Nearly 48 million calls weren’t answered by Centrelink last year, leaving customers furious.

Despite government intervention, the agency has failed to reach its customer satisfaction goals.

Centrelink copped 237,000 complaints last year, with consumers angry about long wait times and engaged phone lines.

The picture doesn’t look good.

The Community and Public Service Union’s Deputy Secretary Melissa Donnelley tells Deborah Knight it’s “as bad as it seems”.

Ms Donnelley says the agency’s problems are being caused by ongoing staff cuts.

“We want to see more permanent staff members in the department who are able to answer the calls quickly and actually deal with people’s issues.

“I think that’s what the community wants as well.

“Even if they get their call answered, they want to be talking to someone who can fix their problem.”

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