Fraud and Corruption Control Policy

Purpose. This policy states the department's zero tolerance of fraud and corruption, the responsibilities of every employee, and the framework of prevention, detection and response that supports it.

1.Statement

The department will not tolerate fraud or corruption by employees, contractors, grant recipients or funded providers. Fraud is dishonestly obtaining a benefit or causing a loss by deception; corruption is the misuse of public position for private gain. Both are criminal and every substantiated case will be reported to the appropriate authority.

2.Scope

This policy applies to all employees, contractors, secondees and board members, and to organisations receiving grants or payments from the department. It covers internal fraud such as false claims, misuse of purchasing cards and manipulation of records, and external fraud such as false grant applications, inflated acquittals and collusion in tenders.

3.Responsibilities

The Deputy Secretary is accountable for the fraud control framework. The Manager, Corporate Services is the fraud control officer responsible for the fraud and corruption control plan, risk assessments, awareness training and the register of allegations. Managers must apply the controls in their areas and every employee must report suspected fraud.

• Deputy Secretary: accountable officer, approves the control plan
• Fraud control officer: plan, risk assessments, register, reporting
• Managers: controls, segregation of duties, staff awareness
• Employees: comply, report, cooperate with investigations
• Audit and risk committee: oversight and independent assurance

4.Prevention

Fraud risks must be assessed for every program, procurement and payment process and recorded in the risk register with treatments. Controls include segregation of duties, delegations, conflict of interest declarations, pre-award checks on applicants and providers, acquittal verification and data analytics on payments. All staff must complete fraud awareness training on induction and every two years.

5.Detection and reporting

Suspected fraud or corruption must be reported to the manager, the fraud control officer or the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission. The fraud control officer must record every allegation in the register within one business day, assess it and decide whether it will be investigated internally, referred to police or notified to the Commission under the mandatory notification obligation.

6.Response

Investigations must be conducted by trained investigators under the investigation procedure, with evidence secured and the rights of the person under investigation respected. Substantiated fraud will result in disciplinary action, recovery of the loss, referral for prosecution where appropriate and a review of the control that failed.