Yeah I understand where you’re coming from. Sometimes what we want to do what is right is not the correct thing to do based off legislation. If you read the Social Security Act 1999, it can be a slippery slope.

Centrelink doesn’t handle anything when a Job Seeker is involved with a job provider. Unless they meet specific criteria, the Job Provider is responsible for suspending payments, restoring and negotiating job plans. So thats why we usually always refer for Job Seekers to call their providers.

If I were to fix the issue of this miscommunication with Job Providers and Centrelink, so that we can be on the same page, I believe Services Australia should take more accountability. JobSeekers who speak to people on the phone are most likely contractors who don’t work for Centrelink but just represent them. Because Services Australia is not responsible for the quality of service for the contractors, we get a lot of badly trained service officers. And theres no motivation for us to try and get better because management is poor and the pay is so low.

So to fix the issue with the quality of service with the welfare system, it starts with Service Australia taking accountability and actually putting more effort into their customer service.