I wonder what happened with this? There seem to have been a lot of mitigating factors.

What a tragic situation. I hope she is now able to get the emotional and mental help that she needs.

it is incredibly hard to get over a child’s death, but I’m still not sure that justifies this behaviour.

Not a good situation and not sure what support she got when her daughter was alive but severely ill, though 20 years is a long time to claim so no excuse.

What a sad case. Twenty years is such a long time for deceipt. She needs to be charged.

For such a long period of time there is no excuse!

Wow for a short period of time you may have thought it was a mistake and let her off but to knowingly commit fraud for 20 years?! She absolutely deserves to be sentenced

Such a difficult one. I can understand taking a while to get organised, but 20 years is excessive. Still, not the worst offending I’ve seen.

I hope the mother can get some mental health help. Shocking situation to benefit from tragedy.

oh no that’s horrible. To benefit after your child dies is terrible. Mental health problems for sure.

Very deceptive and yes she needs charged for this crime.

This is real sad but I do know why it wasn’t identified at the start.

Yes she does, that is just absolutely appalling.

She actively received payments fraudulently and continued to do so over a very long period of time. This is not okay. Those that rort the system make it difficult for those who genuinely need it. People like this woman make it hard for everyone else.

People like this make it harder for people with legitimate reason to claim benefits they are entitled to. What I’m wondering is why they didn’t check up on her if she never had her daughter with her. A friend of mine had someone report that she was working so they stopped her payment until they could confirm or rule out the accusation. She volunteered at the local op shop one morning a week. Needless to say she went 6 weeks without any money. It was only due to all of her friends that she was able to feed herself and her dog until the money was reinstated. Even though it was false she never got that money back. Looks like you have to have a bit of a criminal mind to get any benefits.

yet when actively reporting a fraud to centrelink and child support they just blindly believe the garbage the criminal comes out with, even when the kids are enrolled in school 2 hours away from the mother. The system is so flawed it is ridiculous. I am paying back a $3500 debt because my tax accountant hit the do not need to lodge button instead of the nil return button and by the time it was rectified it was too bad, doesn’t matter that we are struggling to the point of bankruptcy

These people are just criminals, heaps of other people have tragic tales and they don’t rip off the system. Why was it not fact checked when she applied for benefits?

This is despicable and there is no excuse whatsoever for defrauding the system for all those years! I think anyone could understand a few months or even a year but 20? Clearly just another bum ripping off taxpayers!

It is indeed a tragedy that she lost her child, especially so young … but to claim benefits for your dead daughter! Mentally unstable at the time, as she more than likely was, this actually makes me feel quite ill …. and as the initial claim was after the child’s death, makes me suspicious that she knew exactly what she was doing!

I don’t know what should happen, but it’s hard to decide when it’s a mental health issue.

There are plenty other people who lie to get money