Welfare fraud in Australia : Dimensions and issues / Tim Prenzler.

Canberra : Australian Institute of Criminology, 2011.

79171

Welfare fraud -- Australia.

Australia has a long tradition of providing welfare payments to vulnerable and disadvantaged citizens. The Australian Government introduced the aged pension in 1909 and the invalid pension in 1910. During World War II, and in the decades since, numerous additional benefits have been made available to a wide range of recipients. Almost one-third of Australians now receive some kind of direct welfare payment. For many, welfare provides a permanent, secure source of income. For others, government benefits are a vital stop-gap measure that contributes to equality of opportunity and longer term employment and career opportunities. However, the availability of welfare also creates temptations for fraud and allegations of fraud contribute to controversy about the appropriateness of welfare. This controversy can detract from public perceptions of the legitimacy of the welfare system and the dignity of welfare recipients. A major purpose of this paper is to help inform the debate about welfare by providing data on the size and dimensions of welfare fraud, including substantiated fraud, as evidenced by criminal convictions. Substantiated fraud represents a very small fraction of all welfare allocations, but losses can involve scams worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. Another Trends & Issues paper (Prenzler 2011) will examine current anti-fraud strategies and their impacts.

Title from title caption of PDF document (viewed on July 15, 2011)

"June 2011".

Includes bibliographical references (p. 6).

Text and graphics.

1836-2206

1 online resource.