MEDIA RELEASE

Despite record numbers of Australians now relying on social security, the Morrison Government is still pursuing a secret plan to close down Centrelink shopfronts around the nation.

The Abbotsford Centrelink in Melbourne is the latest victim of this plan - joining Mornington and Newport, Newcastle and Tweed Heads on the list of those closed, merged or put on the chopping block.

Government Services Minister Stuart Robert last week told Parliament of “a demand for government social supports not seen in this country since the Great Depression.”

But in the midst of shocking job insecurity Mr Robert now seems to think the answer is shutting up shop.

The thirty-one staff at Abbotsford have been told nothing and don’t know whether they will be joining Centrelink queues themselves, and people using the service are being told to go to South Melbourne.

The Government are not informing the public of these plans and are leaving jobseekers, jobkeepers, the needy, and vulnerable Australians out in the cold.

Just how many other Centrelinks are in the Government’s sights?

Master of disaster Stuart Robert must now come clean on the extent of his national Centrelink closure plan - or commit to maintaining all current Centrelink shopfronts.

From Robodebt to the $4.6b ripped from the NDIS we know whenever this Government finds itself without a plan it robs from the vulnerable.

But it must quit this reckless plan to rob communities of their social security hubs.