Almost $3billion of taxpayer funds were overpaid to welfare cheats last year because of error and fraud.
The Department of Human Services paid $2.84billion, but only prosecuted 709 people, despite investigating 13,595 fraud cases, The Daily Telegraph has reported.
Families with children received the largest chunk of change – $1.2billion.
Almost $3billion of Australian taxpayer funds were overpaid to welfare cheats last year through fraud or error (pictured is Centrelink in Craigieburn, Melbourne)
The Department of Human Services paid $2.84billion because of error and fraud, but only prosecuted 709 people, despite investigating 13,595 fraud cases (pictured is Centrelink in Craigieburn, Melbourne)
Newstart benefits for the unemployed were overpaid by $424million.
On average, 2.4million people received $1,174 each throughout the year, racking up a $1.6billion debt for taxpayers, the publication reported.
The names of more than 114,000 suspected welfare cheats were turned in to the department last year, identifying $40million in overpayments, according to Human Services Minister Michael Keenan.
‘Some tip-offs may refer to an investigation that is already underway (and) it sometimes receives multiple tip-offs about the same subject,’ he told The Daily Telegraph.
A DHS spokeswoman told the publication that the debts arose from ‘changes in personal circumstances and people either inadvertently or deliberately providing incorrect information’.
‘The recovery of a debt may not occur immediately in full or within the same financial year,’ she said.Play
On average, 2.4million people received $1,174 each throughout the year, racking up a $1.6billion debt for taxpayers (pictured is Centrelink in Craigieburn, Melbourne)