By Shelley Hudolin, Commonwealth Fraud Prevention Centre, Attorney-General’s Department
Due to its hidden nature, fraud against the public sector is often misunderstood and underestimated. Much of it remains under the surface, never detected and never reported. Yet even if under the surface, fraud against the public sector has a real impact on all of us. A key role of the APS is to be effective stewards of taxpayer dollars to add value back to society, strengthening our economy, educating future generations, providing quality universal healthcare and maintaining reliable and sustainable safety nets for our most vulnerable and disadvantaged. Fraud against the public sector reduces funds available for delivering these outcomes, can undermine the integrity of the APS and it can place public safety at risk. This is why raising awareness of fraud and its impacts is so important.
The Attorney-General’s Department’s Commonwealth Fraud Prevention Centre helps Australian Government entities deal with unseen and unchecked fraud by:
- equipping them with practical guidance and tools to prevent fraud,
- enabling them to collaborate and share information to find and fight fraud,
- empowering them with knowledge and evidence to help influence positive change.
International Fraud Awareness Week (12 to 18 November 2023) is a global effort to minimise the impact of fraud by promoting anti-fraud awareness and education. The Centre’s theme this year is Fraud Prevention in Focus, as international good practice shows the best way to deal with fraud is to prevent it.
To mark Fraud Awareness Week 2023, the Centre has recorded a series of online presentations which will be made available to government stakeholders. You can sign up on the Counterfraud.gov.au website to receive links to these recordings and stay up to date with Centre news. The Centre has also developed a promotional package to spread fraud awareness across government. Test your fraud prevention knowledge in a fun and engaging way at the links below!
The Centre is involved in several other fraud-related initiatives, such as amending section 10 of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability (PGPA) Rule 2014 to include corruption. These changes will complement the establishment of the National Anti-Corruption Commission, and are part of a suite of reforms to improve the standards of integrity across the public sector. This will also involve releasing a new Commonwealth Fraud and Corruption Control Framework, which will include a revised Fraud and Corruption Control Policy and RMG No. 201 – Preventing, detecting and dealing with fraud and corruption.
A key feature of the new framework will be a greater focus on prevention. Not only are fraud and corruption hidden crimes, relying on our ability to respond after it occurs is an expensive, harmful and ineffective approach. Investing in prevention strategies is the most cost-effective means of minimising the risk of fraud and corruption and avoiding the financial and reputational harm they cause.
Another key benefit of investing in fraud and corruption prevention is avoiding the often-overlooked harms, which can include adverse impacts on vulnerable Australians, diminished program outcomes and a reduction in the quality of essential services. An investment in prevention strategies can help boost the community’s confidence in the public sector’s ability to appropriately administer public funds.
Effective preventative strategies can include a pro-integrity organisational culture; a strong awareness of fraud and corruption among employees, suppliers and third parties; programs which are designed with prevention in mind; robust employment screening processes; and a suite of targeted preventative controls which are proportionate to an entity’s fraud and corruption risks.
Another effective strategy is ensuring officials engaged primarily in fraud and corruption control receive adequate training. The Centre also offers a 5-day Counter Fraud Practitioner Training Program for Australian Government officials to build their capability through interactive sessions on:
- understanding and Communicating the fraud problem
- Fraud Risk Assessment
- fraud controls
- data in fraud control and fraud
- fraud control investment.
If you are interested in this training, reach out to the Centre.
The Centre also has a range of guidance material freely available on its website Counterfraud.gov.au.
Explore more
- Fraud Prevention in Focus – Poster [PDF 1.41MB]
- Fraud Prevention in Focus – Screensaver [PDF 1.51MB]
- Fraud Prevention in Focus – Crossword [PDF 1.02MB]
- Fraud Prevention in Focus – Word Search [PDF 1.82MB]
- Fraud Prevention in Focus – Activity Answers [PDF 314KB]
