The modern world is full of inconveniences, most especially for the senior members of our community. And these days, those inconveniences likely include financial woes and a prolonged wait for much-needed financial assistance like the pension.

The Coalition has called out the Labor government for their failure to provide transparency about Australians' reliance on Centrelink and Medicare.

They say Labor has 'failed the pub test' in not providing electorate-specific data that could help with more precise, targeted financial aid in areas sorely in need.

Could the Centrelink and Medicare system be better? Image source: Shutterstock.

The Coalition has accused the government of refusing to share data that could ensure cash-strapped citizens receive the support they need in a timely manner.

Opposition government services spokesman Paul Fletcher said he had asked for more detailed information about when Australians in different areas of the country received their government payments – and was met with a response from Government Services Minister Bill Shorten that 'Services Australia does not collate or record data by electorate'.

According to Mr Fletcher, the data was available in the past when the Coalition were in power; yet now, it appears to be blocked off to the general public. He has since accused the government of ‘lying’.

'The Opposition is calling on Mr Shorten to urgently release the requested data to better inform policymaking and empower citizens,' Mr Fletcher said.

The Coalition has also produced data taken from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) that showcases how different electorates are over-represented in health and social issues.

For example, the ABS data shows that 14.6 per cent of voters in the Bendigo electorate provided unpaid assistance to a person with a disability, health condition, or due to old age - compared to the national average of 11.9 per cent.

This data has prompted questions from the Coalition over how long people affected by mental health problems, disabilities, or old age have to wait for their Centrelink and Medicare claims to be processed, as this could help better target assistance to those areas that need it most.

General Manager Hank Jongen from Services Australia said processing times can differ across payment types and levels of complexity.

'We’re sorry to anyone who is waiting longer, and thank them for their patience,' he said.

'We are working hard to process work as quickly as possible.'

Services Australia said since July 1 this year, they had processed 84,000 Jobseeker claims, 17,000 Youth Allowance claims, and 2.24 million Medicare claims.

Key Takeaways

• The Coalition has accused the Labor government of failing to provide transparency regarding Centrelink claim processing times.
• The Opposition has demanded electorate-by-electorate breakdowns of processing times in an effort to be more effective in providing assistance.
• Opposition government services spokesman Paul Fletcher claims the data is not being disclosed by the current government, despite being provided by the previous Coalition government.
• The Coalition has used data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics to show potential disparities among electorates, highlighting the need for the requested data.

Members, we understand that this article is quite political and everyone is entitled to their opinion, but remember to be kind. The main focus of this article is to ensure our pensioners are aware of any news related to the pension. Here at the Seniors Discount Club, we do not have a political agenda. If you have any thoughts or opinions on this news, please share them with us in the comments below!

 

[Suzanne rose]

I applied for DSP beginning off February I had my first interview on the 11th August which she told me I may need to reaply because I gave in psychology reports instead of psychiatrist reports even though original forms said either psychology or psychiatrist reports and now from the 1st April psychology reports are enough but may still need to reapply.
That was nearly three weeks ago and still haven't heard anything either way.
It shows still processing

 

[Shane/#]

The modern world is full of inconveniences, most especially for the senior members of our community. And these days, those inconveniences likely include financial woes and a prolonged wait for much-needed financial assistance like the pension.

The Coalition has called out the Labor government for their failure to provide transparency about Australians' reliance on Centrelink and Medicare.

They say Labor has 'failed the pub test' in not providing electorate-specific data that could help with more precise, targeted financial aid in areas sorely in need.

View attachment 28509

Could the Centrelink and Medicare system be better? Image source: Shutterstock.

The Coalition has accused the government of refusing to share data that could ensure cash-strapped citizens receive the support they need in a timely manner.

Opposition government services spokesman Paul Fletcher said he had asked for more detailed information about when Australians in different areas of the country received their government payments – and was met with a response from Government Services Minister Bill Shorten that 'Services Australia does not collate or record data by electorate'.

