Senator GEORGE CAMPBELL (2:17 PM) —My question is addressed to Senator Vanstone, Minister for Family and Community Services. Can the minister explain why staff at Centrelink are being forced to work overtime, including on weekends, and are constantly being required to re-enter data because the new Job Network IT system is unstable? Can the minister confirm that these IT problems have resulted in a 20 per cent decline in referrals of Centrelink clients to the Job Network? Why isn't the minister taking serious action to ensure the unemployed get the help that they need?

Senator VANSTONE (Minister for Family and Community Services and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Status of Women) —I thank the senator for his question; it gives me the opportunity to remind senators yet again of what fabulous staffing arrangements we have in Centrelink and what a tremendous job those people do in serving Australians near and far with some 2,000 offices or Centrelink agents and a much better system than we had under the previous government. No longer do people who are in need and who are getting some welfare—getting help from the rest of us—have to queue up and get treated like they are cheats. In fact, they can go into a Centrelink office and go to the appropriate area. They can go to the disability section, the family section or the section for people looking for work.

Senator Campbell, you identified in your question that there are some difficulties in the roll-out of some new IT for the Job Network. That should have given you the hint that, to the extent that there are any problems in the roll-out in the IT network for the Job Network, that is a question that should be addressed to the minister responsible for the Job Network, not me.

Senator GEORGE CAMPBELL —I ask a supplementary question, Mr President. Minister, I did draw attention to the fact that there has been a decline in referrals from Centrelink clients, which I understand you do have responsibility for. Minister, isn't it a fact that the problematic IT system is having a very negative impact on other programs in the Australians Working Together package that rely on Centrelink for referrals, such as the personal support program? What action is the minister taking to discharge her responsibility to ensure that her portfolio's clients receive the very best support possible when seeking a job?

Senator VANSTONE (Minister for Family and Community Services and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Status of Women) —Yet again, Senator Campbell, you invite me to remind you of what a tremendous job Centrelink do. From the counter staff at the point of entry, if you like, who deal with customers on a day-to-day basis, right up to the head of Centrelink, Sue Vardon, they do a tremendous job. Centrelink staff are putting in extra hours to cope with some IT roll-out difficulties in the Job Network. They are doing work-arounds where there is an IT difficulty. But you can be sure of this: irrespective of the cause of any difficulty, you can rely on Centrelink to bend over backwards, do work-arounds and do whatever they can to make sure that the customers are not disadvantaged. I can assure you that that is what Centrelink are doing.