The Court: Dandenong Magistrates Court
The Lawyer: Samantha Barwick
The Charges:
The Allegations:
The client was a 30-year-old male employed on a casual basis who had been receiving Centrelink benefits for four years. At the time, he was underreporting his earnings to Centrelink so that he could continue receiving benefits. The client was also a part-time university student studying for a Bachelor of Nursing degree.
The client then obtained a second casual job; however, he misled Centrelink by only reporting his earnings for the first casual job.
Following an investigation into the client’s earnings, it became evident that he was underreporting his earnings to Centrelink. He was employed in two casual jobs and earned a significant amount, which, if reported to Centrelink, would have deemed him ineligible for benefits.
The total amount received by the client from Centrelink over four years was $20,000.
The client was arrested and charged with Obtaining Financial Advantage by Deception, a commonwealth offence.
At Court:
Our solicitor advised the client to immediately attempt to enter a payment plan to repay the additional entitlements he had received before the first court date.
At court, the client entered a plea of guilty regarding the charge. Our solicitor made lengthy submissions to the Magistrate, including the client’s personal circumstances, in particular the fact that he was a university student, and that a conviction on his record would be highly detrimental to his employment prospects and that the client expressed a significant amount of remose for the offending, which was reflected in his attempts to repay the money he had received.
By the time the matter reached the court date, the client had already repaid half the amount owed.
The Outcome:
Following submissions, the court was satisfied that a conviction would not be appropriate given the client’s post-offence conduct.
The client received a 12-month non-conviction good behaviour bond. Given that this was a commonwealth offence, a more stringent test applies to achieve a disposition involving a non-conviction.
A non-conviction disposition was a fantastic outcome for the client, as it meant the sentence would be automatically spent under the spent convictions legislation.