According to Mr Fletcher, the data was available in the past when the Coalition were in power; yet now, it appears to be blocked off to the general public. He has since accused the government of ‘lying’.

'The Opposition is calling on Mr Shorten to urgently release the requested data to better inform policymaking and empower citizens,' Mr Fletcher said.

The Coalition has also produced data taken from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) that showcases how different electorates are over-represented in health and social issues.

For example, the ABS data shows that 14.6 per cent of voters in the Bendigo electorate provided unpaid assistance to a person with a disability, health condition, or due to old age - compared to the national average of 11.9 per cent.

This data has prompted questions from the Coalition over how long people affected by mental health problems, disabilities, or old age have to wait for their Centrelink and Medicare claims to be processed, as this could help better target assistance to those areas that need it most.

General Manager Hank Jongen from Services Australia said processing times can differ across payment types and levels of complexity.

'We’re sorry to anyone who is waiting longer, and thank them for their patience,' he said.

'We are working hard to process work as quickly as possible.'

Services Australia said since July 1 this year, they had processed 84,000 Jobseeker claims, 17,000 Youth Allowance claims, and 2.24 million Medicare claims.

Key Takeaways

• The Coalition has accused the Labor government of failing to provide transparency regarding Centrelink claim processing times.
• The Opposition has demanded electorate-by-electorate breakdowns of processing times in an effort to be more effective in providing assistance.
• Opposition government services spokesman Paul Fletcher claims the data is not being disclosed by the current government, despite being provided by the previous Coalition government.
• The Coalition has used data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics to show potential disparities among electorates, highlighting the need for the requested data.

Members, we understand that this article is quite political and everyone is entitled to their opinion, but remember to be kind. The main focus of this article is to ensure our pensioners are aware of any news related to the pension. Here at the Seniors Discount Club, we do not have a political agenda. If you have any thoughts or opinions on this news, please share them with us in the comments below!

That's calling the pot black after Labor inherited the system from the LNP government and a various other stuffed up area's here and overseas, Robodebt, sub deal with France scrapped and other deals for mate's within the LNP government friends

 

[Chris P Bacon]

Seems as Albo has his blinkers on and is so focused on a yes vote that every other issue just falls in a heap. We have been waiting for 3 weeks for the Medicare rebate on paid medical bills. We were told that there is a backlog and to wait a little longer.
Tell Coles or Woolies that when we need to pay for groceries.
While we are on Medicare, why hasn't promised bulk billing for pensioners been introduced? Oh silly me, resources are put into the Voice.

 

[Tabby]

So the ones who wanted to put ALL Centrelink recipients onto the INDUE card, now have the audacity and gall to start jumping up and down making demands!
The evil miscreants who thought up, developed and pursued with the illegal Robodebt, are ominously silent still!

The opposition has to be seen to be doing something to justify their overpaid wages and perks, apart from opposing everything, so making loud noise and squawks seems to be the preferred course of action by them.

How about they get down off their lofty dark horses and for once come clean and stop having memory losses and 'I do not recall' episodes to just about everything under investigations!

 

[elaine41]

Seems as Albo has his blinkers on and is so focused on a yes vote that every other issue just falls in a heap. We have been waiting for 3 weeks for the Medicare rebate on paid medical bills. We were told that there is a backlog and to wait a little longer.
Tell Coles or Woolies that when we need to pay for groceries.
While we are on Medicare, why hasn't promised bulk billing for pensioners been introduced? Oh silly me, resources are put into the Voice.

My GP will only bulk bill those over 75 years. So, if you are on aged pension but under 75 you have to pay the fee then claim it back (& obviously wait for an eternity) from Medicare. With the way things are going, I fear that before too long he will stop bulk billing everyone.

 

[Luckyus]

The modern world is full of inconveniences, most especially for the senior members of our community. And these days, those inconveniences likely include financial woes and a prolonged wait for much-needed financial assistance like the pension.

The Coalition has called out the Labor government for their failure to provide transparency about Australians' reliance on Centrelink and Medicare.

