MEMBER FOR CANBERRA CALLS ON MORRISON GOVERNMENT TO SAVE BRADDON CENTRELINK 

 
Alicia Payne MP, Member for Canberra, has started a petition calling on the Federal Government to save Braddon Centrelink.

After seeing a Facebook advertisement for the lease of the Braddon Centrelink office, Ms Payne wrote to the Morrison Government in May asking about the future of face-to-face Centrelink services in the electorate of Canberra. 

Ms Payne received a reply in late June from Minister Reynolds, confirming that the lease was ending on 28 February 2022 and that the Government was ‘considering its face-to-face service offer for North Canberra’.

‘During the pandemic, we saw long lines down Lonsdale Street, as record numbers of Canberrans accessed Centrelink payments,’ Alicia Payne, Member for Canberra, said.

‘It is unbelievable that the Morrison Government is contemplating taking this service away from Canberrans.’

It was also confirmed that there had yet to be any community consultation regarding the potential closure, despite ads for the Centrelink building being public since May.

‘Students in Turner accessing Youth Allowance and retirees in Narrabundah accessing the Aged Pension should not have to travel to Belconnen or Woden to get assistance to access the support they need,’ Ms Payne said.

‘You could hardly afford the extra bus fare on $43.50 a day.’

The Braddon Centrelink is a vital service for Canberrans living in the Inner North and Inner South and is the only shopfront in the entire Canberra electorate. 

‘I’ve started a petition to save Braddon Centrelink, to show the Morrison Government how important this service is for Canberrans.’

The petition can be signed on the Member for Canberra’s website,

https://aliciapayne.com.au/save-braddon-centrelink/

TUESDAY, 6 JULY 2021

MEDIA CONTACTS: TASMAN VAUGHAN 0435 933 313