The decision to move Centrelink's Ballarat CBD office to Wendouree has been condemned amid fears it could further disadvantage vulnerable people.
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Ballarat MP Catherine King labelled the move as a "stupid decision", and said she had written to the federal government and Services Australia twice to argue against it since 2019.
"I've raised concerns consistently about lack of access to public transport and other services, and moving the direct customer facing part of Centrelink away from the centre of town - it's fallen on deaf ears," she said.
"I think it's the wrong decision and I think it's a stupid decision."
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The move, which will see the Ballarat customer service centre open at the former Masters building on Learmonth Road in Wendouree on December 13, was announced on Wednesday morning.
The current location, on Albert Street, is close to a medical centre and several support services, including Uniting's Breezeway and council's Parent Place on Sturt Street, as well as access to buses from almost all of the city's routes.
The new location, where Services Australia already runs a call centre, is close to a medical centre, childcare centre, supermarket, and train station, but is only serviced directly by two bus routes, only one of which comes from the CBD - two other routes stop at Wendouree train station but don't continue further up Learmonth Road.
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Responding to questions from The Courier, Services Australia general manager Hank Jongen said in a statement the move had been in the plans for some time.
"As leases come up for renewal, Services Australia takes the opportunity to review our service centre tenancies to ensure they are fit for purpose and meet the needs of the community," he said.
"This move will bring together our service centre staff and more than 170 call centre staff already working from the Wendouree site.
"Relocating the service centre was part of our plan for developing a precinct office at Wendouree, which we have progressively occupied since 2020. Construction work will commence at the site imminently to fit out the site with a modern service centre for customers.
"Services Australia is undertaking community engagement to ensure customers and stakeholders are aware of the upcoming relocation.
"Services Australia is informing the community in a number of ways, through local advertising and engaging with community stakeholders, nearby businesses and nearby medical providers."
Ms King said the move was a "fait accompli".
"They've made the decision separate to the ends of the people using the service, that seems crazy to me," she said.
"The staff do an amazing job, they deserve to have state-of-the-art facilities, but ultimately Services Australia is a service, and to move the service out where it's inaccessible to people is really wrong.
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"It reflects on this push, and push, and push to digitise services - it suits some people, but I think anyone who's struggled to get onto MyGov will argue it's not the best, but for vulnerable people, older people not on the internet, or people who really need to explain to a human being the complexity of their issue, it really makes it less accessible.
"They're taking such a big service out of the centre of town at the same time you have the state government establishing GovHub - what does it say about the economic development of Ballarat's CBD, to take this large workforce out of the centre of town?
"Once these decisions are made, where you've either lost it or had it move, it's extremely difficult to get it back.
"After the year people have been through, this is the last thing the Ballarat CBD needs economically, and the last thing people need if they're trying to access services as they recover from COVID."