Government portal not working: what to do (Australia)

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When an Australian government portal does not work, you need to know whether it is a site-wide problem or an issue with your own login or connection. This page helps you tell them apart and reach the right support.

Is the portal down, or is it your login?

Try using another device on a different connection. For example, try a phone on mobile data if you normally use a computer on home internet.

Check this site's service page for that portal. The status shows reports from the past 24 hours. If you see reports spike upward, many people are having trouble. A reply from the website does not tell you that the service itself is working.

Some government portals publish instructions to recover or reset your login details if you have lost them. Check the portal's own pages first.

  • Try another device and connection; check the portal's own help pages.

What to check before you call

Look at the service page on this site. It shows a chart of reports over 24 hours and a map showing where reports come from.

Visit the portal's official help pages and contact information. Many portals answer common questions online. Look for the portal's own contact page for phone numbers and hours.

When you do call, be careful: check that you are calling the official number from the portal's own website. Do not call back using a number from an unsolicited email, SMS, or letter unless you are sure it is real.

Who can confirm a problem, and how to reach the department

Only the government department running the portal can confirm a technical problem. Find their official contact page or status page. This site links to official status pages when we find them.

The ATO (Australian Taxation Office) publishes help pages and phone numbers for its services. They handle reports of technical problems with their online services.

Examples of how departments help

The ATO in Australia offers a self-help phone service. Individuals can ring 13 28 65 for self-help, and businesses have their own self-help line on 13 72 26. The ATO also lists how to reach it through the NRS call channels, between 8:00 am and 6:00 pm Monday to Friday.

Important: only use callback phone numbers if the ATO contacted you first by phone, SMS, or letter and told you to call back. If you are not sure whether a contact claiming to be from the ATO is real, do not respond.

  • ATO offers self-help phone lines; only use callback numbers if ATO asked you to call.

See which services are most reported on this site's ranking page. Which services are down today →

Sources and date

The facts about public bodies come from their own pages, read on :

What we say about this site rests on our methodology.