E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
2GB RADIO SYDNEY
TUESDAY 30 JULY 2024
SUBJECTS: Services Australia claim and call wait times reduced
CHRIS O’KEEFE, HOST: I got a press release this morning from Bill Shorten's office, and it was curious to me because the headline said this: Services Australia slashes claims and wait times. Now is this true? 131873, because when you've been on the phone to Services Australia, have you had your claims sorted and have you had your on hold wait times slashed like Minister says you have?
Because we've been on this for the last couple of weeks, and the most recent data that we were provided by the opposition back in June showed that it took 400% longer for prescription shopping claims to be processed by Services Australia under the Albanese Labor government than it did the Coalition government. And it's up from nine days in 2021/2022 to 4 days, 45 days sorry, on the most recent figures. So, from nine days to 45 days. Aged care claims, the wait time blowout was 345%. Medicare eligibility claims, 242% longer, you're waiting. PBS patient refunds. 215% longer. Services Australia were also sitting on more than 232,000 claims that would yet to be processed after more than 90 days, so they weren't even in the system yet. And it didn't end there. Almost 601,000 Australians who tried calling Centrelink between January 1st and May 1st this year, January 1st, and May 1st, 601,000 Australians, they were on hold for longer than an hour. Now, Minister Shorten, he reckons that it's all been fixed or maybe not fixed, but certainly it's on the turnaround. He's on the line for us, Minister. G'day.
BILL SHORTEN, MINISTER FOR THE NDIS AND GOVERNMENT SERVICES Hey. G'day, Chris.
O’KEEFE: Um, you reckon it's on the turnaround? You reckon it's on the improve? What proof have you got?
SHORTEN: Oh, just the numbers, mate. Listen, I am sure let me say this at the outset to your listeners, there’s a lot of problems, okay? I ain't saying we reached Utopia at all or Nirvana, but on behalf of the thousands of extra staff that we put into Services Australia, they're doing a very good job. Listen, I hear you're reading out the opposition propaganda and they, of course, pick the Covid benchmark. And during Covid we even solved homelessness. There was no one homeless. But I think what a lot of people thought, including the previous government, was that things would go back to, I don't know, pre-COVID, but it hasn't.
What we've done is put in thousands of extra humans back into human services, and the reality is that my crew are doing a good job and nothing's perfect and I want to see some further improvements. But on the other hand, when the news is good, yeah, I'm going to run it up the flagpole and say that, yep, we are doing better than we were doing.
O’KEEFE: 601,000 Australians kept on hold for longer than 60 minutes. I've had my own experience, Minister. When I ring, they say, hey, look, we're too busy and it just hangs up on me.
SHORTEN: The congestion rate, so - and I'm sorry that you had that experience. Well, I tell you what –
O’KEEFE: Well, it’s not just me.
SHORTEN: Well, no, no, but you raised yourself, so I'm saying sorry to you, and that's just a human thing to do, it's not an arrogant thing to do.
O’KEEFE: I appreciate that, thanks.
SHORTEN: I know that. Thank you. But the reality is, congestion rates are decreasing. The truth of the matter is that for too long we viewed human services, delivery of government services to people, as something that can simply be all put online or replaced by some new marvellous software. That's not the truth. I was able to convince my colleagues and the cabinet to give me thousands of extra people, because if you want to call answered, or if you want a payment process, you still need a human. And what we're seeing are some improvements.
O’KEEFE: Here's Peter on the text line, Minister. Hey, Chris, I've been attempting for ten days to get on to Services New South Wales. I just tried again, and they hung up on me. That's Peter.
SHORTEN: Well, Services New South Wales, as you well know, Chris, is the New South Wales government.
O’KEEFE: Services Australia, sorry.
SHORTEN: Oh okay. Well do you know what, let's get his details and we'll sort it out, mate.
O’KEEFE: Okay.
SHORTEN: I'm not saying everything's - Chris, you got to be careful here, well you don’t have to be careful at all, you’ve got the microphone. But I'm not saying everything's right. But the trend is our friend. And I know that the average waiting time on a Medicare payments call is down by nine minutes, because we measure it. I know the average waiting time on a social welfare call is down six minutes. I know that at the beginning of the year, we had 1.35 million outstanding claims, and because of the hard work of the crew we've hired, it's down to 450,000 claims waiting. Those are just facts.
O’KEEFE: Yeah, sure. But why do you hang up on people? It's very rude.
SHORTEN: Sure. I don't like it either. I'll tell you the problem. We get nearly 60 million phone calls. Basically, if I had more public servants, then we'd never hang up on anyone. So, there's a trade-off. What I managed to do is put on 3000 extra people. That's why there's less congestion, less hang up, and there is less waiting time. Did you know under my predecessors, they used to dodgy the numbers up, they wouldn't count the hang ups. So, all you ever averaged was people who got their calls answered eventually.
O’KEEFE: But why don't I ring Telstra or whoever it is, and they say, look, we're really, really busy at the moment, do you want to call back? Press three and we'll ring you back when we've got someone. Why can't we do that with Services Australia?
SHORTEN: We offer quite a lot of that.
O’KEEFE: I've never heard it. Here's Candice. Candice can never get through when calling. Just get hung up on. Here's Diane. How can my husband speak to a customer service officer? Keeps ringing but just keep getting hung up on. It's very rude, Bill.
