[LINK] Centrelink/child support system outage

[Jan Whitaker]

Wasn't there something recently suggested that 
there be an uber-system for the fed?
The comments on this story are pretty telling, too.
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Centrelink, child support suffer systems outage

Ben Grubb
Published: April 28, 2014 - 6:44PM

People were unable to access important online 
government services including Centrelink and the 
child support website on Monday owing to technical issues.

The outages appeared to affect Centrelink offices 
as well – some people said they were turned away 
at a Brisbane office.a system outage.

"I turned up and there was a big queue of 
people," said a woman who did not want to be 
named. She had visited the Centrelink office in Toowong, Brisbane.

"A woman there had a piece of paper and was 
writing down names and taking notes about what 
you were there for and then sent you away."

The woman said she had an appointment and waited 
15 minutes before being told there was nothing that could be done for her.

"They said their system was down," she said.

Other customers have reported long queues at 
Centrelink offices and longerthan usual telephone wait times.

"We are currently experiencing intermittent 
issues with accessing Centrelink and child 
support online services," the Department of Human 
Services said on its Facebook page. "This is 
under urgent investigation, and we apologise for the inconvenience."

Centrelink responded to Fairfax Media inquiries 
in a statement issued at 6.04pm on Monday evening.

"We experienced some minor disruptions to 
Centrelink services this morning which have now 
been resolved," the statement said.

"We appreciate customers’ patience while we’ve 
worked to restore normal business.

"During the minor disruption people needing to 
report their earnings were still able use online 
services, our mobile phone apps or they could 
call the phone self-service number on 133 276."

The department denied the issues impacted on customer appointments.

The outage came asFairfax Media reported on the 
weak security controls used by the Department of 
Human Services' my.gov.au website to protect the 
private records of millions of Australians – 
including their doctor visits, prescription 
drugs, childcare and welfare payments.

It also came as Treasurer Joe Hockey warned of a 
multibillion-dollar hit to the budget to fix 
Centrelink's 31-year-old computer system.

Mr Hockey said the upgrade was necessary because 
the system was holding back the implementation of policy changes.

"My overwhelming concern is that it is inhibiting 
the capacity of the government, to some degree, 
to roll out policy that properly ­addresses the 
problems in the economy and the budget," he told radio station 3AW last week.

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This story was found at: 
http://www.theage.com.au/it-pro/government-it/centrelink-child-support-suffer-systems-outage-20140428-zr0rd.html 



Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
jwhit at janwhitaker.com

Sooner or later, I hate to break it to you, 
you're gonna die, so how do you fill in the space 
between here and there? It's yours. Seize your space.
~Margaret Atwood, writer

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