Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Education and Training) Share this | Hansard source

Again, I took the particulars in relation to this case on notice, and we will provide that information back to Senator Anning. All I can say is that we've put more resources behind compliance, auditing and integrity checks than has ever been the case before. As I indicated in the primary answer, when we took office there were just a few hundred audits undertaken each year and there had been zero suspensions or cancellations. We're now undertaking more than 4,000 audits each year and we've engaged in more than 100 suspensions or cancellations just through the six-month integrity surge and many more in addition to that.

Officials are taking very serious steps not just to drive out of the system people who are doing the wrong thing, but, where they can, they are working with the Australian Federal Police, which has seen charges laid, successful convictions and individuals thrown into jail, as a result of their ripping off of the Australian taxpayer—something which we will not tolerate and we will continue to tighten the net on.