Centrelink Reviews 

Disgraceful customer service. The wait times are ridiculous. The people you speak to are extremely rude and unhelpful. The whole process is broken.

CHANDNI WAS SO PATIENT AND SO KIND..I WAS INPATIENT AND SHORT AND SHE WAS SO COURTEOUS AND SO HUMBLE..SHE IS AN ASSETT TO CENTELINK.I SPOKE TO HER APPROX 12 PM TODAY.PLEASE MANAGEMENT PRACTICALLY RECOGNISE HER WITH A REWARD..JB

You fail for one when your app doesn't notify you to report, you don't get a second chance to rectify the situation and have the payment in your bank the day it's supposed to be either . In appalled you m are supposed to help families not make there lives harder when stuff like that happens

Could not believe that my bank details were changed on Centrelink app. Without me doing it. I had some one açcess my account and changed my details. Where is the security. I wasn't even given an explanation on what happened

The assessor that called had no idea I was eligible for the NSW seniors card. She advised me at my age of 64 i was eligible for zero despite the fact that im not working due to a disability.
The staff need to be competant with information they are passing on to the person on the other end of the phone and not give negative information.

My parents recently received mail asking them to confirm their current situation and confirm IDs etc (less than a week ago). Threats inside that paperwork said that, non-complaiance could result in their pensions being stopped (not paraphrasing). Father is citizen, Mother a full time res. I am pretty sure threats like that are illegal and, if they're not, they should be.

Father and I went into the local branch to get the ID situation sorted (warwick, QLD). Without an appointment, the wait would have been miminum of 45 minutes, According to Tracey (check-in person). My father has chronic pain and would be unable to sit there for that time period so, I asked to book an appointment. Earlist appt was 14th, Aug. Over a two week wait. The deadline for this paperwork, and for their pensions, is the 9th of August. A fact Tracey did not care about in the slightest. Simply shrugged and said, "I am trying to find you a solution."

Keep in mind, this is simply to verify IDs. That's it.

Tracey clearly did not care, was almost completely defensive and seemingly incapable of being helpful.

I asked, given the situation, if there were a way to have an extension put on this deadline until after the first availble appointment, She said she could try to call and see. VERY loosey goosey answer I am sure she would not accept should the situation be reversed. Also said there was no promise of a notification if the extension was successful or not.

Seems like the "give-away" will be either the pensions are or aren't cancelled.

Which literally means, afford to buy food, or not.

This is from their website (serviceaustralia . gov . au) under the, "service commitments" tab.

"What you can expect from us

Respect

We will listen and work with you to understand your individual and cultural needs.

This means we will:

* treat you with courtesy and value your individual circumstances
* listen to you
* adhere to the Values of the Australian Public Service."

There is a lot more info there that they do not come close to measuring up to.

If their wage is based on the work they do, they should be below minimum wage or unemplyed.

This is beyond disgusting!

Waiting on hold for over an hour is unacceptable. It’s especially ironic when the agency is responsible for supporting unemployed Australians. With so many people looking for work, it’s hard to understand why Centrelink appears to be so understaffed. Modernise the phone system with AI for routine enquiries and invest in enough staff to provide a reasonable level of service.

Firstly if I can give zero stars I would .
This office would have to be staffed with one of the most incompetent staff I’ve ever experienced.
Every time I’ve presented myself to update my aged care parents details the staff here somehow miraculously find a way to stuff it up and pass the buck back to me.
Last time they stuffed up I got a call from Adelaide head office regarding a separate issue and asked could they fix my current problem.
The very courteous and highly intelligent officer named Georgia not only fixed everything but also restored the cancellations of pensions to my parents overnight.
If there was one Georgia stationed at every Centrelink office I guarantee you that every time the 6th graders who are staffed there would have less errors .
If the cowardly aged care minister mark butler managed to call me after I contacted hes office personally this whole scenario would not of occurred but what do you expect from a government that consists of MPs who take theyre families on Working holidays charging it to the tax payers while people like my parents who worked half a century get screwed over in they’re vulnerable years!
Pathetic!

