It’s a very tragic situation.

I feel sorry for her that she lost her daughter, it’s very sad. I can understand how the death of her daughter would have affected her mentally. However I cannot help but draw a line there. Claiming for benefits for a child that is no longer with her makes me think that she had her wits about her (so to speak) as there is a fair amount of paper work that you have to fill out for centrelink to get anything.

I also wonder how there were no safety checks in place at Centrelinks end to double check that these treatments etc were actually ongoing – like a review/confirmation from doctors etc. So surely some of the onus falls on Centrelink for not reviewing her file and actually confirming that these claims were legit claims.

All in all a very messy case and I can’t help to think that even if she is made to repay the 200K that it will never be fully paid off

it’s sad to read this!

I have mixed feelings on this yes she may have mental health issues from the loss of her child but is that any reason to claim 200K? sounds more like greed to me

So wrong !

As traumatic as it would have been to lose her child, I don’t believe she should have been claiming that particular benefit and to go with it for years is disappointing. How can this have gotten so far? Surely they would have had the death certificate or access to it somehow – I thought the departments all collaborated together so this information should have been readily available or am I missing something?

This is bad.

Something very wrong here with the Centrelink management and gullibility, however over the following 20 years since her baby’s death there must have been many moments if lucidity when she knew she was doing wrong. Both parties are at fault here, but the bigger fault is the mother’s.

Unfortunately there seems to be no check links between Centrelink, Medicare and a few other Govt. Depts. Maybe she was spending the money as fast as she received it so she didn’t report incorrect asset values. Should she have filled in an PAYE return or is Carers Benefits tax free?? People have been gaoled for a few years for a much lower sum of money than that for a much shorter length of time.

A sad thing and yes she may well have been eligible for other payments rather than this and at some point in 20 years she should have made a decision to stop but where is Centrelink’s accountability in there? Shouldn’t they have had some sort of alarm bells somewhere along the line? And why didn’t they follow up?

Oh dear! Some peoples decisions are quite silly. That was crazy it wasn’t picked up for a very long time. Now their really starting to crack down on these issues.

I don’t understand how she was able to get away with this for 20 years! Did they not ask for supporting paperwork from doctors or do a home visit or anything to validate her 20 year long claims?

I can’t see how this could have gone on for so long when there would have been a death certificate? I do feel sorry for her though. It sounds like she’s struggled with her daughters death for many many years.

And she was able to lie for twenty years? Unacceptable!!

The only reason she stopped is because she got caught. I struggle to believe that at no point in 20 years, did she think what she was doing was wrong.
Its so so horrible to lose a baby. I can’t even imagine how I would go on. But I wouldn’t feel entitled to cheat the system for two decades because of it.