Calling Centrelink? Hold the line.
Please wait, your call is important to us.
But when it comes to those getting welfare, that wait can be longer than expected.
People with a disability and the unemployed are waiting more than 20 minutes on the phone to get through to Centrelink.
Those on the dole are waiting on average 23 minutes, while older Australians are waiting 19 minutes to get through to a customer service assistant.
Those getting disability and carers payments are waiting 21 minutes.
But the longest waiting time was for young people and students, who are waiting 25 minutes for help.
The Department of Human Services says those figures are from its most busiest period in January.
"It's a really challenging time," department executive Grant Tidswell told a Senate estimates hearing in Canberra on Thursday.
The department receives about 200,000 general inquiry calls a week, and was doing its best to match staffing levels with peak periods.
When criticised about a specific case where a woman lost her payments because of an administrative error, Mr Tidswell admitted the system is broken.
"It's a complicated system, it's difficult to administer, and we don't always get it 100 per cent right."
