The Hon Michael Keenan MP
Wait times on some of Centrelink’s busiest phone lines are plummeting thanks to the Coalition Government’s investment in an extra 2750 call centre workers.
About half of the 2750 new staff have completed their training and are now helping to answer tens of thousands of additional customer calls each week. This boost has resulted in an 11-minute reduction in wait times on Centrelink’s employment services line and a four-minute improvement on the families line.
Minister for Human Services and Digital Transformation Michael Keenan said the early results were extremely encouraging and proved that the use of private call centre workers was an effective and efficient way to improve customer service at Centrelink.
“These new workers have been with us for just a few short months, but already we are seeing dramatic improvements on some of our busiest phone lines, which will be welcome news for the more than 1 million Australians who call Centrelink every week,” Minister Keenan said.
“We have also achieved a 42 per cent reduction in the number of engaged signals experienced by callers – something that I have been determined to eliminate since taking on the Human Services portfolio just over a year ago.
“With more than 1000 extra staff still to come on-board over the next few months, I am confident we can deliver even more remarkable results as the year goes on.”
Average wait times across all of the Department of Human Services’ phone lines reduced by 45 seconds during 2018 to 15 minutes and 15 seconds, which is below the target time of 16 minutes. The number of calls transferred to another operator also reduced by 28 per cent during the year.
“But despite this success, Labor is threatening to undermine our efforts if it wins the next election by sacking the 2750 extra workers engaged by the Coalition Government,” Minister Keenan said.
“Labor says it will replace these workers with just 1200 public servants, which represents a net loss of 1550 staff. That can only lead to longer wait times and more customer frustration.
“It will also increase the pressures on our entire workforce who already work incredibly hard to meet the needs of more than six million Australians who access Centrelink services each year.”
Labor introduced the use of contract call-centre workers at the Australian Tax Office when it was last in Government – a model that continues to work well today. Some of the companies now working for Centrelink are the same companies that Labor engaged in 2008.
“Whilst the Coalition Government is getting on with the job of improving services for the Australian people, Bill Shorten and the Labor Party’s plan is to slash jobs at Centrelink and increase call wait times,” Minister Keenan said.
“Let’s not forget that Labor Party slashed more than 4,800 jobs from the Department of Human Services when they were last in office. Labor cannot be trusted.”
