Forum –
Lucy Wicks’s latest attempt to justify the closing of the Ettalong Centrelink office (PP 008) beggars belief.
Is it conceivable that, in two years of searching, Centrelink could not find suitable premises in the whole of the Ettalong/Umina area?
I venture to say that, had the same vigour been applied as was evidenced in the disastrous decision to locate the ATO office in Gosford, an entrepreneur could easily have been found to provide the required accommodation in a suitable position.
As it is, the already overloaded Woy Woy office will now have to deal with double the present work demand, and Peninsula residents needing Centrelink services will be drastically disadvantaged.
Anyone who has attended the Woy Woy office and has had to wait half an hour or more on the footpath outside the building will now have to accept that this wait time is likely to double.
I have witnessed people in the queue behind me giving up in despair and leaving without even getting as far as the door of the building: well, the Peninsula is not a Liberal stronghold, so what else can we expect?
I’ll wager there won’t be any pork-barrelling handouts coming our way at the next election.
Email, Feb 27
Bruce Hyland, Woy Woy