Blitz nabs harvesters

A CENTRELINK blitz on seasonal crop harvesters in Kooweerup and Tooradin nabbed more than 100 workers who had not properly declared their income.
Police set up vehicle checkpoints at a number of places around both towns, and interviewed workers as part of an operation aimed at a range of fraudulent activities.
The operation, initiated by Centrelink, resulted in investigators cancelling or suspending the payments of 124 people.
Centrelink’s fraud investigation manager Trevor Coulter said the operation was expected to result in taxpayer savings of $868,000.
Centrelink officials said interviews with the harvesting workers revealed many were working without properly declaring their income.
Mr Coulter said the investigation was part of a whole-of-government approach to fraud control in cash economy industries.
“Customers have a clear obligation to tell Centrelink about any income earned from work or self-employment,” he said.
“Centrelink, through its dedicated cash economy investigation teams, and with the co-operation of other government agencies, has been proactive in identifying welfare fraud.”
Mr Coulter said most people were honest when declaring income, but warned of the consequences of deliberately attempting to fraud the system.
“Most people do the right thing and they don’t need to worry. We appreciate that sometimes people do make genuine mistakes — this system is not set up to penalise them.
“But if people deliberately attempt to defraud the system, they will be caught and the penalties could be serious,” he said.
Thursday’s investigation involved the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs, Victoria Police, Australian Tax Office, Victorian Taxi Directorate and the Sheriff’s Office.