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

I rise to give further information in relation to a question that Senator Anning asked me yesterday. Senator Anning asked a question about a specific family day care fraud case. While I cannot, without potentially jeopardising or prejudicing proceedings, comment on matters currently before the courts, I can confirm what is already in the public domain—that is, that the Australian Federal Police have charged two people with offences following an investigation into alleged fraudulent family day care payments and that this matter is before the courts. Subsidies to this service were immediately stopped once the fraud was discovered, and both the New South Wales government, under national law, and the Australian government, under family assistance law, subsequently cancelled the service as part of the ongoing crackdown on family day care fraud that I outlined to the Senate yesterday.