Dianne Mittermaier: Clyde North woman defrauds Centrelink of nearly $20,000.
A gravy train loving Clyde North woman’s long running Centrelink rort has been uncovered.
South East
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A Clyde North woman has copped a hefty fine for repeatedly lying to Centrelink about not having a job, despite earning nearly $60,000 a year.
Dianne Mittermaier, 53, filled in 43 false declarations to Centrelink between 2011 and 2014, allowing her to claim nearly $20,000 in Newstart payments for people looking for work.
Documents released by the Frankston Magistrates’ Court last week reveal that in March 2011 Mittermaier successfully applied for the Newstart allowance, despite earning $59,000 as a full-time employee of Lion Dairy and Drinks.
Mittermaier, who was living in Queensland at the time of the offending, had been on government benefits intermittently since 2008, the court was told.
Documents released by the court said that from March 2011 to July 2014 she received a gross income of $59,000, just over $2000 of which was declared, allowing herself to receive more than $16,000 in government benefits.
Mittermaier jumped back on the gravy train for three months in 2014 when, employed by what was then Macdonald Johnson, now Bucher Pty Ltd, she didn’t declare $14,000 she had earned working in the three months between June and August, filling in seven false declarations.
Court documents said that Mittermaier was nailed by a data match in November of 2013, when they requested her earnings from Lion Dairy, and continued to April 2015, when her payments from Macdonald Johnson were unearthed.
Despite filing a summons in the Queensland Magistrates’ Court, the Department of Human Services were not able to serve them to Mittermaier – and didn’t find out until March 2017 that she had relocated to Melbourne.
Over the course of the offending and Mittermair was overpaid a total of $19,947.
On Thursday, Mittermaier was ordered to pay a bond of $2500 and a fine of more than $6000.