By continuing to promote transparency, accountability, and ethical behaviour, and by strengthening oversight mechanisms, we can work towards building a more just and equitable workplace.
The EPA does not tolerate fraud or corruption in the workplace. To prevent, deter and detect incidents of fraud and corruption the Budget Risk and Audit Committee and the Executive Management Committee have approved the EPA Fraud and Corruption Control System 2023-2025.
EPA Fraud and Corruption Control System - 2023-2025 (PDF 729Kb)
It is necessary for the EPA to incorporate the new AS8001 Australian Standard about Fraud and Corruption Control that was released on 11 June 2021, which is a revamp of the 2008 Standard. Although the Australian Standards are not legally binding, courts and tribunals analyse whether organisations are compliant with them.
The EPA's Fraud and Corruption Control System ensures the EPA can mitigate fraud and corruption risks. The main changes to the NRE Fraud and Control Plan include:
'Fraud and Control Plans' are replaced with 'Fraud and Control System'
Updated definitions for 'fraud' and 'corruption'
Organisations must now plan in preventing, detecting and responding to external attack (e.g. cyber-attacks)
Greater scrutiny of lines of management and the EPA Board has a role for ensuring governance and risk together with senior management in combatting fraud and corruption. For example, the Integrity Commission presented to all EPA staff regarding its role dealing with fraud and corruption and this information is published on the staff intranet.
Immediate actions when fraud or corruption is discovered so that digital evidence is not deleted so that there is evidence for legal proceedings or police referral.
Guidance around what happens in the future to eliminate fraud and corruption from happening (e.g. increased audit activity; increased monitoring of transactions; internal controls; identity checking etc).
Fraud and Corruption training
All EPA employees received training about the EPA's Fraud and Corruption policy framework in May and June 2023. Training is compulsory for all new staff of the EPA.