Jayne:

It would not be an easy task to dob in a family member to Centrelink, and even more difficult to be dumped by family members. However, you obviously thought long and hard before taking this course of action even tried talking to your brother about it, and finally felt strongly enough to do it. You acted according to your conscience. My advice to you now is to move on. You did what you thought was right. That's all anyone of us can do. We can't be responsible for the actions of other people, only for our own actions. Dumping you, is your families loss - and in time, hopefully they'll come around to understanding why you did what you did. If they don't, well as I said,
that's their loss. I wish you success, in getting on with your life.

Hi there JAYNE...

I applaud your decision to 'give up' your brother for committing fraud against all of us, the taxpayers. If I were in exactly the same position, I'm not sure that I would possess the necessary courage to inform on a close family member ?

The fact that your family had 'put the dog' on you is regrettable indeed. Though it does illustrate that they (your family) don't have the moral credo and ethical convictions that you obviously have, otherwise they would've at least supported you theoretically, if not in reality.

For what it's worth, I do admire your stance. And you never know JAYNE, you may have helped your brother much much more than he and the family realizes ?

When offenders keep eluding discovery and prosecution, sometimes the enormity of their offence/s can magnify. Because of some erroneous belief that they won't ever be caught? And when they are apprehended, they can end up with a pretty heavy 'lagging', instead of a fine and a commuted custodial sentence.

Goodluck to you JAYNE, and I hope you have a very happy Christmas indeed.

Pelican:”I disagree with your idea of reporting child abuse only if the accuser knows that the alternative will be better. That is never possible even a doctor who suspects child abuse will have no idea where the child will be placed - how could they ever make that call.”

How can they make that call without being satisfied that the alternative being better is not only possible but demanding it?

Pelican”“The only way to prevent child abuse is through strong duty of care in relation to reporting especially if it comes from the victims themselves. The biggest betrayal is to ignore it.”

I consider the biggest betrayal to a child is when you chose to abandon the responsibility of what happens next.

We are discussing one of the most secretive of government departments responsible for thousands of Australian children, one that unless a child dies polices itself and allows its sub-contracting ngo’s to carry out their own internal investigations. These ngo’s are in a system that is set up where they lose funding should they find they have children being abused under their administration.

Millions of tax payers’ dollars spent on not keeping them safe.

Jayne might worry about her brother and followed through understanding the consequences for him. I'd like to see her dob in a whole department now.

Jewely I am with you on the responsibility of the department responsible to ensure houses are safe - that and the secrecy component - should of course be exposed.

However, using your rationale, no report of abuse would ever be made if the accuser had to absolutely know what the alternative was, would the department even inform the person making the allegation (doctor, teacher, neighbour) the details of the new home. And how would anyone know if this was accurate - even the department may not know until after it is too late.

The real problem is not with reporting but with accountability in protective arrangements, screening and ongoing monitoring (you would know better than I what checks and balances would be required).

The aim should always be protection - reporting and then accountability are all part of the same equation.

Hi Jayne

You are brave writing and posting your experience on OLO and commend you highly for this as real life stories assist thousands of people from making the same type of mistake [although you may not see this until you are older and reflect more clearly].

There are a number of reasons why family should be loyal to their own and these are the following;

(i) at some point in your life when you have made a mistake that involves government or the law, family or a family member, are generally the only people one is able to rely upon. Friends leading their busy lives are often too caught up in their own problems and obstacles. Having said this, I have had fantastic long term 20 year friends who reciprocally been there for one another through crises.

(ii) It is not for another to judge when a person claims centrelink for the simple reason that there may be 'one or two' grey areas of validation that your brother rightfully and legally could claim for reasons unbeknownst to yourself and others [in addition to centrelink staff]. Counsellors hold clients files in confidence at Centrelink and some files are not privvy to staff or any one else for that matter. What appeared on the surface to you as centrelink fraud, in all probability, was not, given other circumstances in your brother's life that have occurred.

(iii) Centrelink, Taxation and DEEWR eventually discover fraud or wrongful claims made over the years, and these monies are required to be paid back with interest. It was your brother's business and life journey to experience these things and not your own.

(iv) Every person breaks the law in some way, including yourself, along the way, therefore, dobbing in another person, brother or not, is a total hypocritical and wrongful act.

Karma is the last point I wish to raise.

When you make an error in judgement through your life, do not be at all surprised if someone 'dobs' you in to authorities Jayne.

No-one is a 100% law abiding citizen in this country.

We Are Unique,

Having read your comments, I feel ashamed for suppressing my reply earlier.
I preferred to stay out of trouble.
I was a coward.

Your comments are true and inspiring.
I should have written them myself, but I didn't.
Now I am inspired not only by the contents of your comments, but also by your courage to speak out against the background of supporters.

Below is what I intended to post earlier:

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Jayne,

One should not fight evil with more evil.

- So your brother was not justified in what he did.

- Nor are you, for the same reason.

Your brother was hiding the truth. So were you.

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