Centrelink and Medicare wait times in Werribee to be slashed under federal Labor plan
Welfare wait times in Melbourne’s west will be slashed under a federal Labor plan to boost staff numbers. Here’s what’s planned for the quick fix.
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Wait times at Centrelink and Medicare in Werribee will be slashed under a federal Labor plan to beef-up staff numbers.
The Opposition today announced it would fund 40 extra full time positions at the busy office to help drive the queue to move quicker.
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There are nearly 13,000 age pensioners in the Lalor electorate, as well as 5000 disability support pension recipients and more than 22,000 people on family tax benefits.
Announcing the boost in Werribee today, human services spokesman Ed Husic said the new jobs would largely be local service delivery and call centre roles that would also provide support for people nationwide.
“Medicare and Centrelink services help people when they need it most — medical rebates for the sick, processing aged care pensions, child care support, disability support pensions and carer’ allowance payments,” he said.
Lalor federal Labor MP Joanne Ryan said too often people had been forced to wait months for their pensions to be processed or left on hold for hours for their phone call to be answered.
She said there were more than 2000 young people receiving youth allowance in Lalor but they had been left in limbo as processing wait times soared.
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“As a former teacher and principal, I’ve seen first-hand the challenges and obstacles that young people in Lalor face in accessing further education,” she said.
“When our young people qualify for support in the form of youth allowance payments, they should receive it in a reasonable time — not at the end of the first semester of their university study.”
She said Labor’s commitment to fund 40 new permanent staff at the Werribee Centrelink office would ensure locals got the support they needed in a timely manner.
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