from Crikey ….

You couldn’t make it up. Months of plaintive cries that government cuts to frontline services such as Centrelink are hurting might have fallen on deaf ears. But yesterday it could not be ignored.

Human Services Minister Kim Carr saw first hand the fruits of his government’s cuts when he visited a service centre in Ipswich, Queensland on Tuesday.

As he pulled up to the forecourt he witnessed the centre’s manager dealing with an irate customer who had spat the dummy.

He and his chief of staff then moved into the centre itself whereupon they found another customer lying prostate under a table. Concerned that the woman might be in urgent need of medical attention Carr and the service centre manager approached her and gave a light shake. "Are you all right love?" asked the manger, to which she replied: "Yeah, yeah. I’m fine. I was just having a little sleep cos I’ve been waiting so long."

Carr was then presented with a letter signed by members of the Community and Public Sector Union detailing the impact the cuts were having on services.