at this time of year, it is damn hard to get through. when the queues get too big, the system closes the lines to allow us to catch up on the people coming through - rather than have people sit on the line for over an hour, it comes up engaged. i would suggest if you need to get through, 8am when the lines open, school drop off or pick up times as mentioned, or after 5pm (lines are open til 8).
FWIW i believe you will be asked to continue trying online services to register your baby bonus claim though. i would try to use online services outside of normal "reporting" hours - so outside 9-5. it is working, it's just the same as the phone queues. can only process so many things at once. when there are too many people logged in, it will close. all newstart customers are now encouraged to lodge their forms through online services (phone and web) so the normal processing times are very busy (office hours). i have had to log into online services myself both during normal work hours and outside those hours - i get in easier from home outside work hours than i do from work...
i have just successfully logged in to online services from home...
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