FED: Govt to open 40 one-stop welfare shops nation-wide by 2012

AAP General News (Australia)
12-16-2009
FED: Govt to open 40 one-stop welfare shops nation-wide by 2012

EDs: Reissingto correct number in headline and paragraph three to say 40 offices to
be in place by 2012 (not 60, as sent).



By Julian Drape

CANBERRA, Dec 16 AAP - First it was one-stop-shop GP super clinics. Now the Rudd government
plans to roll out "co-located" welfare offices, bringing together Centrelink, Medicare
and child support agencies under one roof.

Human Services Minister Chris Bowen announced the reform agenda on Wednesday, declaring
it had the potential to "revolutionise" the way Australians accessed government services.

Labor plans to have 20 one-stop welfare shops up and running around the country by
the end of next year. By 2012, around 40 co-located offices would be in place.

"In order to obtain the necessary seamlessness and co-ordination, the prime minister
has agreed to my proposal that Medicare and Centrelink should become part of the Department
of Human Services," Mr Bowen told the National Press Club in Canberra.

"In the process, we will bring together their IT, finance, property management, procurement
and human resources, freeing up back-office resources."

All human services agencies will have a single phone number by 2010.

There'll be one central website "to make dealing with government easier".

But Mr Bowen stressed both Medicare and Centrelink would retain their separate "brand"

identities. They'll also retain their own databases.

"We will not house an individual's personal, sensitive information in one place, vesting
all control with one body or one card," the minister stressed.

"This is not an Australia Card, and we will not be merging agency databases."

Information will only be shared if a person asks for that to occur "for their convenience".

The reform was also not about staff cuts, Mr Bowen said.

Any reductions in employee numbers would be met "primarily through natural attrition",
although the minister admitted "this reform will generate efficiencies and saving for
government".

Mr Bowen said the reforms would take several years to bear fruit, but could lead to
co-location and joint service delivery with other government departments down the track.

In a decade, state governments could also be co-locating their service delivery with
the commonwealth "both physically and through the internet".

Before the last election the Rudd government promised to roll out 35 GP super clinics
across the country.

But so far it's managed to open just one, and Health Minister Nicola Roxon has admitted
they won't all be operating until late 2011.

Mr Bowen on Wednesday denied the problems with the one-stop medical shops meant the
welfare offices would suffer a similar fate.

"I don't underestimate the difficulty," he said.

"But I would not have made the announcement unless I was confident we can achieve it."

Each year the human services portfolio delivers $100 billion in payments.

It has 361,000 face-to-face contacts, 222,000 phone calls and 70,000 online transactions
every day.

In 2009 the department responded to 11 major emergencies, including the Victorian bushfires
and the Queensland floods.

AAP jcd/sb/jl

KEYWORD: WELFARE (PIX AVAILABLE) REISSUING

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