A 27 year old single mother of 2 young children was charged by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (CDPP) with:
- 3 charges of Obtaining Financial Advantage from Centrelink for payments she received between 2014-2018; and
- 1 charge of Making a False/Misleading Statement to Centrelink.
As a result, Centrelink overpaid her in excess of $40,000.
The case against her was that she misled Centrelink into believing she was unemployed in order to gain a bigger financial gain on her Single Parent payment. She also attempted to obtain a Carer Payment and in doing so had also stated she was unemployed in order to receive this.
Before being charged, she received a letter from Centrelink earlier in the year offering for her to provide in an interview in relation to her prior payments. Upon receiving this, she immediately spoke with Ms Regan and ultimately exercised her right to silence and did not participate in the interview with Centrelink.
Once charged, she instructed Ms Regan to plead guilty with the ultimate goal being to avoid jail.
Ms Regan advised her to:
- Arrange a payment plan with Centrelink to repay the debt;
- Prepare an apology letter;
- Obtain good character reference letters;
- Obtain a psychologist report;
- Evidence of treating her mental health; and
- Confirmation of her care to her ill mother and special needs son.
At the time of the offences, Ms Regan’s client was a single mother to two children whose father did not contribute financially in any way. She was also a victim of a violent domestic relationship and was struggling with her own untreated mental health.
On the day of the sentence, a report prepared by Community Corrections had expressed that our client was unsuitable for community service work due to the fact that she worked 2 jobs to provide for her children.
As a result, the Magistrate of Campbelltown Local Court indicated that he would be giving a full time custodial sentence in those circumstances.
Ms Regan immediately rose to her feet and made lengthy submissions in court to persuade the Court not to send her client to full-time custody.
The Magistrate was eventually convinced and agreed to impose a penalty other than full time custody.
