Worn Gundidj, like all other CDEP schemes, has had to cope with a major administrative change. As of the 1 March 2000, all CDEPs now have to have data linkage with their local Centrelink office, and all CDEP participants have first to be clients of Centrelink (and have a customer reference number). In order to ensure parity between CDEP and mainstream work for the dole schemes, and to make CDEP participants eligible for a raft of concessions available to mainstream Centrelink clients, a $20.00 per fortnight supplement (CDEP Participant Supplement, or CPS) was made available to CDEP participants who became clients of Centrelink. This supplement was also payable retrospectively, to 1 March 1999, to those participants who had been on CDEP during that time. These payments came in two instalments known as 'retro one' (from March 1999 to September 1999), and 'retro two' (from September 1999 to March 2000).

This period of changeover threw a potentially serious administrative burden on Worn Gundidj (and on all CDEPs for that matter). Communication problems between Centrelink and Worn Gundidj led to a situation where Worn Gundidj only realised the extent of its responsibilities about three days before the final deadline for the CPS forms. Worn Gundidj then contacted Centrelink and began to negotiate a solution. It was pointless trying to get all the CPS claim forms and eligibility forms together in the time left—it was simply impossible to sign all their participants up with Centrelink in that time. The solution was that one of Worn Gundidj's administrative staff was seconded to Centrelink for two weeks to work on getting all the required paperwork completed. This person worked with the Centrelink Aboriginal Liaison officer and travelled to the satellites, gathering all the paperwork and bringing it back to the Warrnambool Centrelink office. This response to an administrative crisis was by all accounts very effective, and perhaps occasioned less waste of time and resources than if the changes had been managed over a longer period of time.

By having one of its employees inside Centrelink, Worn Gundidj was able to build a good relationship with two of Centrelink's officers who were charged with looking after the CDEP clients. Furthermore, the people involved in the rush to complete all the paperwork (both from Worn Gundidj and Centrelink) got, by default, an intensive course in what is required to manage data sharing between Centrelink and a CDEP scheme. Worn Gundidj now refers all its Centrelink enquiries to these two Centrelink officers, with whom they are able to communicate at a level of understanding that would not be possible if they were moved from one Centrelink officer to another. Another consequence is that Worn Gundidj is not reliant on the Centrelink Aboriginal Liaison officer, who is at times absent from the office on fieldwork to do with matters unrelated to CDEP. Having two office-based, well informed Centrelink staff to communicate with has meant that data sharing between Centrelink and Worn Gundidj is now a very smooth process, after what must have been a tumultuous initial period. Relations between Worn Gundidj and Centrelink are now described as very good, on/off notices and eligibility forms have 48-hour turn-arounds, and the system is now working as an ongoing process of data sharing rather than as crisis management.