A former Commonwealth public servant will not spend time in jail for establishing a fictional Centrelink account in order to receive JobSeeker payments, later paid into his teenage son's bank account.
Daniel Martin, 42, was charged with two offences of defrauding the Commonwealth.
He pleaded guilty to the crime, telling the ACT Magistrates Court how he had transferred almost $4,000 to the fictional "John Martinez" account between March and April 2021.
Martin lost his job over the fraud in July and has since paid the money back.
Prosecutors called for a jail term to be imposed.
But Martin's lawyer, Brandon Bodel, told the court his client was not motivated by greed.
He described Martin as a "desperate" man struggling to support his family due to rising living costs in Canberra.
"[He] was not driven by greed, but by need," Mr Bodel said.
Overdue energy bills were submitted to the court as evidence Martin was still "drowning in debt", to the tune of about $16,000.
Mr Bodel asked that his client not be sent to jail and instead be allowed to serve his sentence by way of conditional release.
"He has suffered a significant fall from grace as a result of these offences," Mr Bodel said.
"It will serve as a stiff lesson to Mr Martin that this conduct will not be tolerated."
Mr Bodel added not being in jail would also allow the former public servant to repay his debts.
Magistrate reluctant to impose 'crushing punishment'
Magistrate Ian Temby said he accepted Martin was remorseful, and that he had felt he needed to find a way to pay for his life in Canberra.
Magistrate Temby also noted that it was a small amount, but a serious offence.
"It did involve a degree of planning and sophistication and a number of steps over 22 days," he said.
"The fact you are a trustworthy person meant this type of offending was more open to you.
"I accept that you are remorseful and that you will not do this again."
Magistrate Temby said he did not want to impose a "crushing punishment" that Martin would not be able to "get out from under".
Instead, he imposed a six-month sentence but released Martin on an 18-month good behaviour order with 60 hours of community service.
