Collaborate with strategic partners
Summary
Collaborate with strategic partners such as other government entities, committees, working groups and taskforces. This allows you to share capability, information and intelligence and to prevent and disrupt fraud.
Why this countermeasure matters
A lack of collaboration with strategic partners may lead to:
- less visibility of fraud and corruption risks, including cross-program risks
- fraud or corrupt activity going unnoticed or unchallenged
- less action and accountability to prevent, detect and respond to fraud and corruption
- unknown and unaddressed systemic fraud or corruption.
How to put this countermeasure in place
Some ways to implement this countermeasure include:
- partnering with other government entities, committees, working groups and taskforces to share information and data
- working with policy entities to contribute to program design and implement legislative, policy, and procedural change
- collaborating with internal networks to share learnings, improve processes and prevent fraud
- collaborating with international counterparts to share expertise, improve processes and prevent fraud
- collaborating with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to help identify businesses undertaking unlawful business practices.
How to measure this countermeasure's effectiveness
Measure the effectiveness of this countermeasure by using the following methods:
- Review documentation and outcomes to confirm regular collaboration is occurring.
- Review the frequency of attendance and contribution to key meetings and fora.
- Review the level of representation at key meetings and fora. Is this consistently delegated to subordinates?
- Consult stakeholders on their views about the level of engagement by the entity.
Related countermeasures
Establish governance, accountability and oversight of processes by using delegations and requiring committees and project boards to oversee critical decisions and risk. Good governance, accountability and oversight increases transparency and reduces the opportunity for fraud.
Legislation and policy can help prevent, detect and respond to fraud, such as by outlining clear rules, regulations and criteria, allowing entities to collect, use and disclose information and allowing entities to enforce penalties and recover fraud losses.
Automatically match data with another internal or external source to obtain or verify relevant details or supporting evidence. This countermeasure is supported by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner's Guidelines on data matching in Australian government administration.
Train and support staff to identify red flags to detect fraud, know what to do if they suspect fraud and know how to report it. Fraudsters can take advantage if staff and contractors are not aware of what constitutes fraud and corruption.
Put in place processes for staff or external parties to lodge tip-offs or Public Interest Disclosures.
Internal or external audits or reviews evaluate the process, purpose and outcome of activities. Clients, public officials or contractors can take advantage of weaknesses in government programs and systems to commit fraud, act corruptly, and avoid exposure.
Fraud detection software programs automatically analyse data to detect what is different from what is standard, normal or expected and may indicate fraud or corruption.
Capture documents and other evidence for requests, claims and activities to detect, analyse, investigate and disrupt fraudulent activity.
Provide staff with the knowledge and skills required to analyse and investigate different types of fraud.
Coordinate disruption activities across multiple programs or entities to strengthen processes and identify serious and organised criminals targeting multiple programs. It can also include referrals to law enforcement agencies for those groups that reach the threshold for complex criminal investigations.
Investigate fraud in line with the Australian Government Investigation Standards (AGIS).
Related Fraudster Personas
This countermeasure helps prevent, detect or respond to the following Fraudster Personas:
