The clue is in the name
Kathryn - not generally a man's name. You can't make much of a case for the press being accurate about a story when you can't even get that right.
Department of Human Services says citizens, not systems, to blame
Australia's Department of Human Services (DHS) has doubled down, telling a Senate Committee yesterday its troubled robo-debt system will continue, and if there's something wrong, it's all your fault. After the Australian Tax Office threw the DHS under a bus yesterday over the system's design, DHS Secretary Kathryn Campbell's …
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Thursday 9th March 2017 00:44 GMT DesktopGuy
Sounds like the perfect system!
You make a system that clearly is not up the automated task it was designed for.
Your then forced to hire more staff - thereby reducing unemployment.
The said staff are paid for by recouping money of dole bludgers!
Everybody wins…
except for the poor unemployed sods who loose their benefits to pay for extra staff
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Friday 10th March 2017 00:46 GMT Anonymous Coward
centrelink staff are leaving
While the Secretary of DHS parades her subjugation to her Minister (Alan Tudge, yet another coalition ideolog), may of the older, experienced APS staff are retiring early, after many years of being subjected to whimsical changes of management procedures, IT systems manifestly not fit for purpose and moves from office to office apparently at random.
The current regime would dearly love to contract all social services out to some skeevy off-shore currystani company and be shot of any responsibility to those folk not living in the nice Liberal seats...
Grr, bah, snarf (posting AC as rellies still in APS)
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Thursday 23rd March 2017 12:39 GMT Anonymous Coward
Clerical Errors
Centrelink raised a debt with me that went into the $1000s.
Their computer records showed that I did not attend the required number of days at a particular college.
The college teachers used attendance sheets (pen/pencil and paper) to record attendance. This data was then entered into the college's data system, which was then transferred through to Centrelink's electronic portal.
(As I later learned), instead of entering 20 days of attendance, only 2 days was entered.
It took them over three years (and garnisheed wages) to get it sorted out.
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Tuesday 28th March 2017 07:39 GMT Hazmoid
capacity planning by DHS is a joke
Having had something to do with the DHS over the last few months, I know the staff are just as frustrated as the public. Recently went to the local office at 4 pm ( after walking past the sign saying they were open until 5) to sort out a problem with my son's education supplement, and was told they would not see me as they had people who had been waiting an hour already. The only solution was to ring the complaint line to complain about this state of affairs. The young man who took my call read out the details that I was trying to confirm they had in their system and which their automated system claimed was not there. Unfortunately he had to arrange for another department to reverse the decision. a week later we got an email to say that the issue had been resolved. all could have been sorted in 5 minutes if they had seen me in the office :(
Biting the hand that feeds IT
