On Monday the NSW Government’s website went down due to an influx of people trying to access it. Now the same has happened to MyGov.
Reports of an outage with the federal website began on social media on Monday morning.
The My Gov website has crashed, as Australians try to access government services, like Centrelink, online. The Government Services Minister Stuart Robert says the site itself is fine, but it cannot cope with the unprecedented demand. @abcbrisbane
— Shelley Lloyd (@shelleymlloyd) March 22, 2020
BREAKING. My gov website overwhelmed and long lines outside Centrelink offices. pic.twitter.com/pZ3fBOhESB
— Julian Abbott (@JulianBAbbott) March 22, 2020
Well, that’s not the best timing. seems https://t.co/vuDQ2s4nLg is currently unavailable. Not the biggest shock. It must be a hell of a day for them.
— James Fridley (@fridley) March 22, 2020
At the time of writing Down For Everyone Or Just Me also showed the site being down.
However, not all uses seem to be affected. Gizmodo Australia has had inconsistent results when trying to access the site. While some of our team members have been able to access the desktop and mobile sites, others have not. I’ve personally been success with Google Chrome on my devices, whereas Mozilla Firefox has not worked.
There is currently no word on when the site will be running consistently again.
The demand on MyGov is most likely to the second coronavirus stimulus package that Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced over the weekend. The package included an extra $550 per fortnight for welfare payments for the next six months. This will apply to Youth Allowance, Jobseeker, parenting payments, the farm household allowance and those on othjer special benefits.
“We will be supercharging the safety net. We will be supporting the most vulnerable to the impacts of the crisis,” said Morrison during a press conference.
The news isn’t just impacting recipients online, but also those heading into centrelink in person.
#SocialDistancing at the line at Centrelink. Website is frozen so many don’t have a choice. #auspol #centrelink #coronavirusaustralia pic.twitter.com/H3PUoJmhEM
— akreveld (@akreveld) March 23, 2020
The queue for #Centrelink in #Cairns runs right around the block – never seen anything like it. @7NewsCairns #coronavirus pic.twitter.com/JLzWfDZ45Y
— Matthew Karstunen (@MKarstunen) March 22, 2020
It’s worth noting that this $550 can be reduced for those on a Jobseeker Payment as it will depend on the individual’s earnings.
A second stiumulus payment of $750 will also be available from July 13 for veterans, welfare recipients and certain concession cardholders.
[referenced url=”https://gizmodo.com.au/2020/03/nsw-gov-au-is-down-coronavirus/” thumb=”https://gizmodo.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/south-park-internet-410×231.jpg” title=”NSW Government Website Crashes After Premier Tells People To Go There” excerpt=”On Monday the New South Wales Premier, Gladys Berejiklian, held a press conference regarding the closure of non-essential businesses due to the coronavirus. During the briefing the Premier referred people to the nsw.gov.au site, which then crashed.”]