Dole frauds bludge $40m

ALMOST $40 million in fraudulently claimed welfare payments have been clawed back into the public purse over the past year.

New figures from the Department of Human Services show more than 108,000 tipoffs from members of the public led to an increase in the amount of fraudulently obtained payments by more than 300 per cent during the past five years.

One community tip-off led to a 40-year-old man being found guilty of fraudulently claiming more than $200,000 in welfare payments.

In another case, a 37-yearold-man was found guilty of using a false identity to fraudulently claim more than $100,000 in payments.

It comes amid a Turnbull government crackdown on welfare fraudsters and a more co-ordinated effort between agencies to investigate.

While the amount of tipoffs have risen 12 per cent since the last year of the former Labor government, the amount of welfare debts raised has grown from $10.3 million in 2012-13 to $39.4 million last financial year.

More 1080 welfare reviews were completed with 118 matters referred to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions.

Resources given to the department to investigate tipoffs were dramatically bolstered in 2015, with staff now required to undergo training in fraud control and analysis techniques.

Staff analysing tip-offs also have access to current data held by a number of agencies, increasing their ability to check and substantiate information reported in a tip-off and identify high-risk cases.

Human Services Minister Alan Tudge said Australians were lucky to have a strong social security safety net but the reality was some people deliberately defrauded the system.

“We are putting more effort into cracking down on welfare fraud than ever before,” Mr Tudge said.

“Nothing annoys the taxpayer more than others ripping them off.”

Mr Tudge said Labor “just wasn’t serious” about detecting welfare fraud or recovering debt. “Taxpayers want to support those who are down on their luck but they expect there to be integrity in the system.”

Mr Tudge flagged new measures to increase the capacity to detect and prevent potential fraud by introducing legislation so agencies could use banking and financial details for criminal prosecutions.

Currently information held by these institutions can be accessed as part of the review process but a search warrant must be executed for the details to be used in criminal proceedings.

WE ARE PUTTING MORE EFFORT INTO CRACKING DOWN ON WELFARE FRAUD THAN EVER BEFORE. NOTHING ANNOYS THE TAXPAYER MORE THAN OTHERS RIPPING THEM OFF. HUMAN SERVICES MINISTER ALAN TUDGE