SHORTEN: Mate, when the individuals don't get the service, they want, they’re right to be annoyed. But what I'm also telling you is happy people don't ring your show. And what we've got -
O’KEEFE: These are Facebook. These are Facebook comments on your ministerial page.
SHORTEN: I believe you.
O’KEEFE: But I'm just saying it's just it just seems ridiculous to me that we've got a situation where you go, hey guys, we're really, really busy. Uh, try again later. Beep beep beep. But, you know, surely, we could do better than that.
SHORTEN: We are doing better than we were. But you know what's ridiculous? When the opposition and conservative commentators say we have too many public servants. If you want a human to answer the phone, then we've got to pay for someone. That's what we've done. We've invested $2 billion. We've now got, we've hired 3000 extra bodies to do the work, and they're doing the work. And yeah, I think I started the interview by saying, I don't think we're anywhere where we need to be, but we're a lot better than where we were.
O’KEEFE: What is Utopia for you?
SHORTEN: I don't know, I've never been there. But I think when we can answer calls more quickly and when we can process payments accurately and in a timely fashion, I've got simple -
O’KEEFE: What's accurately and timely. What's the benchmark?
SHORTEN: Oh benchmarks, listen, I think we are - I don't have a particular benchmark I'm going to reel off here because I want to go back and check that. But I do know that in 2018/2019, you were waiting 75 days to sort out your age pension. Now it's down to 60. I'd like to reduce that. When you were getting a –
O’KEEFE: To what?
SHORTEN: To a lot quicker.
O’KEEFE: What's your KPI, though?
SHORTEN: Yeah, I said I don't have every individual KPI here with me. But take Carer Allowance. In 2018, 2019, before Covid, people were waiting 59 days to get their carer allowance. Now it's 13 days. when you were seeking your family tax benefit lump sum in 2018/2019, you were waiting 22 days. Now you're waiting 3 days. I mean, here's a couple of numbers. Medicare. When you put in a Medicare online account claim, we've got it from 11 days down to 2 days, paid parental leave. It's 25 days down to 4 days. Listen, I know good news doesn't sell media headlines. And I believe every one of your callers in the Facebook people you're saying could well be absolutely having a really frustrating experience. I get frustrated, too.
But my point is, we've now got 5.1 million people with the myGov app. My point is, we've now reversed the trend of cutting frontline services and put people back in to do the good job. We've stopped closing Centrelink offices. We said we had 318 when we came in, we're going to keep 318 Service Australia offices. I've now got 28 people working out in front line homeless organisations, enrolling people. The story is not great, but I'll tell you what the trend is. Our friend here, and for everyone who's not getting what they want, I can respect that concern. Or I can also say to them is we're working on it. This is bread and butter stuff. It matters.
O’KEEFE: Of course it matters. And I'll tell you what matters. Not hearing this when you ring and you're desperate for paid parental leave, or you're desperate for a Centrelink claim or you're desperate for something.
SERVICES AUSTRALIA VOICEOVER: Welcome to the Centrelink families and parents’ line. Thank you for your call. We know you've been trying to reach us. However, we are experiencing a high number of calls at the moment and are unable to take your call. We apologise for the inconvenience. Thank you for calling. Goodbye.
O’KEEFE: R-u-d-e. It's rude, Minister.
SHORTEN: Yeah, and that's why we're reducing congestion. It's called congestion.
O’KEEFE: [laughs]
SHORTEN: I mean, you can laugh.
O’KEEFE: I know you’re doing; I know - look, you say you do it. You say you're doing your best. But this is the reality, right? People are still ringing. They can't get on to anyone, they're getting hung up on. Like, we're not inventing these stories and whatever Services Australia is feeding you, maybe that's not the reality, Minister. Maybe what you're being fed from your bureaucrats is bureaucratic BS, with the greatest of respect.
SHORTEN: No, listen, if we want to have a cliche fest, you win. My point is different. You're legitimately saying people are frustrated. I've recognized that about four times in this interview, but I'm making a point which you consistently ignore. We put on 3000 extra people and all of the measures show that it's less, the problems are less than they were.
I ain't saying we've arrived in heaven, but what I am saying is that we've arrived at a better place than we were at. And do you know, in the last - from February to June, we have paid out in excess of $2.5 billion in real business, people who are owed money. And that helps in the cost-of-living crisis. You know, the figures are real, and that's why we put them out.
O’KEEFE: All right, Minister, well, keep working on it because it's got to improve drastically. If you've employed 3000, you might have to employ another 10,000 by the sounds of things. Thanks for coming on.
SHORTEN: that’s great, but do you understand, but, Chris, when you say employ another 10,000 people, I hope you're back us up then, when you know everyone goes oh -
O’KEEFE: I'll back you, I'll back you up when it's fixed, because it's not fixed. And you might say the trend is your friend. Well, when you get to, you know, Nirvana like you're aiming to get to, then I'll give you a big pat on the back. All the best with it.
SHORTEN: I don't need, I don't need a pat on the back, mate.
O’KEEFE: Sounds like you want one. Sounds like you want one.
SHORTEN: Mate, If I wanted a pat on the back, it wouldn't come on your show. I get it. What we're dealing with is the real issues, and there are improvements. That's all I'm saying, mate. Nothing more, nothing less.
O’KEEFE: Bill Shorten, appreciate your time,
SHORTEN: Thank you for your interest, thanks buddy.
O’KEEFE: That's Minister for Government Services, Bill Shorten