LPT: if anybody needs to but can’t get through to Centrelink, go into one of the services Australia branch. If they can’t fix your problem, they’ll connect you to an internal number which doesn’t just hang up on you.
It’s fucking disgraceful that they don’t even answer the phone anymore. Seriously one of the stupidest things they’ve rolled out. There’s no ifs or buts about it, it’s disgusting and needs to stop.
You can also try calling the complaints number and they can do the same thing as the branch people, but I’ve heard conflicting reports about this. It used to be how you had to get through, but I’ve heard recently that sometimes that number just hangs up on you too. But if they do answer, they’ll will usually just put you through to a non hanging up number, at least if it means you won’t make them do the paperwork to lodge a complaint.
Also, when you do get through, please try to remember that they’re just minimum wage people doing a shitty job. They don’t make the phones hang up on you, and they aren’t the reason your claims take months to process, or you were underpaid, or whatever’s gone wrong. You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. You can express your annoyance to them, but abusing or yelling at them doesn’t fix the problem, and won’t make them answer quicker.
If you really want somebody to yell at, write a letter or email to your local MP. Or the minister for social services. Or anyone else who’s penny pinching tactics caused this whole mess
Also remember you’ll get through this soon, even though it doesn’t feel like it in the moment
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its amazing how i had the exact same issue 24 years ago.
fuck centrelink and every government that have come and gone since. also fuck their enablers in the media.
i guess the only thing that has improved is now you have a mobile with speaker phone and still get shit done around the house while on hold… we only had a tethered landline and had to sit there like a chump (also had to walk 15 miles through knee deep snow to stand in line to submit your forms! but the freak show was hilarious).
knee deep snow
Um, snow here? Where was this centrelink? Up top of Mount Clifford?
Instead of snow, are you sure it wasn’t asbestos? Theres lots of that in certain places around here.
Also, when you do get through, please try to remember that they’re just minimum wage people doing a shitty job. They don’t make the phones hang up on you, and they aren’t the reason your claims take months to process, or you were underpaid, or whatever’s gone wrong. You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. You can express your annoyance to them, but abusing or yelling at them doesn’t fix the problem, and won’t make them answer quicker.
You can also ask for a supervisor if you’re having a communication problem with the first person you speak to. Centrelink staff don’t know anything about your personal circumstances beyond what it says on their screen, which can be incorrect or just using department terminology that means something different to what it sounds like at face value. For example, depending on how long you’ve been submitting medical certificates due to a temporary mental illness, they may start rejecting them and referring to your mental illness as “permanent”. They will try to tell you that medical records you’ve submitted indicate that you have a permanent disability, even if you’ve never submitted any medical records or testimony that suggest this. In this kind of situation it can be helpful to get a supervisor to clearly explain how their internal system works and why you have been moved to what they call the “permanent” stream, instead of just getting these out of context brick wall responses of “well on this date you told us you had a permanent disability” that make absolutely zero sense.
Perhaps there was a better way to phrase it, but I meant that their job is shitty, not that they themselves do shitty (quality) work
I wasn’t disagreeing with anything you said, though I have witnessed Centrelink staff putting a minimum amount of effort in when dealing with clients over the phone. Just sharing information that may help others get something out of a phone call that seems like it’s going nowhere.
The system is designed to drive people over the edge, so the workers cop the simmering frustration in the face every time someone does get through, which completely disengages them, causes them to put in minimal effort and thus drives more people over the edge as they’re mishandled.
Fucking machiavelli is creaming his goddamn jeans rn
The system is designed to drive people over the edge
Particularly when it comes to JobSeeker. The entire system is just filled with these arbitrary hoops and roadblocks designed to make people give up instead of actually helping them find work they are capable of keeping long-term. All the while you have the rest of the population, from major party politicians to the general public, who are fortunate enough to have never been in a position to deal with this system, dictating a completely fictitious narrative to the people who have lived experience with it. To be honest, I try not to dwell on it too much because the whole thing is sickeningly evil.
My mum was hit by a car while she was riding her bike when she was young, and growing up as a young girl in the 70s, she was told there was nothing wrong with her and wasn’t taken to a hospital or doctor for many weeks. She ended up suffering debilitating injuries to her back and hips, and by the time I was born when she was in her 30s, she couldn’t work. I remember quite distinctly that I was with her when she had to go into Centrelink, and they told her that she could not be classed as disabled because if she got a hip replacement, she’d probably be able to work again. So she stayed on Newstart, and whatever Newstart was before it was called Newstart.
Every week she had to go into those stupid job agency network things for a whopping 5 minutes so they could ask her if she had any changes in circumstance and then “sorry, no jobs for you. Come back next week”.
Obviously the thing about not being classed as not disabled/unable to work was probably BS, or at least misleading, but she didn’t know how to navigate the system, so she just did the best she could, hobbling down to the job agency every week and reporting “I have not earnt any income” to Centrelink every fortnight.
The people running that shitshow are scumbags. They know what they’re doing. That’s kind of what happens when you put people with a “fuckin lazy bludgers want to get paid for doing nothing sitting on their arses all days, while I’m out here doing REAL work” mentality in charge of the system.
My mum has her own problems, and didn’t always handle things very well, but as I’ve gotten older and had to deal with more aspects of the system myself, I understand why people get burnt out, give up, and can’t muster up the energy or time to fight the system on every single thing they need to do to survive
Fair enough, my apologies. It seemed like you interpreted my line referring to them as people making minimum wage doing shitty work as accusing the staff of always doing shitty work.
Nah not at all, the majority of the conversations I’ve had or witnessed with Centrelink staff have been positive ones.
