White paper
Protecting the Public Purse: How Trust and Tech Can Prevent Government Payment Fraud
Government payment fraud is a fast-growing risk for public sector organisations in Australia and globally. From welfare and healthcare payments to business grants and disaster relief, increasingly sophisticated organised criminal networks and other actors exploit complex, high-volume government programs to unlawfully access public funds. The impact is significant—billions lost, program integrity undermined, and essential resources diverted.
Our report, Protecting the Public Purse: How Trust and Tech Can Prevent Government Payment Fraud, explores the scale and impact of this challenge in Australia:
- It demonstrates why strong oversight, public trust, and advanced technologies like AI and real‑time risk detection are critical to protecting public funds.
- It shows how breaking down organisational silos, tracking the right integrity metrics, and moving from reactive recovery to proactive, pre‑payment intervention can dramatically reduce risk.
- It delivers clear, actionable recommendations for governments and industry to work together, modernise systems, and safeguard taxpayer money with confidence.
