Services Australia sacked a career public servant after the man pulled off a "sophisticated" JobSeeker fraud that cost the Commonwealth nearly $4000, a court has heard.
Daniel Martin, 42, was sentenced in the ACT Magistrates Court on Wednesday to a six-month jail term.
But he will not serve any time behind bars, with magistrate Ian Temby making an immediate recognisance release order and directing Martin to perform 60 hours of community service.
Martin, a father of three, had previously pleaded guilty to abuse of public office and dishonestly causing a loss to the Commonwealth.
Federal prosecutor Alicia Booth told the court Martin's offending had spanned about three weeks in March and April 2021.
Ms Booth said Martin used his public service position to generate six JobSeeker payments, worth a total of $3820.02, for a fictitious person.
Martin entered numerous notes in Centrelink systems in an attempt to make the payments, which were deposited in his teenage son's bank account, appear authentic.
He involved an innocent colleague in his offending by having them facilitate one of the fraudulent payments.
The day after the last payment was made, Martin was suspended from work pending an investigation.
Ms Booth said Services Australia had ultimately terminated the offender's employment in July 2021.
While Martin had since reimbursed the Commonwealth in full, Ms Booth urged the court to send a message that would deter other public servants from similar offending.
"Offenders cannot buy their way out of severe punishment by repaying what they should never have received in the first place," she said.
Defence lawyer Brandon Bodel told the court his client had been a career public servant before the offending.
Mr Bodel acknowledged Martin had "suffered a significant fall from grace" and "lost face", but he argued the 42-year-old had been "desperate" at the time in question as a result of ongoing financial hardship.
He said Martin's wife had wanted to move back to their former home of Alice Springs as a result of their struggles, but the offender was keen to avoid his children "mixing with anti-social peers" up north.
"This man was desperate and was doing everything in his power to keep his family in Canberra," Mr Bodel submitted, telling the court Martin's offending was motivated by need, not greed.
In sentencing, Mr Temby said he understood Martin's motivation but did not think it moderated the offending to any significant degree.
He also placed "very limited" weight on the fact Martin only accessed about $960 of the fraudulently obtained money before his deceit was discovered.
The magistrate described Martin's scheme as one that involved "a degree of planning and sophistication", noting that "fraud of any kind undermines the system".
"Fraud from within is hard to detect." Mr Temby said.
"It needs to be made clear to other public officials that they simply cannot engage in this type of practice."