Me too
Centrelink is long overdue to be entirely scrubbed out.
Seriously. They keep pointing at “dole bludgers” and screaming about how much money they’re costing, meanwhile they waste billions on just paying the staff and maintaining the robot systems that “weed out” people who don’t need any assistance (along with thousands who do), while not even getting rid of half of them.
In every system, there comes a point where it’s cheaper to just deal with people exploiting it after the fact, than to invest in systems to prevent those people. And when you factor in the suffering of real people in need, we crossed that point years ago
Centrelink is an absolute blight on the country
That’s the point of running it so poorly. Axe another public service and idiots will thank them for it.
Or, wild idea. Get a job
Seriously though, there is a multitude of other reasons why people might be calling centrelink
What about those calling centerlink to sort of maternity leave because their employer screwed them out of job whilst pregnant? What about people who were stood down cause of the economy and needing support to get back on their feet? Also, and hear me out on this one, what about you not being a fuckhead?
If most cunts got jobs wait times would be less for actual use cases.
You can’t tell me you don’t know of someone on the doll who’s capable of working but doesn’t
You can’t tell me you don’t know of someone on the doll who’s capable of working but doesn’t
Genuinely? No. I dont. I don’t know anyone on the doll at all. My own interactions with centerlink have been extremely limited but all legitimate and I get screwed like everyone else seems to.
I’m not saying people don’t rort the system. I’m not saying that we shouldnt do something about those that do. I am saying people are falling through the gaps who have a genuine need and thats a real issue, but your focus seems to be more on those doing the wrong thing and ignoring those who need help!
Hence, kindly, I suggest you get some perspective and stop making love to your own skull!
Wow! Why didn’t they think of that???
You’re becoming a bit of a revolutionary here! Maybe you should figure out how to solve world hunger next…
Yeah just eat more, it’s simple man
Honestly, the majority of people I know on Centrelink CHOOSE to work minimal hours, but are fully capable of working full time… Or, simply choose not to work because they want a specific job
That doesn’t apply to everyone (I know tradies with silicosis now as an example who were CRAZY hard workers but can’t work). And I know people with genuine mental issues who need more help there or are disabled
There is definitely a lot of abuse in the system as it stands unfortunately and making Centrelink less of an inconvenience doesn’t really make a lot of sense…
They’d be far better off spending that money on mental health funding, or Parks VIC (our parks at the moment are mainly supported by volunteers)
There is definitely a lot of abuse in the system as it stands unfortunately and making Centrelink less of an inconvenience doesn’t really make a lot of sense…
there is abuse of the NDIS too, but what do we do, stuff the NDIS participants and throw the baby out with the bathwater?
Needs to be managed a shit ton better, I agree. But we cant screw those who are vulnerable who are doing the right thing for “justice”.
Are we actually screwing people though, or simply inconveniencing them though? They can still get in contact… Just not as quickly.
That’s my point…
Centrelink doesn’t necessarily need to provide FAST service… I can’t imagine anything they do is an actual emergency.
Whereas, there are so many services we have that are for ACTUAL emergencies, and require fast service, where the money would save lives.
or simply inconveniencing them though
Screwing. 100% screwing.
An inconvenience is not being able to get someone on the phone in minutes or hours. Screwing is making someone spend days, weeks or months trying to get you on the phone and navigate a system that’s supposed to help them, not hurt them.
My dad isn’t at pension age yet and has been struggling the last few years whilst being a full time carer of my grandmother. It has often taken days to weeks of calling to get through and weeks to months get things approved.
Whereas, there are so many services we have that are for ACTUAL emergencies, and require fast service, where the money would save lives.
You have this so backwards.
Centrelink saves lives. Support saves lives. Welfare saves lives.
If you don’t support people then they end up having to use the emergency services. Is it cheaper to support people before the need emergency services rather than after. You can’t house all the unemployed, disabled, pensioners, veterans (and other people I’ve probably forgotten) in emergency wards, these people don’t magically end up fed, housed and cared for if make Centrelink and related services a nightmare to deal with.
My dad has been keeping my grandmother out of hospital. She’s now in a nursing home, funded mostly by government, that is keeping her out of hospital. It is extremely costly to put her in a hospital bed.
"Waiting times for calls to Services Australia have ballooned with average times on hold to Centrelink growing to just over half an hour. Not months. Not even hours… And you can do it whilst on hands free…
I’d prefer instead that they put more money towards public health (and that would help your grandma a lot more). Or hire more police. Or even better training for the suicide helplines.
In fact, instead of hiring another phone operator, you could even hire someone instead to provide free training to hundreds of Australians in industries with insufficient workers for each year, for the same cost. Hiring lots of new workers to reduce wait time by 20mins isn’t life changing… Providing free training to hundreds of people would be however.
Nurses and teachers are also overworked, so supplementing them with more people to reduce burnout is also super important. Parks VIC is understaffed too, and in practice, Friends of Parks is doing a lot of the work currently.
I know its not a popular opinion, but a 30minute wait time on a phone, is NOT a big deal, and it certainly isn’t life changing imho
I hope you’re a bot, because otherwise one day you’ll need it and when you do I wish you a thousand delays just to pay with karma your shitty behavior
Nah not a bot, just someone who’s worked their whole life and can’t see why we should support laziness.
But you’re such a nice person, wishing I’ll on others certainly something that would bring about positive Karma I’m sure.
Tell me you’re a boomer without saying you’re a boomer.
Nah sorry my dude, millennial.
That’s by birth. Deep inside you know who you relate to.
My family
Technically correct, the best type of correct
