South Australians are waiting up to six weeks to receive a government payment that was brought forward and doubled to help deal with the rising cost of living.
Key points:
- South Australians are waiting up to six weeks to receive their cost of living concession
- The government doubled the payment as a one-off boost to eligible low income earners and concession card holders
- People can apply up until the end of the year
The Labor party committed to an election promise to bring forward and double the cost of living concession as a one-off boost, but the opposition said South Australians were facing lengthy waits to receive the money.
“It’s unacceptable that people have to wait six weeks to have their claims processed,” Shadow Minister for Social and Community Housing Michelle Lensink said.
“It’s unacceptable that people are not able to get through on the telephone given that we’re in the middle of a cost of living crisis and every cent that people can access that they’re eligible for is going to make a difference to them in their daily lives.”
The government website said ConcessionsSA was receiving “a high number of applications and enquiries, causing longer than usual processing times”.
“ConcessionsSA is currently assessing applications submitted in the last week of August,” the website reads.
“It’s clearly a system that is overwhelmed and the government needs to make sure they have enough staff to process this because we are in the middle of a cost of living crisis and there is a lot of people in South Australia doing it extremely tough,” Ms Lensink said.
The government website said people who applied by July 1 and had been approved should have already received their payment, while those who had not registered had until December 31 to do so.
The one-off doubled payment is $449 for eligible home owners, or $224.60 for tenants.
Health Minister Chris Picton said “the vast majority of people have already received their payments”.
“But there’s obviously people who are now seeing the news about this who are now contacting and following up, and registering for the first time,” he said.
Human Services Minister Nat Cook said her department had brought in additional staff to assist amid record numbers of people contacting ConcessionsSA to apply or change details.
“A record number of households – more than 202,000– have already been paid a record amount of money in the Cost of Living Concession to help in tough times,” she said.
