THE HON LINDA BURNEY

SHADOW MINISTER FOR HUMAN SERVICES

SHADOW MINISTER FOR PREVENTING FAMILY VIOLENCE
ACTING SHADOW MINISTER FOR FAMILIES AND SOCIAL SERVICES
MEMBER FOR BARTON

LABOR TO INVEST IN 1200 PERMANENT DHS JOBS

A Shorten Labor Government will invest $196 million in 1200 new permanent and full-
time Department of Human Services staff around the country, improving waiting times
and services Australians rely on.

In the last two years alone, the Liberals have cut about 2,500 permanent jobs from
Centrelink.

They’ve tried to hide their cuts with temporary, outsourced jobs and now expect a pat on
the back for doing so.

The Liberals’ obsession with privatising Centrelink and Medicare staff has left morale at
an all-time low and has consequences for service delivery, insecure working
arrangements, reduced working conditions and privacy.

For too long, people have had to spend hours in queues, on hold, or forced to use
inflexible Government websites while being neglected by the Liberals.

Under the Liberals, call wait times and payment processing times have blown out
substantially – in 2016-17, there were 55 million unanswered calls to Centrelink, more
than double the 22 million in 2014-15.

Centrelink programs and income support are complex, which is why it’s so important to
have permanent staff who are properly trained and skilled.

The additional jobs Labor has announced will go some way to restoring the Liberals’
harsh cuts, which have hurt Australians who rely on critical services.

Among the new jobs will be specialist roles the Liberals have axed, including Indigenous
customer service officers, Indigenous support officers, multilingual roles, and outreach
roles.

These new jobs will not only improve service delivery, but will boost the local economies
where they are situated. More information about the location and structure of these
roles will be announced.

Labor can make this commitment because of responsible savings we’ve made
elsewhere in the public service, including reining in wasteful spending on contractors
and consultants, which has blown out significantly under the Liberals.

THURSDAY, 9 AUGUST 2018

MEDIA CONTACT: DARYL TAN (BURNEY) 0422 028 222