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Wednesday 25 March 2020
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Website crash adds to Centrelink woes CUSTOMERS flocked to Hastings Centrelink in High Street on Monday (23 March) after the MyGov website crashed and the could not access services online. This meant many had to be there in person to apply for reference numbers for coronavirus payments after losing their jobs. Safe distancing rules seemed to apply. “MyGov is currently unavailable,” a message on the government site said, blaming a cyber attack (where hackers flood a website with users so that the site becomes overloaded, similar to problems on census night). “We’re experiencing unprecedented demand for the service right now. We’re working on expanding capacity for MyGov, but we ask people to patient. Please try logging on later today or even tomorrow.” Mornington Centrelink is slated to close Monday 30 March and replaced by a part-time agency open 15 hours a week. (“Rallying to save Centrelink” The News 2/3/20). The move is expected to push clients to the Hastings, Rosebud and Frankston offices. Services Australia general manager Hank Jongen said the change was in response to a “significant reduction in customers visiting the service centre”. “We regularly review our face-to-face services to ensure service delivery is sufficient to meet community needs,” Mr Jongen said. “What we’re seeing is people increasingly using different channels to connect with the agency and access services, with the availability and convenience of mobile apps and online facilities.” Stephen Taylor
Picture: Gary Sissons
Free food plan as virus hits home Keith Platt keith@mpnews.com.au FREE parcels of food and personal care items are to be delivered to needy and socially isolated people across the Mornington Peninsula. The food parcel plan is part of the rollout of emergency measures by Mornington Peninsula Shire to help lessen the spread and effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Under the Caring for our Community program volunteers and staff left without jobs by the closing of shire services due to the coronavirus outbreak will be redeployed to deliver
packages being put together with the help of health and welfare agencies, Red Cross, the Department of Health and Human Services and community leaders. In its call to action, the shire hopes its program will “encourage our community to get through this challenge [of the coronavirus pandemic] together [and] foster the Anzac spirit”, CEO John Baker said in an email to councillors last Thursday (19 March). The program will also aim to “counteract negative social behaviour with uplifting stories and volunteering opportunities”. “Just to let you know we are making
progress on supporting our community through this crisis,” Mr Baker said. He and the mayor Cr Sam Hearn had “talked through” the Caring for our Community program with Flinders MP Greg Hunt, who was “very supportive”. The email quoted Cr Hearn: “We need to be at our very best as a community in these times. We need to proactively care for our neighbours and volunteer in any way that we can to help those around us and support our local community.”
Mr Baker said “key benefits” of the program included support “for our most vulnerable residents”; creating a sense of community connectedness; reinforcing the “benefit of helping each other through these challenging times”; and encouraging others to be community minded. Meanwhile, Cr Hugh Fraser has warned that the council cannot afford to “drag its heels” when formulating its 2020-2021 budget. “[Council] needs to be up front with the community now and thinking about what to expect over the next financial year: what’s likely to be needed for the community, how is it going to be safely provided and by whom, how much
is it going to cost and how is it to be paid for?” Cr Fraser said it was reasonable to expect state and federal governments to slow their payment of grants and to expect rates to go follow a similar pattern, both effecting cash flows. He said these impacts on its finances could mean that council has to borrow money to meet demand for “our home and community service delivery”. Cr Fraser said the COVID-19 emergency could lead to a significant downturn in economic activity “over perhaps 18 months”. “Peninsula sees last of the big days out” Page 10
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