Public Sector Union says deal with Datacom puts sensitive personal information at risk, reduces transparency and will degrade the quality of service

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

The Australian government will pay multinational corporation Datacom to run the Department of Home Affairs’ call centre, the latest in a string of critical government services to be privatised.

Under the deal Datacom will handle 1.5m visa and immigration queries a year through an Adelaide call centre, which will replace a Sydney-based operation.

The decision has provoked a furious response from the Community and Public Sector Union.

The union’s acting deputy secretary, Brooke Muscat-Bentley, said it put sensitive personal information at risk, reduced transparency and would degrade the quality of service.

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“This is a devastating decision for the 250 dedicated staff currently doing this work, along with their families,” Muscat-Bentley said. “But also for the people who are so reliant on their assistance to navigate Australia’s complex immigration rules and processes.

“Outsourcing this kind of work to a private company like Datacom means paying more and receiving less in return.”

The decision follows a similar privatisation at the Department of Human Services last year.

The government announced multinational corporation Serco – a business that has attracted significant controversy in Australia and abroad – would take over the Centrelink call centre to improve wait times.

Datacom already has significant business from the federal government. It provides customer support services to the Australian Taxation Office, and has produced a virtual assistant for the government agency responsible for patents and intellectual property.

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The home affairs department had sought “long term, cost-effective client enquiry services”, according to Datacom.



The government was seeking to cut wait times and improve access to information.



In a statement, the chief executive of Datacom, Jonathan Ladd, said the company went through a rigorous procurement process to win the contract. He said it showed the company’s “leadership and innovation in the provision of customer care services in Australia”.



“Datacom Connect will establish a contact centre service that provides an efficient optimised client experience, providing information and assistance to people enquiring about coming to Australia, whilst the department will retain all decision-making powers,” Ladd said.

The CPSU said said the 250 Datacom workers in the new operation would be paid less and placed under worse working conditions without scope for advancement into other roles.

Muscat-Bentley said the privatisation placed sensitive information at risk.

“Staff in the current call centre are well trained and work under strict commonwealth guidelines to ensure the sensitive personal information they have access to is protected,” she said. “We have serious concerns about the training and protections that will be in place under Datacom.”

The union also raised questions about Datacom’s tax record. The latest corporate tax accountability report showed the company had a slight profit margin in Australia. That meant its taxable income was $11m in 2015-16, from a total income of $432m.

It paid $2,417,381 in tax.

But Datacom said it was fully compliant with “all financial and legal obligations for all the countries in which we operate”.

“We do not artificially reduce profits in order to reduce tax liabilities,” it said in a statement. “With regards to Australian tax obligations, Datacom pays the full corporate tax rate of 30% with deductions for R&D offset.”

The home affairs department has been contacted for comment.