Senator BILYK (Tasmania) (20:36): I rise to speak about concerns expressed by members of the Huon Valley community, which is south of Hobart, about the government's plan to co-locate the Centrelink service centre in Huonville with Service Tasmania. Many residents of the Huon Valley hold legitimate fears that this will further diminish the region's face-to-face Centrelink services. Last week I tabled in this place a copy of the Community and Public Sector Union's petition against the move, with over 500 signatures. The same petition was tabled in the House by the member for Franklin, Julie Collins. We also joined the CPSU three weeks ago along with state Labor members David O'Byrne and Alison Standen, Senator McKim and Huon Valley residents to protest against the changes. Another rally was held in March this year at which we were joined by the Secretary of Unions Tasmania, Jess Munday. The co-location follows a gradual reduction over time in the staffing levels at the centre and continues this government's trend of reducing essential public services in regional areas across Australia. In 2017, when the staff numbers at the centre were reduced from three to two, the CPSU noted that this left only one person providing face-to-face customer service for the entire Huon Valley region, a local government area with a population of over 16,000 people. The member for Franklin, Julie Collins, and I have both had a number of people contact our offices about the staffing changes, saying they had waited up to 40 minutes for service. Now, Centrelink customers rely on face-to-face services because they are facing astronomical wait times on the phone and online services do not necessarily provide them with the answers that they need. This is especially an issue for the Huon Valley. Local resident Jane Clarke of Franklin was interviewed by the Hobart Mercury about the co-location decision and had this to say: I think the co-location is indicative of the Government's attitude that face-to-face interactions aren't valued … It's a clear sign of government services being diluted in a region where few people actually have internet access or are equipped with online smarts. To back up Ms Clarke's comments about internet access: there's a recent study on digital inclusion in Tasmania, conducted by the peak body for community services, TasCOSS. One of the findings in the TasCOSS study was that the townships of Dover and Geeveston, south of Huonville, have some of the lowest levels of home internet access in the state. It said that 23.6 per cent of the residents of these towns have no home internet access, and using Centrelink's phone services is becoming a less viable option for them. Some customers trying to get through by phone are experiencing wait times of over an hour. We know that 2016-17 in particular was a horror year for phone services, with 55 million calls to Centrelink met with an engaged tone—55 million calls! If a Centrelink customer can't reach the agency by phone or internet, this leaves travelling to Huonville to access ever-diminishing face-to-face advice as their only option, and this has already been made difficult enough by the expense and infrequency of public transport in the Huon Valley and the distances that some residents have to travel. The Huonville service centre is the last Centrelink office you will reach travelling south of Hobart, after which there is an 84-kilometre stretch of road to the southernmost point of Tasmania. It could take up to an hour to travel by car to Huonville from towns such as Southport and Ida Bay—and it takes much longer by bus—but even travelling from the more substantial population centres like Geeveston takes half an hour by car. The reduction in face-to-face Centrelink services in the Huon Valley comes at a time when the number of Huon Valley residents receiving payments from Centrelink is increasing. There has been a nine percent increase in payments to Huon Valley residents over the last five years. We should also recognise that this is a region in need of further assistance following the devastation of this year's bushfires. To have these services reduced is a slap in the face for a community that has suffered significantly through this recent natural disaster. While the government claims there will be no reduction in service as a result of the co-location, it's hard to take their assurances at face value. The same claim was made about the co-location of Service Tasmania within the Centrelink and Medicare service centre in Kingston, near my local office. Once again Julie Collins and I campaigned hard to save the Kingston Medicare and Centrelink service centre from closing. Thousands of residents in the local area signed our petition, and 300 people attended a public meeting to oppose the government's cruel decision to close the centre. While Ms Collins and I are proud to have saved that service centre, the outcome for the community is still less than ideal. Following the co-location of the Kingston service centre, both my office and the office of Ms Collins were inundated with complaints about the co-located service. So we conducted a survey of local residents who used the service, and found many were highly dissatisfied. Of the 350 people who responded to the survey, 56 per cent said they were dissatisfied or highly dissatisfied with the number of staff at the co-located service centre. The staffing levels obviously affected waiting times, of which 55 percent of survey respondents said they were dissatisfied or highly dissatisfied. However, the No. 1 issue raised by customers who accessed the co-located service centre was privacy, a concern that was no doubt created by the co-location. Sixty per cent of survey respondents said that they were dissatisfied or highly dissatisfied with privacy at the service centre. I want to read a couple of comments from this survey that highlight these concerns. One was: My main concern is the disregard for privacy. Everyone can hear you give your name and reference number and what you are there for. Another person said: The broad nature of services covered at Service Tas-Medicare-Centrelink allows for no privacy of delicate medical or Centrelink related discussions. Another quote: Privacy is a huge factor for me. I resent having to discuss my circumstances within earshot of everyone in the building. Very embarrassing and disrespectful. I hold very similar concerns for the privacy of Centrelink customers should the co-location of Centrelink and Service Tasmania proceed in Huonville. Just like the experience in Kingston, it will create a situation where Centrelink customers will have to discuss sensitive and personal issues while standing next to someone who is getting their driver's license renewed. At this point I would like to thank the CPSU for the leadership role they have taken in this campaign and, in particular, their regional secretary, Zac Batchelor. It was the CPSU that organised the petition that Julie Collins and I tabled in both houses of parliament as well as organising rallies, doorknocking the area and speaking to locals. I would like to see Tasmania's Liberal senators join us in speaking up for the residents of the Huon Valley. I'm severely disappointed that Tasmanian Liberal members and senators have not criticised the government's cutting and outsourcing of more than 2,500 Centrelink jobs across Australia, resulting in ever increasing wait times for phone and face-to-face services. Why won't they stand up for the people of Tasmania? The Liberals are also deafeningly silent on the more than 500 Australian Public Service jobs that have been lost in Tasmania and the impact that this has had on the Tasmanian economy. They've stood by idly while the government has gutted the Commonwealth Public Service in Tasmania. It's time for Tasmanian Liberal members and senators to start standing up for jobs in Tasmania; it's time for them to fight for decent Centrelink services so that Tasmanians can get the help they need to access the payments to which they are duly entitled; and it's time for them to join Labor in fighting excessive phone and face-to-face waiting times for Centrelink customers. By their actions and public statements, the Liberals are making it clear that they simply don't care about the concerns of thousands of Tasmanians, including Huon Valley residents, who are studying, looking for work, living with disability, caring for children or other family members, or receiving the age pension. Only Labor is taking seriously the very real privacy concerns and the very real concerns about quality of service that arise from this government's short-sighted decision to co-locate Centrelink in Huonville and Service Tasmania. Only Labor cares about providing quality Centrelink services to the Tasmanians who need them when they need them.