Post by bear on Feb 16, 2020 5:50:34 GMT 7
Services? Oh myGov!
Pensioners were excited to get letters last month from Centrelink asking for details of their “account-based income stream/s”.
After spending hours of research working out what is meant by “account-based income stream/s”, it turns out, basically, to be payments from superannuation funds.
The information had to be given to Centrelink by February 6, otherwise “your payment may be stopped”. Come the first week of February, though, the myGov and Services Australia websites responsible for handling the review weren’t functioning. This is puzzling, even amazing, since the responsible minister, Stuart Robert, is an internet whiz who spends massive amounts of his time online, running up a jaw-dropping internet bill on the taxpayers’ dime.
The minister, of course, paid it all back – after the government sent him a bill for $37,975 in excess usage charges.
On the myGov site, pensioners who began to type in their information found words were arranged backwards. The site itself was replete with curious spelling requiring the assistance of translators – Allocated Pension, for example, was “Allpicated Pesnion”.
If pensioners couldn’t make things happen on the internet, they were told to go in to a Centrelink office – filled, no doubt, with people crawling up the walls and eating government furniture after waiting the better part of a day.
The contact page on myGov suggests concerns and questions be emailed to Centrelink. Advice that would have been helpful, had there been an identifiable email address anywhere handy.
By now, the February 6 deadline had passed, and panicked citizens were madly jabbing at their keyboards trying to transfer their income stream information, in fear of Mr Robert cancelling their pension. Miraculously when some did get through to the “entry page”, they were told they need not have bothered: “You do not have an outstanding review to complete.”
And this is the government that is abolishing red tape and downgrading policy advice – all in the name of making “service delivery” a top-notch priority.
www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/opinion/diary/2020/02/15/gadfly-services-oh-mygov/15816852009391
Pensioners were excited to get letters last month from Centrelink asking for details of their “account-based income stream/s”.
After spending hours of research working out what is meant by “account-based income stream/s”, it turns out, basically, to be payments from superannuation funds.
The information had to be given to Centrelink by February 6, otherwise “your payment may be stopped”. Come the first week of February, though, the myGov and Services Australia websites responsible for handling the review weren’t functioning. This is puzzling, even amazing, since the responsible minister, Stuart Robert, is an internet whiz who spends massive amounts of his time online, running up a jaw-dropping internet bill on the taxpayers’ dime.
The minister, of course, paid it all back – after the government sent him a bill for $37,975 in excess usage charges.
On the myGov site, pensioners who began to type in their information found words were arranged backwards. The site itself was replete with curious spelling requiring the assistance of translators – Allocated Pension, for example, was “Allpicated Pesnion”.
If pensioners couldn’t make things happen on the internet, they were told to go in to a Centrelink office – filled, no doubt, with people crawling up the walls and eating government furniture after waiting the better part of a day.
The contact page on myGov suggests concerns and questions be emailed to Centrelink. Advice that would have been helpful, had there been an identifiable email address anywhere handy.
By now, the February 6 deadline had passed, and panicked citizens were madly jabbing at their keyboards trying to transfer their income stream information, in fear of Mr Robert cancelling their pension. Miraculously when some did get through to the “entry page”, they were told they need not have bothered: “You do not have an outstanding review to complete.”
And this is the government that is abolishing red tape and downgrading policy advice – all in the name of making “service delivery” a top-notch priority.
www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/opinion/diary/2020/02/15/gadfly-services-oh-mygov/15816852009391