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MELBOURNE: A Melbourne woman has been charged with fraud after allegedly trying collect a A$10,000 ($12,650) payment made to relatives of those who had perished in this month's bushfires.
The Australian newspaper reported that the woman allegedly tried to claim the A$10,000 bereavement payout from the Victorian Bushfire Appeal Fund by falsely claiming her father had been killed in the Black Saturday bushfires.
It said the woman, a 31-year-old from Sunshine, in Melbourne's northwest, was arrested and charged on Thursday by detectives from the Melbourne Crime Investigation Unit.
Employees of the Department of Human Services rejected her A$10,000 claim, realising the woman had no relation to the deceased man, the newspaper said.
It was also alleged that the woman had successfully obtained A$5000 by deceiving Centrelink's Funeral Fund.
Department employees were working long hours to ensure that checks were in place, said former Victorian Governor John Landy who is chairman of the Victorian Bushfire Appeal Fund Advisory Panel.
"It is vitally important that we are able to get money quickly to the people who need it most, while also reassuring donors that we have the right checks and balances in place to protect their generous donations," the newspaper reported him as saying.
The woman received bail and is to appear at the Melbourne Magistrates Court in April.
Meanwhile, the Government wants to fast-track new rules, passed last September, that require changes to the paper and chemical additives used in cigarettes so they will stop burning once discarded.
