If you’ve ever received Centrelink benefits, you’ll know how much of a hassle it is to report every two weeks. Believe it or not, but the government actually does listen to us, and has just released two applications for Centrelink beneficiaries. The first is for job seekers receiving Newstart Allowance, Youth Allowance and Parenting Payments, and it has a surprising number of features for a mobile application, letting you to report your income, apply for an advance payment, view your payment histories and statements, among other things.
The second application is aimed at students, offering the same features to those receiving Youth Allowance, Austudy, Pensioner Education Supplement, ABSTUDY or the ABSTUDY Pensioner Education Supplement. A neat feature of the two applications is that instead of having to log in with your CRN and password and then have to answer the subsequent identification question, the answers to which I could never remember, you can just use a 4-digit pin to login to the service. So much less complicated!
Interestingly, the Job Seekers application is only available for Android at this point, iOS got left behind somewhere, although the application’s design is riddled with its UI elements. It would have been nice to see the Department of Human Services’ first foray into Android applications to actually look like a modern Android application, but I guess it’s nice of them to remember us at all.
The applications can be found on the Play Store: Express Plus Job Seekers, and Express Plus Students.