They say Labor has 'failed the pub test' in not providing electorate-specific data that could help with more precise, targeted financial aid in areas sorely in need.

View attachment 28509

Could the Centrelink and Medicare system be better? Image source: Shutterstock.

The Coalition has accused the government of refusing to share data that could ensure cash-strapped citizens receive the support they need in a timely manner.

Opposition government services spokesman Paul Fletcher said he had asked for more detailed information about when Australians in different areas of the country received their government payments – and was met with a response from Government Services Minister Bill Shorten that 'Services Australia does not collate or record data by electorate'.

According to Mr Fletcher, the data was available in the past when the Coalition were in power; yet now, it appears to be blocked off to the general public. He has since accused the government of ‘lying’.

'The Opposition is calling on Mr Shorten to urgently release the requested data to better inform policymaking and empower citizens,' Mr Fletcher said.

The Coalition has also produced data taken from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) that showcases how different electorates are over-represented in health and social issues.

For example, the ABS data shows that 14.6 per cent of voters in the Bendigo electorate provided unpaid assistance to a person with a disability, health condition, or due to old age - compared to the national average of 11.9 per cent.

This data has prompted questions from the Coalition over how long people affected by mental health problems, disabilities, or old age have to wait for their Centrelink and Medicare claims to be processed, as this could help better target assistance to those areas that need it most.

General Manager Hank Jongen from Services Australia said processing times can differ across payment types and levels of complexity.

'We’re sorry to anyone who is waiting longer, and thank them for their patience,' he said.

'We are working hard to process work as quickly as possible.'

Services Australia said since July 1 this year, they had processed 84,000 Jobseeker claims, 17,000 Youth Allowance claims, and 2.24 million Medicare claims.

Key Takeaways

• The Coalition has accused the Labor government of failing to provide transparency regarding Centrelink claim processing times.
• The Opposition has demanded electorate-by-electorate breakdowns of processing times in an effort to be more effective in providing assistance.
• Opposition government services spokesman Paul Fletcher claims the data is not being disclosed by the current government, despite being provided by the previous Coalition government.
• The Coalition has used data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics to show potential disparities among electorates, highlighting the need for the requested data.

Members, we understand that this article is quite political and everyone is entitled to their opinion, but remember to be kind. The main focus of this article is to ensure our pensioners are aware of any news related to the pension. Here at the Seniors Discount Club, we do not have a political agenda. If you have any thoughts or opinions on this news, please share them with us in the comments below!

It doesn't matter which political party is in power, NONE OF THEM ARE FIT FOR PURPOSE

 

[quilting]

We have worked and paid our taxes all our working years. Now we are pensioners, we have to pay to go to the doctors. A lot the pensioners out there are suffering, especially with the price of electricity,gas, food, and petrol. While all these job seekers get everything and half I know don't even look for jobs, because would they,. They get more for not working.

 

[JKM_Storyteller]

That would be right. The Coalition smacked a huge piece of duct tape over the mouth of the border control people to stop Australians knowing exactly how many illegal boats (if any) were actually being stopped in Australian waters; but now they want full transparency around electorate-levels of welfare payments?

Excuse me? You want to publicly paint our suburbs as being either 'dole dependent' or 'self-reliant'? Because that's what we're talking about here.

Knowing where people on social welfare live isn't going to help them get assistance any quicker - and anyone who thinks that's the case is living in cuckoo land.

And BTW, Labor used to have a very sophisticated system - back in the 80s - that allowed them to know precisely who was who in every electorate - where you lived, how man kids you had; what schools they went to; where you worked and what your incomes were; what your political leanings were; the issues you were concerned with, etc, etc, so they could identify the priorities of everyday Aussies by electorate.

Guess who kicked up a right royal stink about it because 'it gave Labor an unfair advantage in election campaigns...'?

No prizes for guessing who.

Jess

 

[JKM_Storyteller]

Seems as Albo has his blinkers on and is so focused on a yes vote that every other issue just falls in a heap. We have been waiting for 3 weeks for the Medicare rebate on paid medical bills. We were told that there is a backlog and to wait a little longer.
Tell Coles or Woolies that when we need to pay for groceries.
While we are on Medicare, why hasn't promised bulk billing for pensioners been introduced? Oh silly me, resources are put into the Voice.

