Mornington Peninsula Mayor Sam Hearn has welcomed the Federal Government's decision to grant a further six-month extension to Mornington Centrelink and urged the government to permanently reinstate the service.
Cr Hearn said news the Centrelink/Medicare service centre in Main Street would remain open until March 2021 would come as a relief to the many local residents who use the service and thanked Federal MP Greg Hunt for his advocacy work in securing this outcome.
"This is a crucial support for our community and to close it in the middle of a pandemic would have been disastrous," he said.
"Having that extra six months will ease concerns about the inadequacy of the new agency service that has been set up to replace the centre."
Cr Hearn said the Mornington Peninsula had suffered one of the heaviest hits to employment in the state due to the coronavirus pandemic, with close to 6,000 job losses, a 21% fall in Gross Regional Product (compared with a 6.9% drop for Australia overall) and an 11% drop in employment opportunities.
"We fear the economic and social impacts of this period will go well beyond March. We will continue to advocate for Services Australia to permanently reinstate the Mornington Centrelink office."
