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MyGov Crashes As Thousands Flock For Dole Payments

CANBERRA: Australia‘s MyGov Web site came to a shuddering halt yesterday as thousands sought to get help from Centrelink amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Demand for the MyGov services has risen dramatically, with many Australians who have been stood down due to coronavirus restrictions now seeking access to unemployment benefits.

The Government’s $66 billion second-stage stimulus package includes a doubling of dole payments, as it seeks to create a buffer for the economy and the pandemic.

The Federal Government had initially said the site had crashed due to a cyber-attack – only to later blame unprecedented demand for welfare payments via Centrelink payments. 

Government Services Minister Stuart Robert told Parliament there was no evidence of an attack, mere hours after he had claimed a distributed denial of service (DDoS) cyber hack had occurred.

“More than 55,000 Australians [were] trying to access [the site] at the same time, as well as the issue we had with the denial-of-service attack,” he said yesterday morning.

He later pulled back on that claim in Parliament and said the flood of people trying to access the site had triggered alarms which are automatically activated when there is a DDoS attack. 



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