Welfare cheats busted

Four Geelong people prosecuted for rorting more than $110,000

TAXPAYERS will recoup more than $110,000 after four Geelong people were prosecuted for welfare rorting yesterday.

The Commonwealth took each of the defendants to court for obtaining financial advantage by deception after they each failed to report and/or under-reported their income to Centrelink while also claiming pensions.

Magistrate Peter Mellas heard Belmont man Chris- topher Hamilton, 32, had been a carer to his ill mother while living in Tasmania, but continued claiming money as her carer even after August 2015, when he moved to the mainland to live in Geelong.

The magistrate said Hamilton told Centrelink “a blatant lie” when the agency alerted him to discrepancies between the meagre income he claimed to be earning and the salary he was pocketing.

Rex Sizeland, defending Hamilton, told the court his client had overcome drug problems, but was still battling gambling addiction. The court heard Hamilton had repaid about $3700 of almost $30,000 he was overpaid between 2012 and 2016.

Mr Mellas convicted Hamilton and ordered he complete 200 hours of community work, reasoning a jail sentence would mean “there’s no chance of the money ever being repaid”.

In a separate hearing — for East Geelong woman Christina Jennings — the magistrate questioned the Department of Human Services’ efforts to promptly detect and prosecute those who under-report their income and claim pensions.

He heard Ms Jennings, a 45-year-old single mum, was overpaid more than $31,500 between 2009 and 2014 while she was working in aged care.

“People often estimate their income and expect it (discrepancies) to be picked up,” Mr Mellas said.

He noted Ms Jennings did not spend the money on an “extravagant lifestyle” but simply “to pay the bills”, and said her deception was not sophisticated.

“If it (the rorting) is so significant why don’t the flags go up (sooner)?,” Mr Mellas asked.

“To let it go from 2009 all the way from 2014, and here we are in 2017 and the matter is before the court; how is that justice? Justice is a dish best served hot”.

However, he told Ms Jennings: “at the end of the day you are under obligation to report your income properly”.

She was put on a good behaviour bond, and ordered to repay almost $29,000 she had yet to refund.

Bell Park man Colin Matheson, 63, was ordered to com- plete 100 hours of community work after pleading guilty to under-reporting his income while working at a hospital from 2011 to 2015 and collecting almost $38,000 more than he should have.

He has repaid almost $2000, and was ordered to repay the rest by instalments.

Meanwhile, Newtown man Geoffrey Wilson, 57, accepted a good behaviour bond after admitting collecting more than $12,500 in overpayments from the Government from 2008 to 2015. The court heard he had already repaid almost $9000.