SERVICE SA, TRANMERE

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO (14:44): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Government Enterprises a question about the Tranmere Service SA customer service centre.

Leave granted.

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO: The Tranmere Service SA customer service centre will be closing due to the redevelopment of the building. Service SA provides a multitude of services and must have a very diverse client base. What is the communication strategy to ensure that users of the centre are aware that it will be closing and informing them of alternative ways to conduct their business?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for State/Local Government Relations, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Consumer Affairs, Minister for Government Enterprises, Minister for the City of Adelaide) (14:45): I thank the honourable member for her question. The honourable member is correct that the Tranmere customer service centre will be closing on a temporary basis in the coming months. The centre does indeed have a very diverse customer base. The Tranmere centre is an important part of Service SA's customer service centres. During the 2009-10 financial year the Tranmere centre processed approximately 124,000 payments and 111,000 non-payment transactions.

The current centre will be open until the close of business on 24 December 2010. The redevelopment of the Tranmere Village (where the centre is housed) is scheduled to commence in early 2011 and will reopen in the second half of the year. During the redevelopment phase, Service SA's existing customers will have a range of options to continue accessing the many services offered by Service SA. Those options include the online channel, such as using EZYReg for transactions including the renewal of your driver's licence, motor vehicle or boat registration or things such as changing your address.

Other options include registration renewals by phone (and that is on the 1300 361 021 number), or visiting an alternative Service SA customer service centre. Those centres that are probably the closest or the most accessible to that area are located at North Terrace, Modbury and Prospect. Just to remind members, any Australia Post outlet also provides a number of Service SA-type services. I am advised that staff currently working at the Tranmere customer service centre will be temporarily relocated to other centres to ensure that any increase in demand at those centres will be accommodated.

It may also mean that regular customers at Tranmere may still see the same familiar faces they are used to dealing with at these other sites nearby. Service SA has implemented a range of communication methods to ensure that the community is kept informed regarding the centre's closure date and also alternative services that are available from January. These communication methods include:

the distribution of a letter to 54,000 households and businesses within the Tranmere catchment, which commenced on 8 November 2010;

a flyer will be handed out at the centre to the 20,000 customers who use the centre during November and December;

given the culturally and linguistically diverse nature of the catchment area, a Tranmere redevelopment fact sheet, translated into 10 languages other than English (Chinese, simplified and traditional; Croatian; French; Greek; Italian; Japanese; Korean; Serbian and Spanish), will also be available; and

information will also be displayed on the 'active waiting' LCD screen in the existing centre, and further information is always available online.

When completed, the new customer service centre will obviously offer an improved, larger, more modern and fit-for-purpose facility, which will allow Service SA to cater for customers quickly and efficiently.