Room to Relate in Centrelink? Attempts to Engage Supportively by Drawing on Guidance from Social Workers

Abstract

Contact with the Australian social security and human service provider Centrelink offers opportunities for vital support, both financial and social. However, it can also invoke significant challenges, particularly where people struggle to relate and to make their voices heard. Centrelink has been criticised extensively as beset by machine-like bureaucratic processes, stigmatising ‘participation’ expectations, intrusive compliance interactions and a customer service framework inadequate for the serious needs of people seeking assistance. There has been extensive research attention to constrictive aspects of the Centrelink context. In keeping with this, interest in the small but significant body of social workers in Centrelink has largely focused on their struggles to maintain professional discretion and insulate themselves from challenging organisational surroundings. There has been less attention to alternative directions and organisational attempts to develop more freedom around relating in service situations despite recognition of the need for such. This dissertation addresses a gap in understanding by considering the relational challenge in Centrelink with reference to some alternative developments which have attempted to draw on social workers to guide service provision towards supportive relationships.