Nationals Member for Euroa Annabelle Cleeland has met with representatives of Services Australia to discuss the ongoing accessibility difficulties that locals across the electorate are having with the government agency.
Services Australia responsibilities include payments for Centrelink, Medicare, child support, aged-care pensions, and veteran services, however, they have minimal facilities across the electorate despite increasing demand.
Ms Cleeland said the meeting with Service Australia’s Robert Williams was constructive and both committed to more meetings with community members, as well as local providers, to understand how access to these services can be improved.
Major towns in the electorate including like Benalla no longer have dedicated Centrelink facilities, despite 5000 of Benalla’s 14,000 residents receiving support through the service. As things stand, Seymour is the only town within the electorate with a Services Australia centre.
While some towns have single agent access points, Ms Cleeland said that they were limited in the support they could provide.
“The reality is that several people in our local communities require support when it comes to Centrelink payments, Medicare, and many more services,” Ms Cleeland said.
“At the moment, there are questions to be asked as to whether these people can access this support effectively in towns across the region.
“The agent and access points that are towns have offer limited support and are not specialised in all areas of Services Australia support.
“In a town like Benalla that has unfortunately high levels of disadvantage and an elderly population, it is crucial that the support available to our community is both accessible and adequate.”
