CPSA Campaigns Centrelink’s review system cops a scathing review IN A scathing analysis by the Commonwealth Ombudsman, Centrelink’s internal review and appeals scheme has fallen short of being “legally sound, efficient and effective”. The National Welfare Rights Network (NWRN) welcomed the Ombudsman’s report and criticisms. Centrelink’s internal review and appeals system provides recipients of Centrelink payments the right to a review of Centrelink decisions about things such as payments and debts by an Authorised Review Officer (ARO). Reviews can also be made by the staff member who made the original decision or other Centrelink staff members and, according to the Ombudsman, Centrelink relies “on an assumption that applicants accepting one of these reviews have withdrawn their application for review by an ARO”. The Ombudsman’s report noted a series of problems with systems which all had a negative impact on the people Centrelink’s decisions affected including: - repeated requests for
reviews being denied; - significant delays in obtaining appeals; - Centrelink recipients giving up because the process is too difficult and negative; - Centrelink failing to implement findings consistently; - important letters, faxes and emails from clients lost or misplaced by Centrelink. The Ombudsman also found that for every 100 appeals, 47 would have the original decision overturned in the internal review process. This level is significant because it highlights a lack of quality decision-making in the first case. “The scheme is fundamentally flawed and is massively underfunded so that Centrelink staff cannot give each of the 207,000 requests for review the attention they need,” said NWRN President Maree O’Halloran. Poor and delayed decisions by the Centrelink internal review and appeals system results in people being left on lower payments or going completely without income through no fault of their own. “Government is
The Centrelink Efficiency Scheme conflicts quite strongly with their Review and Appeals Scheme
April 2011
willing to pour millions into fraud detection and prevention, which we support,” said Ms O’Halloran. “But when it comes to ensuring people living on meagre Centrelink payments have access to a fair, understandable and transparent review system if things go wrong, it looks the other way.” The Commonwealth Ombudsman’s report has already led Centrelink to begin a review and implement changes to improve its internal review process over the next six months. “It makes sense for Centrelink to work with the Ombudsman on this scheme,” Ms O’Halloran said. “However, Centrelink should commit to engage with the NWRN and other stakeholders about how to get the system back on track”. Greens pushing for dental plan THE GREENS are demanding the delivery of a dental care plan for lowincome earners, according to The Australian (4 March 2011). As part of the deal to form government between Labor and the Greens there was agreement “that Australia needs urgent further action on dental care and that proposals for improving the nation’s investments in dental care should be considered in the context of the 2011 Budget”. According to The Australian, the Australian Government has proposed a number of measures to free up space in the budget for a dental plan. These include a new pathology funding regime, deferred subsidies for medicines and requiring Cabinet to approve new
pharmaceutical spending. Health Minister Nicola Roxon has previously considered extending the Teen Dental voucher program to people of all ages and expanding the type of treatments available under the program. However, such a program would be inadequate if the types of treatment are expanded dramatically. The current Teen Dental program provides vouchers to families with teenagers aged 12 to 17 covering a check-up, x-ray, scaling and clean. However, if anything more serious is found, the family needs to find the means of paying for the treatment themselves. In other words, the program can tell you what dental problems you have but cannot really do much in the way of fixing them. CPSA, as part of the Alliance for Universal Dental Health Insurance, is calling for a universal dental health scheme which would be phased in to firstly ensure that low-income earners receive the treatment they require. The scheme would be based on the current Medicare Enhanced Primary Care dental program which provides up to $4,500 worth of treatment over two years. The program provides the most comprehensive form of publicly-funded dental treatment, yet is only available to people with a chronic health condition. The Greens have also backed a universal Medicarestyle scheme but, according to The Australian, are prepared to see this phased in over a number of years “with a scheme focusing only on low-income earners” first.
THE VOICE ONLINE: www.cpsa.org.au
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