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Queues at Centrelink offices and MyGov website crashes ahead of coronavirus shutdowns Queues at Centrelink offices and MyGov website crashes ahead of coronavirus shutdowns
(about 2 hours later)
Australian welfare benefit for unemployed has been doubled to deal with fallout from outbreakAustralian welfare benefit for unemployed has been doubled to deal with fallout from outbreak
Thousands of Australians were queueing at Centrelink offices around the country on Monday as businesses prepare to shut down and after the federal government doubled unemployment benefits to deal with the economic fallout from the coronavirus.Thousands of Australians were queueing at Centrelink offices around the country on Monday as businesses prepare to shut down and after the federal government doubled unemployment benefits to deal with the economic fallout from the coronavirus.
Huge lines were snaking around several blocks , but as Services Australia directed people to begin their claims for welfare payments online, the MyGov website was down for many users.Huge lines were snaking around several blocks , but as Services Australia directed people to begin their claims for welfare payments online, the MyGov website was down for many users.
The government services minister, Stuart Robert, insisted the service was still “working” but encouraged people to attempt to return to the website later. Amid Centrelink queues not experienced in Australia in decades and consisting of many people who were engaging with the welfare system for the first time, the government announced new measures aimed at streamlining the application process for people newly out of work.
“There is unprecedented demand for the MyGov service right now, but we ask Australians to be patient as we work hard to help them all,” he said. The queues began to form early on Monday, before some Centrelink offices had opened, after state governments announced that businesses including pubs, bars and clubs would be forced to close. Before that, on Sunday the Morrison government said it would provide a $550 fortnightly boost to the JobSeeker Payment for six months, essentially doubling the benefit.
“Try logging on later today or even tomorrow. MyGov is working, but the best option right now is for people to be patient.” “There’s nothing out there at the moment and all the jobs I was halfway through applying for have gotten back and said there’s a freeze,” Adam Edwards, from Redfern, in Sydney’s inner-west, told Guardian Australia.
In response to confusion about whether people should attend Centrelink offices to complete a claim by provided proof of identity documents, Robert said in a series of tweets that this process could be conducted over the the phone. Edwards, who graduated with an MBA only two weeks ago, told Guardian Australia that over the last few weeks all of the jobs he’d been in the process of applying for had disappeared.
He appeared to bring forward a change that had been flagged in a government factsheet to begin in April. In the line at the Centrelink office in Redfern, casual workers hit by the shuttering of pubs and clubs mixed with small business owners and recent graduates all caught up in the chaos wrought on the global economy by the Covid-19 outbreak.
The Centrelink queues came as state governments announced that businesses including pubs, bars and clubs would be forced to close. Before that, on Sunday the Morrison government said it would provide a $550 fortnightly boost to the JobSeeker Payment for six months, essentially doubling the benefit. Gus McGrath, 24, a musician and hospitality worker who moved to Sydney from Canberra a month ago and had been supplementing his income by playing gigs while he looked for full-time work.
As the queues dragged into mid morning on Monday, Services Australia, which operates Centrelink, issued a statement on social media encouraging people to begin welfare payment claims online. “I guess I feel like it’s not getting better any quicker. I don’t see an easy out,” he said.
“If you don’t currently get an income support payment and you need help because you’ve lost your job or had your income reduced, please start your claim online,” the statement said. “So I think I’m pretty freaked out and it feels a bit doomy and even when things settle back, it can’t just be like back to normal.”
“If you need to provide proof of identity and you’re in self-isolation or feeling unwell we can do this over the phone – but please defer until later if you can. We urge you not to come into our service centres if you’re unwell.” In parliament house, the prime minister and opposition leader acknowledged the long lines outside Centrelink offices. But in Redfern, the mood was tense. Those coming out of the offices reported angry and chaotic scenes inside as staff tried to cope with the huge influx of people seeking to access services.
On Sunday, the government announced measures aimed at avoiding the need for people to attend an office to verify their identity to complete a payment claim, but a government factsheet had stated the change would not come into effect until April. Serena Lee, a small business owner whose ag-tech company has been put “into indefinite hibernation” in the midst of the outbreak. She had already had to let go 10 casual employees in Sydney and Melbourne, and now was lining up to apply for jobseeker herself.
It is unclear why the measure had been delayed, but the government had also said on Sunday it would also hire up to 5,000 Services Australia staff to cope with the demand. “We do indoor vertical farming in corporate and school places so because no one is at work, no one is at uni, our business has pretty much had to go into hibernation,” she said.
“It’s overwhelming. I didn’t think I would need to get onto benefit payments until it sort of hit where it’s like, I might not have a job for the next at least a couple of months.
“I’ve got to pay rent and bills and I’m already at the bottom of the cash pot having to pay out employees. But, you know, everyone has situations that are probably worse than me.”
With Centrelink’s online services down, the government services minister, Stuart Robert, said that the MyGov website had suffered a distributed denial-of-service attack. He would not give any details.
In a bid to clear the enormous lines at Centrelink offices, Robert also announced the government would once again pay jobseekers from the date they contacted the agency to start a benefits claim, reversing a savings measures passed in 2018.
And he said people claiming unemployment benefits for the first time could prove their identity over the phone, rather than in person at a Centrelink office.
Centrelink call centre operating hours would also be extended until 8pm on weekdays and 9am-5pm on weekends.
Labor’s government services spokesman, Bill Shorten, said the there had been a “lack of planning to deal with demand at Centrelink shopfronts”.Labor’s government services spokesman, Bill Shorten, said the there had been a “lack of planning to deal with demand at Centrelink shopfronts”.
“Many families, workers and business owners who have never accessed social security before are being forced to by the financial effects of the coronavirus,” he said.“Many families, workers and business owners who have never accessed social security before are being forced to by the financial effects of the coronavirus,” he said.
“People should not have to wait weeks to access these vital payments.”“People should not have to wait weeks to access these vital payments.”
Services Australia was contacted for comment. Robert said the government had upgraded the MyGov website to cater for 10 times its usual over the weekend. It can now deal with more than 55,000 concurrent users.
But for hours on Monday, it still could not cope.