The complaint level being recorded by MPs has halved. I think it adds to, generally, the texture of whether or not people feel they’re getting attention.”
However, he and Services Australia officials emphasised there was still more work to do to get claim processing and wait times down further.
Services Australia has put on an extra 3000 staff since the budget in a bid to get on top of a massive backlog of claims.
Mr Shorten said with the backlog under control, staff could start improving the turnaround time for more complex claims, which required greater training.
Services Australia will publish detailed quarterly data about its performance online, starting with the release on Monday evening of data for the first three quarters of 2024.
