Zoe Moffatt & Gerald Lynch
Hume councillors have criticised the federal government’s decision to relocate the Broadmeadows Centrelink, saying it will have profound and ongoing impacts on residents.
At a council meeting on August 28, the councillors discussed its correspondence to Government Services Minister Bill Shorten about the relocation of the Centrelink-Medicare office from Broadmeadows to Coolaroo.
Councillor Naim Kurt said the decision to relocate the service is a “kick in the guts”.
“There’s a really disproportionate amount of lower socioeconomic community members in our municipality who really rely on the services of Centrelink,” he said.
“It’s really disappointing to see the Broadmeadows Centrelink service being moved from here. It’s going to put it out of reach of our residents, it’s a real kick in the guts for the Broadmeadows community.
“I’m really disappointed to see that we didn’t even get, as a key partner here, a flagging of this from the department at all.”
In its letter, Hume council said it only became aware of the decision through a third-party source and received no notification through the department or relevant agencies.
“The conspicuous absence of transparency and stake-holder involvement in this decision-making process has regrettably fostered a sense of exclusion and undermined public trust in the due process of such consequential matters,” the letter reads.
Cr Kurt said he hopes the council can get a reprieve about the decision.
“I think when Mr Shorten reads this letter he’s probably going to be pretty disappointed in some of the government’s services,” he said.
“The fact they couldn’t even let us know about that, we could have perhaps found them availability in one of the council buildings or even in the shopping centre across the road.”
Broadmeadows Progress Association assistant cecretary Sonja Rutherford says the decision is “very upsetting” for the local residents who were left in the dark over the decision to relocate the centre.
“The current centre is accessible for all residents and is within easy walking distance of public transport,” she said. “The new site is not. It is a 20-minute walk from the nearest train station and the people who require the services could have all sorts of problems such as disabilities, making this a difficult trip for them.
Services Australia said it anticipates the Coolaroo site will be ready later this year, and the agency is talking and listening to Hume council.
The agency said it will continue to discuss the new service arrangements with council and specialist staff will continue to visit community agencies in Broadmeadows.
Services Australia said there has been a significant reduction in foot traffic at the Broadmeadows Service Centre between 2017 and 2022 and the relocation will improve access for northern suburbs customers.
