Locals queue up outside Centrelink

Centrelink offices around the country, including in Albany, had people lining up outside the door to seek financial help after being forced out of work yesterday. The MyGov website, which hosts Centrelink services, crashed yesterday morning, causing crowds to converge on Centrelink offices for help instead. In a press conference, Federal Government Services Minister Stuart Robert initially said the website had suffered a distributed denial of service cyber attack. He later backtracked on his statement, putting the website crash down to high demand. Nelson Gilmour was one of many who queued outside Albany’s Centrelink office yesterday. Like many hospitality workers, he lost his job at Boston Brewing on Sunday after the Federal Government's announcement of mass venue closures in a bid to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. “I never, ever thought that at 30 years of age I’d be in a Centrelink welfare line and unemployed,” Mr Gilmour said, adding paying rent was his biggest concern. “Everything is sort of crumbling and coming undone.” Falon Andersen, 23, said she was a casual worker at Inswing Sports Bar. “We have a meeting this afternoon, so that’s when I’ll know whether I’ve still got a job, but I decided to come down now just to apply for the payments because I feel like I needed to do something between now and then,” she said. “As much as I want to stay at home and stay away from people, we didn’t really have a choice with online.” Denmark woman Megan Sainty drove to Albany Centrelink after she lost her job at a bakery. “I basically put my hand up because I was working with other ladies that just needed the job more — one of them is pregnant,” she said. “I’m lucky because I’m still living at home, but I’m just trying to get some help from Centrelink to hopefully move up to Perth to go to uni,” she said. Mikkey Subedi’s family runs Yak on The York and said they were considering shutting their venue. He was lining up to find out how he could help his employees, who would be left without a job. A 61-year-old Albany man, who is the sole trader of a window cleaning business, was also among those seeking assistance. “I’m not really sure what’s available to me, the information is there but I don’t think it’s clear enough,” he said.