Gold Coast nurse Nicole Dunjey avoids suspension after ripping off almost $100k in govt payments

A Gold Coast nurse and mother who ripped off close to $100,000 in taxpayer dollars can continue practising after it was found she had carried out professional misconduct and lied to the industry board. FIND OUT WHY

A Gold Coast nurse who ripped off almost $100,000 in taxpayer dollars has avoided a suspension for carrying out professional misconduct.

Nicole Dunjey was also found to have improperly obtained her registration by providing the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia with false or misleading information, in a decision handed down by the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT).

Dunjey pleaded guilty in 2019 to a charge of obtaining financial advantage by deception, after she defrauded more than $99,000 in government payments.

Southport District Court was told at the time that Dunjey lied about having split from her husband, falsely claiming single parenting payments between August 2010 and November 2016.

She was sentenced to three years’ jail with release on a good behaviour bond after three months in custody.

Judicial Member Richard Jones wrote in the QCAT decision that while Dunjey was not registered as an enrolled nurse until April 2019, her fraud scheme remained professional misconduct.

“There can be little room for doubt that such a serious fraud on the Commonwealth … is conduct that is inconsistent with the practitioner being a fit and proper person to hold registration in the profession,” Mr Jones wrote.

Dunjey was also found to have lied to the board about her criminal history, claiming she had none when she was convicted of stealing by clerks and servants in 1998 and obtaining a financial advantage in 2006.

The Nursing and Midwifery Board submitted that Dunjey’s registration should be suspended for 12 months, in addition to completing a program in professional ethics and accountability.

QCAT found there was no reason to suspend Dunjey, who accepted and was remorseful for her conduct and had not reoffended in the seven years since.

The findings cited Dunjey’s own submissions to AHPRA, which attested to her dishonesty being driven by a “desperate” desire to provide for her children despite her “financially abusive” husband.

Mr Jones wrote that glowing references from Dunjey’s colleagues at the Southport Park Medical Practice – where she had been treatment room co-ordinator since January last year – also weighed in her favour.

“Even taking into account the other charges, the tribunal is of the opinion that the imposition of a period of actual suspension smacks of an outcome more directed to further punishment than protection (of the public),” he wrote.

“(A suspension) would impact on the ability of this busy practice to provide the best level of care that it can.”

Dunjey will be required to complete the course.