New jobs on the line
Hundreds of new jobs could be created under plans by the Department of Human Services to use Telstra staff in its Bunbury and regional New South Wales call centres.
Under the proposal, Telstra would supply 200 staff to the department’s Centrelink call centres here and in Queanbeyan.
If successful, the deal would use Telstra staff at the department’s ‘smart centres’ for 12 months.
The additional staff would be used to reduce wait times by handling general high volume calls.
Department general manager Hank Jongen would not confirm any details of the deal but said discussions with Telstra were in the early stages.
He said reports that the telecommunications company would take over the Medicare and Centrelink call centre services were incorrect.
More than 200 people are employed by the department at the Bunbury Centrelink call centre and Mr Jongen said the deal could create even more jobs.
It is not yet known how the Telstra staff would be split between the Bunbury and Queanbeyan call centres.
A Telstra spokesman said the telecommunications company had not yet formed any agreement with the Department of Human Services.
“We are currently discussing a proposal to partner with the Department to provide additional smart centre capacity in Queanbeyan and Bunbury, ” he said.
Mr Jongen said the additional staff would free up skilled staff to deal with more complex inquiries.
“The bulk of these transactions are already being completed online or are in the transition phase but there remains a need to have staff available to handle these queries, ” he said.
Members of the Community and Public Sector Union expressed concern over the deal.
CPSU National secretary Nadine Flood said the deal was a step towards selling off chunks of the public sector, putting thousands of jobs at risk.
“We saw it with the decision to outsource Medicare payments to the private sector and now we are seeing it with Centrelink work going to Telstra, ” she said.
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