Centrelink given approval to spy on claimants

Crackdown on serious welfare fraud through “optical surveillance devices”.

A crackdown on serious welfare fraud through “optical surveillance devices” run by private firms retained by Centrelink was approved by cabinet in November 1998 on the promise of a five-fold return on investment, despite significant internal misgivings over privacy and inaccurate targeting of claimants.

Cabinet papers reveal the Howard government’s search for savings included the delivery of its October election commitment to have Centrelink spy on suspect welfare cases using optical surveillance, including photographs and video. Previously, only the Australian Federal Police could use this technique to gather evidence in cases of suspected serious social security fraud.

“By using conventional techniques only, Centrelink is limited in its capacity to satisfactorily conclude investigations of other cases,” the paper, brought to cabinet by family and community services minister Jocelyn Newman, said. The paper reported on a pilot program that ran for six months from August 1997, which delivered savings and benefits that “significantly outweighed costs at a ratio of 6:1”.

The proposal, costed at $8.4m over three years, put an upper limit of 2000 cases a year to be referred to private surveillance companies. Individuals would be placed under surveillance “only after careful consideration of whether it is in the public interest to do so and after all alternative methods of investigation have been exhausted”.

“It is expected that in a full year, as a result of investigations involving optical surveillance, about 1800 customers will have their ongoing fortnightly social security cancelled or reduced and around a third of customers will also have debts raised against them.

“In addition, around a quarter will be prosecuted,” it said. 

The paper suggested gross savings of $50m would be achieved over the following three years.