Graham Matthews, Melbourne

Staff cuts and lengthening queues were the subject of a street protest organised by the Wills branch of the Socialist Alliance at the Moreland Centrelink office on July 9.

Forty people participated in the protest, including staff and clients of the Centrelink office. Lack of staff at the office has led to increased stress on staff, lengthening queues, and a backlog of work which has meant that applications for aged and disability support pensions have been running between six and 12 months late.

Moreland Mayor Tony Halou and Wills Labor MP Kelvin Thompson addressed the protest. Judy McVey, Community and Public Sector Union family services section president, gave solidarity greetings to the protest, pointing out that the staff present were forbidden from speaking themselves, on pain of losing their jobs.

David Glanz, the Socialist Alliance candidate for Wills, also addressed the protest. He stressed the massive overburden faced by Centrelink workers, including call-centre staff, who face a phone queue of up to 1000 people as soon as they logon to the system each morning.

Glanz praised the staff at the Centrelink office for achieving a slight increase in staffing by threatening industrial action. He also called for a massive increase in staffing levels, and that an increase in the level of unemployment and retirement benefits be paid for at the expense of the Coalition government's massive arms spending.

From Green Left Weekly, July 14, 2004.
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