Karen Delores Swartz, a nurse from Maroochydore, fraudulently collected Centrelink benefits from January 2014 to March 2019, despite being employed and therefore ineligible for the payments.
Ms Swartz neglected to inform Centrelink of her change in employment status, as per the court hearing.
The ATO reportedly discovered she was receiving the payments after conducting a data match in 2018.
The 59-year-old pleaded guilty in order to get a financial advantage and was sentenced to three years in prison
However, she was freed on five years of good behaviour and forced to pay back the $108,753.76 she had fraudulently obtained.
Mark Dixon, the defense lawyer for Ms. Swartz, said that his client, a nurse, had been caring for her elderly mother while also suffering from depression.
Nathan Jarro, the judge on this case, characterized Ms. Swartz’s actions as being motivated by greed and deceit. He also observed that she had used a separate bank account to receive the extra income.