After announcing an increase of 1500 call center employees, the federal government promised that customers frustrated by the long waiting time to make Centrelink calls would soon see a "very significant" improvement.
Private companies, including Serco,Stellar Asia Pacific,Concentrix Services and DataCom Connect, will sign contracts to find and manage taxpayer-funded jobs.
Last year, the federal government hired nearly 3000 contractors in the Human Services Department, rather than choosing to hire civil servants to do the jobs.
Human Services minister Keenan (Michael Keenan) insists that Centrelink customers don't have to worry about answering calls from outside suppliers.
"I don't think people who use our services care where the people who help them come from, and I think they just want help," he said. "so, it's the quickest way we can get people involved in improving services. The simplest way. "
In the May budget, Unionparty allocated $50 million to shorten the Centrelink waiting time.
Keenan said the new jobs would ensure that clients saw "very significant service improvements".
He said the first 250 call center employees who joined the service last year reduced the number of people who called Centrelink but heard busy calls by 20 percent.
Labour asks Centrelink to hire regular full-time employees
When it was announced that the workers would sign with Serco, Labour and unions questioned why government trusted a private company for personal information, but Keenan dismissed those concerns.
He said he would not send any customer data overseas and reiterated on Thursday that all new call center staff would be based in Australia.
Labour again argues that public services are further privatising, opposition party Human Services spokesman Bernie (Linda Burney) said Centrelink needs regular full-time staff.
"We hope to have a good, strong public service, there should be fixed, trained people in these positions, outsourcing will do nothing."