"Everyone's a victim" of the fraudulent activities of a government contractor who directed thousands of dollars from natural disaster relief payments to herself because she feared she and her family would live in a tent again, a court has heard.
Paula Stubbings, in her 50s, was sentenced in the ACT Magistrates Court on Wednesday for one rolled-up count of obtaining a financial advantage by deception to which she pleaded guilty.
The offender was contracted to Services Australia in April to June 2021 when she falsely recorded claims for relief payments for three people and diverted the funds, totalling $3000, to her own bank account.
An examination following the third false claim on June 7 of that year led to Stubbings, 53 at the time, losing her position.
The court heard the offender in early 2020 was evicted from her rental property where she lived with her children.
For about nine months until December of that year, she and her family lived in a tent before they obtained transitional housing on a six-month lease.
Defence lawyer Benjamin Rutzou said the offending started when the end of that lease was approaching.
"She was fearful that the new-found stability in her life was coming to an end," Mr Rutzou said.
"She has described her actions as leaving her feeling ashamed, horrible, and highly regretful."
Mr Rutzou said Stubbings was also facing "quite a large debt" at the time and was now on a Centrelink payback scheme to repay the $3000.
"There was a lot going on in her life at this time. She couldn't find other accommodation due to COVID," he said.
The defence lawyer asked for a non-conviction and a lengthy good behaviour order, arguing the latter would reflect the objective seriousness of the offending and achieve the purposes of sentencing.
Mr Rutzou said the amount taken was at the lower end of the scale of the court's jurisdictional limit, being $30,000.
"It can't be said that Ms Stubbings is a greedy person or was committing these offences for greed. It was desperation," he said.
He also cited Stubbings not having a criminal history, being before the court for the first time, and being at a low risk of reoffending.
A Commonwealth prosecutor argued for a conviction and a reparation order to be paid to the government.
"While it relates to a welfare payment, it's a case of internal fraud where a person had been trained in ethics," he said.
"While the amount in question is towards the lower end, the fact this was an internal fraud and not simply a case of under-reporting income or similar should be treated as an aggravating factor."
The prosecutor said Stubbings was also apparently receiving various government payments when she was employed and that it was not a victimless crime because it diverted funds from individuals who were genuine victims of disasters.
"A perception that public officials can misuse public funds with little consequence would be fatal to public trust in government," he said.
Special Magistrate Margaret Hunter acknowledged Stubbings' personal circumstances leading up to the offending, saying "I feel very sad that she was put in that position".
However, she said "there can be no doubt" that "there was a direct intention" to defraud the Commonwealth.
"Ultimately, everyone's a victim because we are all taxpayers," Ms Hunter said.
She said the offender was otherwise of good character and the offending was at the lower end of the objective seriousness.
Ms Hunter convicted Stubbings and sentenced her to a 12-month good behaviour order.
A reparation order of $3000 to be paid to the Commonwealth within three years was also made.
