The decision to “gatekeep” cash handouts to the families of school children behind the “clunky and unhelpful” ServiceWA app has been slammed by the Opposition.
Applications for the Cook Government’s student assistance payment — worth $250 for high school kids and $150 for each child in primary school — opened on Monday.
Parents have been urged to install the ServiceWA app to access the money, although requests can also be made directly both online and through mail to the Department of Education.
Those forms can be found here: https://www.education.wa.edu.au/wasap/alternative-claim-methods
Shadow Education Minister Peter Rundle said the government had failed to properly inform families of the alternatives to ServiceWA, which he said had resulted in a flood of complaints to his office.
“It was a strange decision to gatekeep this funding behind a clunky and unhelpful app, rather than ensuring it is easily and readily available to all households,” Mr Rundle said.
“When I raised this issue with the Minister for Education in Parliament, he accused me of fabricating these concerns, but one only needs to look at his social media accounts to see dozens of families have been unable to access the Service WA app.”
Registering an account with the ServiceWA app requires users to provide their Digital ID.
That requires a second app – myGovID, provided by the Commonwealth Government – that must be verified through the provision of at least two forms of Australian identity documents, such as a passport, driver’s licence or birth certificate.
A Monday morning social media post from Premier Roger Cook promoting the student assistance payment quickly attracted nearly 500 comments, many of them expressing confusion over the steps required to apply for the cash through ServiceWA.
Mr Rundle said it was “disappointing” parents had not been directed to the Department of Education’s website for what he said was a more straightforward claim process.
“This may have reduced angst for families struggling with the cost-of-living crisis and having difficulty accessing the payments through the Service WA app,” he said.
“It’s particularly disappointing that many schools have not even been made aware of these alternative claim methods, leaving them unable to pass this information on to parents and families.”
Liberal Leader Libby Mettam criticised the government for failing to make the money available ahead of term one, when most families were shelling out for new uniforms, books and stationery.
“Once again we see the Cook Labor Government too slow to act when it comes to what should be a priority,” she said.
Speaking at Goollelal Primary School in Kingsley, Mr Cook said around 3000 of the 300,000 households eligible for a payment through the $103 million program had already made an application prior to 7am.
He said the giveaway — which is not means tested or limited to spending on school-related expenses — was about putting money back into the pockets of West Australians.
“We can do that because we’ve protected the State’s finances,” Mr Cook said.
“We’re in a position to invest, to give back and this will obviously be an important element of the budget that we bring down in the forthcoming weeks.”