Our 2020 quarter 2 achievements

There is no doubt that 2020 has not gone according to plan. Like many others, our Centre had to adjust the way we work to meet unexpected challenges. In March, we redeployed our resources and efforts to the joint Commonwealth COVID-19 Counter Fraud Taskforce.

The Taskforce and its achievements is the focus of another article.

Through this Taskforce, our Centre was still able to further some of our existing 2020 priorities while lending valuable additional support to many of our Commonwealth partners. For example, in the second quarter of 2020 we achieved the following Centre objectives:

• We produced guidance on leading practice for fit and proper persons tests (Suitability Assessments).
• We produced guidance and good practice for sharing information and data to prevent fraud (such as using Part VIID of the Crimes Act 1914 to share personal information for an integrity purpose).
• We concluded our initial Counter Fraud Capability Baseline Assessment and provided individual reports back to 19 participating programs.
• We agreed with Australian Institute of Criminology on the data points for the 2020 fraud against the Commonwealth census.
• We ran the first Pressure Testing Community of Practice and supported the progress of two pressure testing pilots.
• We helped our Commonwealth partners advance multiple data sharing pilots.

The Centre will continue to work to achieve our planned objectives for the rest of 2020 while continuing to support COVID-19 counter fraud efforts, remaining adaptable to our dynamic and evolving environment.

Authors: Christopher McDermott and Emma Swinbourne (Commonwealth Fraud Prevention Centre)