Services Australia has been forced to delete one of its most ridiculed social media clips after taxpayers blasted the agency’s increasingly elaborate dance reels and skits as “cringe” and a waste of public money.

The now-deleted Instagram video, posted on June 4, featured employees performing a choreographed office dance to Ace of Base’s 90s megahit The Sign to promote a new service allowing Australians to register through myGov to receive updates about the 2026 Census.

Despite being scrubbed from Services Australia’s social media channels, the clip continues to circulate online and attract hundreds of comments mocking the performance and questioning whether taxpayer funds should be wasted filming dances, skits and other entertainment-style content for the agency’s social media accounts.

Many commenters described the video as “cringe” or “embarrassing”, while others questioned whether public servants should be producing dance videos when Australians continue to experience lengthy wait times when trying to access government help.

“Think of how much this cost us, the taxpayers,” wrote one commenter after The Yarn re-posted the video.

Others wrote: “Go do some work”, “We all paid for this”, “Good to see my tax money wasted”, and “How many hours were spent and how many approval steps were there?”

“No wonder they take 45 minutes to answer,” another wrote.

A Services Australia spokesperson said the June 4 video was removed because of “unacceptable commentary” directed at the female staff who appeared in it.

“We do not tolerate offensive behaviour towards our staff, especially the derogatory language used in this instance,” the spokesperson said.

“We often use current social media trends to connect with our audience, all created by our in-house team.

“We know these are effective due to the reach and engagement they receive.”

A spokesperson for Government Services Minister Katy Gallagher said neither the Minister nor her office had any involvement in the development or approval of Services Australia’s social media content.

Shadow Government Services Minister Claire Chandler said taxpayers expected government social media to have a clear service delivery purpose.

“I hope, as I expect most Australians would, that public service resources are being utilised prudently when it comes to the use of social media,” Senator Chandler said.

“Australian taxpayers have an expectation that every government agency’s use of social media is targeted and directly linked to service delivery for their clients.

“At a time when Australians are struggling to trust the government and its policies — entertainment-style videos do little to improve the relationship.

“I don’t think it’s too much to expect a commonsense approach and a watchful eye when dealing with the public service and taxpayers’ money.”

The deleted reel is far from an isolated example.

The agency’s official Instagram account is filled with short-form entertainment videos modelled on popular TikTok and Instagram trends.

One recent reel showed two employees dancing in the foyer of a Services Australia service centre to Hall & Oates’ You Make My Dreams before directing viewers to information about relocation payments for university students.

Another took viewers on a social media-style “house tour” of one of the agency’s Mobile Service Centres while mouthing along to a Sabrina Carpenter song by the same name.

Another nationally coordinated video, posted to mark World Social Work Day, featured dozens of the agency’s social workers from around the country participating in a synchronised “passing the heart” trend to Cyndi Lauper’s Time After Time.

Under that reel, one woman wrote: “Sorry, I had no idea Services Australia was part of Eurovision”.

The agency has also published graduate recruitment reels featuring new employees dancing, spinning in office chairs and clapping along to electro beats.

Ironically, beneath that post, many Australians ignored the recruitment campaign altogether and instead used the comments to plead for help after struggling to access Services Australia’s customer service.

Several users said they had been unable to get through by phone, could not complete claims or urgently needed assistance.

Services Australia repeatedly responded in the comments that it does not provide customer support through Instagram direct messages and advised users to call the agency or visit a service centre.

The agency’s own operational data paints a picture of continuing pressure on its phone services.

The latest quarterly figures show callers to the Families and Parenting phone line waited an average of 36 minutes and 25 seconds to have their calls answered during the January to March 2026 quarter.

Across all Centrelink phone lines, callers waited an average of 23 minutes and 58 seconds before speaking with a staff member.

During the same three-month period, Services Australia issued 646,681 congestion messages and recorded 790,024 customer-terminated Centrelink calls.

While the latest figures represent a significant improvement on the lengthy wait times recorded two years earlier, they show many Australians continue to experience substantial delays when trying to contact the agency by phone.

Services Australia’s latest annual report says the agency’s focus over 2024-25 had been on “getting the basics right – answering phones, processing claims and meeting people in our service centres in a timely way”, while “putting customers first in everything we do”.

“We have around a dozen staff working on social media, helping people understand and access Medicare, Centrelink, Child Support and disaster support,” said a Services Australia spokesperson.

“Social media is an important way for us to inform customers about the payments and services we deliver.

“Using social media is an inexpensive way to help us provide customers with timely, accessible and trusted information.

“This conversation includes responding to hundreds of questions on our social media accounts every week.”