The Turnbull Government slashed 1200 jobs from the Department of Human Services this year.

In the last year alone (2016-17) 55 million calls to Centrelink went unanswered as a result of these cuts.

That’s a massive increase of 26 million unanswered calls from 29 million in 2015-16 and 22 million in 2014-15.

Member for Blair, Shayne Neumann MP, said the people of Ipswich and the Somerset Region should be very concerned about the Turnbull Governments’ attack on Centrelink.

“Many people rely on these services and they simply must have access to Centrelink to get by day to day”, Mr Neumann said.

“This is a disgraceful, cynical and calculated attack on access to support services in our community.

“It punishes those who least can afford it and simply ignores the needs of pensioners, families, carers and job seekers who depend on the modest assistance they receive through Centrelink”.

The Turnbull Government must stop these damaging cuts to Human Services and stop ignoring the needs of ordinary Australians.