Australia is in the midst of a major reform to the way the income support system is delivered. This involves automation and a move towards self-sufficiency for customers, as well as changes to eligibility criteria, assessment processes and the compliance framework for a number of different payments.

This research examines in detail the impact of these changes on both clients and staff of community service organisations in three different jurisdictions — Southern Queensland, Tasmania and Western Australia. Through a survey and face-to-face interviews with over 218 staff and case studies of 18 clients during 2017 and 2018, the research explores their lived experiences of accessing and interacting with Centrelink, how this affects their lives and what improvements they would like to see.