The bulk billing issue is specific to your GP's medical practice. My GP bulk bills me the, and the practice also processes the medicare rebate at the same time, so I'm never actually out of pocket.

It is regrettable that all medical practices don't do this, but that comes down to ethos of the individual practice.

Sadly, if the government starts mandating that all pensioners must be bulk billed, you'll find that there will be a lot of practices that will just close their books and say they don't have the capacity to take on more patients - thereby refusing to take on pensioners at all.

Jess

 

[Trudi]

I saw an ophthalmologist on 15 August and the Medicare rebate was in my bank account before I got home!

 

[Geoff8]

We live in regional Victoria and wife and I pay $110 to the doctors surgery once a year as the rest is bulk billed. Being pensioners we don’t mind paying the fee otherwise it would be $80 per visit with Medicare rebate of $50.
The wife goes every 2 weeks to the doctors for an injection and for scripts every other month.

 

[Squizzy1]

The modern world is full of inconveniences, most especially for the senior members of our community. And these days, those inconveniences likely include financial woes and a prolonged wait for much-needed financial assistance like the pension.

The Coalition has called out the Labor government for their failure to provide transparency about Australians' reliance on Centrelink and Medicare.

They say Labor has 'failed the pub test' in not providing electorate-specific data that could help with more precise, targeted financial aid in areas sorely in need.

View attachment 28509

Could the Centrelink and Medicare system be better? Image source: Shutterstock.

The Coalition has accused the government of refusing to share data that could ensure cash-strapped citizens receive the support they need in a timely manner.

Opposition government services spokesman Paul Fletcher said he had asked for more detailed information about when Australians in different areas of the country received their government payments – and was met with a response from Government Services Minister Bill Shorten that 'Services Australia does not collate or record data by electorate'.

According to Mr Fletcher, the data was available in the past when the Coalition were in power; yet now, it appears to be blocked off to the general public. He has since accused the government of ‘lying’.

'The Opposition is calling on Mr Shorten to urgently release the requested data to better inform policymaking and empower citizens,' Mr Fletcher said.

The Coalition has also produced data taken from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) that showcases how different electorates are over-represented in health and social issues.

For example, the ABS data shows that 14.6 per cent of voters in the Bendigo electorate provided unpaid assistance to a person with a disability, health condition, or due to old age - compared to the national average of 11.9 per cent.

This data has prompted questions from the Coalition over how long people affected by mental health problems, disabilities, or old age have to wait for their Centrelink and Medicare claims to be processed, as this could help better target assistance to those areas that need it most.

General Manager Hank Jongen from Services Australia said processing times can differ across payment types and levels of complexity.

'We’re sorry to anyone who is waiting longer, and thank them for their patience,' he said.

'We are working hard to process work as quickly as possible.'

Services Australia said since July 1 this year, they had processed 84,000 Jobseeker claims, 17,000 Youth Allowance claims, and 2.24 million Medicare claims.

Key Takeaways

• The Coalition has accused the Labor government of failing to provide transparency regarding Centrelink claim processing times.
• The Opposition has demanded electorate-by-electorate breakdowns of processing times in an effort to be more effective in providing assistance.
• Opposition government services spokesman Paul Fletcher claims the data is not being disclosed by the current government, despite being provided by the previous Coalition government.
• The Coalition has used data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics to show potential disparities among electorates, highlighting the need for the requested data.

Members, we understand that this article is quite political and everyone is entitled to their opinion, but remember to be kind. The main focus of this article is to ensure our pensioners are aware of any news related to the pension. Here at the Seniors Discount Club, we do not have a political agenda. If you have any thoughts or opinions on this news, please share them with us in the comments below!

Yet the Coalition thought Robo was ok and fought the same electorate in court to continue with it. Seems the info is there, not sure what they are on about.