I've been on Centerlink for 3 years after a workplace injury & most staff are very helpful but this complaint is about when you're expecting a call from them.
Everytime they send a message saying "A Service Australia officer will call today from a private number, please answer this call", it either rings for a split second, doesn't ring at all & you get a missed call message or no missed call at all but when you call them (or visit the office as I did) they say "oh yes they called you but you didn't answer" but my call logs would say otherwise.
Clearly they call & hang up quickly so they can meet there daily quota.
Once is an accident but everytime they call you & it's not just me, this is systemic rorting.😡

All these negative reviews clearly didn’t get a chance to speak to Connie! She was an absolute sweetheart and was able to fix my issue instantly. Without her, I would have been screwed. Thankyou again Connie! The world needs more people like you 😍

Now the online app doesn't let me log in, asks for a new password that I don't know because I HAVEN'T GOT ONE then says if I FORGOT it they will email me a code...AND THEN THEY DON'T SEND ANYTHING!!!
I UTTERLY HATE CENTRELINK

I have a young woman who lives with me she has a 3 year old and 5year old. She has an intellectual disability. Centrelink have threatened to cut off her payments. IN the last year she has had $5 taken off her familysupport because she was sick and couldn't get the 5year old tested in their time frame. SHE DOESN"T DRIVE and I am 70 and still work-I try to help her as much as I can. NOW she is being told to submit her income by 5/7/26 and she may need to pay money back. DO CENTRELINK EVEN CHECK WHY THESE PEOPLE ARE ON AN INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY? DO THEY THINK THAT EVERYONE UNDERSTANDS WHAT IS SAID?? THESE PEOPLE SHJOULD BE TREATED COMPLETELY DIFFERENT TO OTHERS. NOw she is being told if it's not done she will be cut off all together!!!!!!!!! I can't afford to keep them-do I put them out on the street?

refuses to help me or even give me a low-income card. I have no income! they want us to be poor and broke so we rely on the system.

Ive seen basket weaving forums run out of central Asian, post-Soviet dictatorship with websites that work better than Centrelink. Every single function will break and you will have to call them every time in a vain hope to get it fixed. Staff have seemingly no idea how anything works and I can't blame them, the process is extremely esoteric and I'd be surprised if their training was anywhere near sufficient. Abandon all hope if their technical incompetence leads to you getting a few dollars more than they think you're worth, they'll send their bloodhounds after you to scrape back every red cent.

I’ve been left waiting for an hour and 20+ minutes which is honestly annoying because I’m spending half my time waiting on them to finally answer my call and I can guarantee you half of them might just be on break or just sitting in their little box desk doing nothing. Do better honestly cause the service is just disgusting

Since January 2026, I have worked with Centrelink on several occasions to set up my Age Pension payments. My first visit was to the Wonthaggi branch on 28 January, and since then I have made at least five phone enquiries. Every staff member I have dealt with has been friendly, patient, professional, and eager to help. It is rare to receive such consistently excellent service, and I am very grateful for the support I have received. Every interaction has been worthy of a five-star rating.

My first time with Centrelink was very positive. My skills have deteriorated as I’ve aged and I was very apprehensive before going to the office.
My husband and I had Ann as our advisor at Toowong. She couldn’t have been more helpful. She was competent and caring, a wonderful combination.
Thank you Ann.
Catherine Graham

Horrible organisation. I applied for Jobseeker after making 280k the last FY and paying 110k in tax. They told me they had everything they needed to make a decision in the next week. I check mygov a month later and they asked for a 'profit and loss statement' for a 500/week rideshare job before cancelling my application.

Very unprofessional customer service. Sitting on the phone for an hour and 40 minutes for them to answer.
But what do we expect they are a government department usless

Well when I called Centrelink to make a complaint they put me on hold for 45 minutes. And as a student I’m considered dependent meaning they pay me based of how much my mum makes (I’m not blaming her she hates centre link as much as me)so they cut my payment because she didn’t do her tax return then they made her fill out another modjy form in order for me to get my payment the morons at centre link already have one so why do they need another? In fact the whole dependent shit is stupid I’m 19 legally an adult so why should get my money depend on weather my mum does her tax return I’m my own person.