Anyone needing to access Centrelink, Medicare and Child Support services is being urged to avoid doing so Monday and Friday afternoons this week due to industrial action by the Community and Public Sector Union.
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The Department of Human Services warned the action had the potential to impact services across Australia and encouraged people to defer non-urgent business until outside those two afternoons.
DHS general manager Hank Jongen said the union had flagged further industrial action for next week, but had not yet formally provided detail of this action to the department.
He said customer payments would not be affected.
“We are focused on making sure staff are available to help people who are in financial hardship and need immediate assistance,” he said.
“So we’re asking customers with non-urgent business to consider contacting the department at another time.”
Mr Jongen also encouraged customers to access services online through their myGov account, or the ExpressPlus apps.
“Our online services and ExpressPlus apps are really well used and make it easy for people to do many things without the need to contact us,” he said.
The ExpressPlus suite of mobile apps are for Centrelink, Medicare and Child Support and are free to download on Apple, Android or selected Windows 10 devices (only for the Medicare app).
“Through all these apps, you can update your contact details and access your online letters. Each app is also tailored to specific needs,” Mr Jongen said.
“For example, you can make a claim through the Medicare app and report your income through the Centrelink app.
“We appreciate the community’s patience during this time and I reassure you we are working hard to minimise disruption to the services they need.”
For updates and information on the digital self-service options, click here
