Coronavirus: Centrelink at breaking point as hundreds queue, thousands call and website crashes
Extraordinary scenes as thousands line up outside Centrelink offices, jam phone lines and website.
The MyGov website was inaccessible on Monday amid an unprecedented spike in demand for welfare support during the coronavirus pandemic, and Scott Morrison warned many more people would lose their jobs.
Thousands of people queued outside Centrelink offices across the country in an effort to get access to promised government support.
The Morrison government has directed hundreds of thousands of people to MyGov to start the application process for benefits – which has been nearly doubled as part of Scott Morrison’s $66bn economic rescue package.
Problems with MyGov came as Centrelink offices around the nation saw massive queues following the national cabinet’s decision to shut down bars, clubs, casinos, cinemas, gyms and churches.
An emotional Prime Minister told the House of Representatives this morning that the Centrelink demand was “unimaginable” and more pain would come.
“Across Australia today many thousands of Australians will lose their jobs. They are lining up at Centrelink offices as we speak,” he said.
“Something unimaginable at this scale only weeks ago. They have lost their jobs, many, and we know many more will.
“This is the biggest economic shock our nation has faced in generations.”
Government Services Minister Stuart Robert claimed the site didn’t crash, but was the victim of a malicious cyber attack.
The government had increased the number of users able to access the site at any one time from 6000 users to 55,000 users. Mr Robert said if more than 55,000 people tried to use it, they would be unable to.
Mr Robert’s office said people who did not currently get income support or didn’t have a Centrelink customer reference number could start a claim online through MyGov if they needed help.
Proof of identity could be done over the phone.
Existing eligible Centrelink customers will automatically be paid the economic support payment (2 x $750) or coronavirus supplement payment ($550 per fortnight).
Labor MP Tim Watts, formerly Labor’s assistant cyber security spokesman, said the notion of there being a cyber attack on the myGov site was “bullshit”.
“No one believes this,” he tweeted. “This is the most pathetic excuse imaginable for the failure of the Morrison government to plan for an entirely foreseeable surge in user demand. Crying DDOS (distributed denial of service) in this situation will rightly be laughed at by everyone with the most basic technical competence. JUST DO YOUR JOB!”
This is the most pathetic excuse imaginable for the failure of the Morrison government to plan for an entirely foreseeable surge in user demand.
— Tim Watts MP (@TimWattsMP) March 23, 2020
Crying DDOS in this situation will rightly be laughed at by everyone with the most basic technical competence.
JUST DO YOUR JOB! https://t.co/7Zgbfkn6TX
Long queues outside Centrelink offices
About 100 people waited outside Melbourne’s Prahran Centrelink to provide identification documents and get a Customer Reference Number, to allow them to claim the government’s payment package as their work shuts down.
Brad Donald came to the Centrelink office at 7.50am to get his Customer Reference Number and after waiting two and a half hours is almost at the ramp of the building.
”I’m surprised there’s not a bigger line to be honest,” he said.
Mr Donald works at Top Paddock cafe and has been working for 12 years, most of it in hospitality.
He’s never claimed Centrelink and came today after seeing the announcement on social media.
He said $550 a fortnight wouldn’t have got him through and the new package of $1100 would be enough to pay rent and make a few bills go away.
Mr Donald said it would have been easier to register online and spared Centrelink staff time and abuse.
“I’m sure they’re going to cop it,” he said.
Kira waited more than two-and-a-half hours and expects to wait a few more.
She now works in hospitality and events but has previously been on Centrelink however can’t access her CRN.
“It’s that nature of the business,” she said. She said she was impressed that someone from Centrelink had walked out and spoken to people about the process, why it was taking so long and answered questions.
“The only thing I think they could have done better was not advertised that they had doubled the payment,” she said.
“I think that is a considerable amount but if it was $550 plus rental assistance, I think I could have lived with that.”
One man in the line asked where the money was coming from and was laughed at by everyone in the line around.
When told the money was coming from him in the future, the group again laughed.
“I thought so,” he said.
While waiting in line several marked and unmarked police cars drove by but people were waiting in an orderly fashion.
Union wants extra payments
ACTU president Michele O’Neil has called for the proposed doubling of welfare payments from April 27 to be brought forward and made available immediately.
Ms O’Neil said the timetable for the $550 a fortnight increase in the JobSeeker payment was “way too slow”.
She said the government needed to implement more direct measures to try to keep more employees in work.
She said Australia should follow the United Kingdom and subsidise 80 per cent of wages to keep workers in jobs.
Job losses soar
More than 1500 jobs and 8000 shifts have been lost across the hospitality sector, with unions urging the government to pay displaced employees a $2500 emergency payment and a weekly $740 minimum wage for the rest of 2020.
Data compiled by the United Workers Union shows 1527 jobs and 7926 shift had disappeared as at 10am on Monday, compared to 1143 jobs and 6000 shifts lost as at 5pm on Sunday. An estimated $1.27 million in wages has been lost as at Monday morning.
The union’s national secretary Tim Kennedy said the hospitality industry was in meltdown and 79 per cent of the workforce were casuals with no access to paid leave.
“We are hearing horror stories daily from our members across all industries of the impacts of losing work. We know hospitality is already one of the most insecure industries, with wage theft and exploitation of workers widespread,” he said.
“Hospitality workers need urgent action now or we will find they are not able to pay their bills, put food on their tables or keep a roof over their heads.
“That is why we are calling on the Federal Government to step in immediately and make available a $2500 emergency payment plus a basic income payment while they are out of work of $740 per week (federal minimum wage) for at least the rest of 2020.”
Additional reporting: Ewin Hannan, Rosie Lewis
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