The average wait time for Centrelink’s main business phone lines was nearly 27 minutes in January 2017.
In an interview with ABC Radio National on 11 January 2017, the Minister for Human Services Alan Tudge claimed: “the average call wait time at present is about 12 minutes“.
The new figures released by the Department of Human Services this week also showed the average wait time to talk to an operator for sick and disabled Australians calling the specific Disability, Sickness and Carers line increased from 21 minutes 18 seconds in July 2016 to more than 31 minutes in January 2017.
The figures do not take into account those who got an engaged signal or hung up before the call reached an operator.
Opposition Human Services spokeswoman Linda Burney said that the Government is in denial about Centrelink wait times and that the latest data confirms this.
What do you think? Do you take it as an insult that Centrelink doesn’t appreciate your time? Should the Minister hand in his resignation after stating in January that phone wait times were 12 minutes when they really were 27 minutes?
Read more at canberratimes.com.au
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