A 29-year-old NSW woman who stole $3.6 million from taxpayers forged the testimony of government child-care protection workers, used the evidence of a neurosurgeon and pretended she was a vulnerable foster carer in order to earn millions of dollars in child care subsidies, documents released by the NSW District Court have revealed.
Over a two-year period, the owner of Aussie Giggles family day care, Melissa Jade Higgins, repeatedly used the same generic recommendation that "a child was at risk", which was faxed to the Department of Education under a Department of Human Services banner with different fonts and dates, to convince officials to funnel millions of dollars into her coffers.
Beyond the one-page forged letter from child protection services, the only other evidence Higgins provided was her diary of incidents with children, some of whom did not exist, to receive up to $180 an hour per child for special child subsidies when she was only legally entitled to $10 an hour.
In one two-day period in 2014, the former Albury Council Child Care worker was paid as much as $260,000 after claiming she was caring for a child "who had their face covered in bruises and dried blood" and another who "constantly smelled of urine and cigarette smoke".
During her biggest funding streak, when she took home $2.9 million over a one-year period, Higgins herself applied for special child-care payments as a guardian, claiming she had been left with three at-risk children at her day-care centre on the NSW-Victorian border.
"I am applying for special child-care benefits for the purposes of financial hardship," she wrote. "I am currently studying full-time to complete my qualifications as an early childhood teacher.
"To be able to maintain my study, I need the children in full-time care, I am unable to afford the cost of child care as I currently do not have any income."
The application was approved by the same department that had been processing her previous applications as a day-care centre operator, and she earned more than $100,000 from the arrangement, before shuffling more than $2 million between four different bank accounts.
Higgins also claimed hundreds of thousands of dollars in benefits on the back of one of her staff.
In a letter to the department, Higgins claimed the staff member was "homeless" and her children were "at risk", even though she was employed at the child care centre Higgins owned and was being named as a witness to the alleged neglect of other children.
Higgins provided evidence she claimed was from a neurosurgeon to support her claims. The payments were also approved.
The Department of Education raised concerns over breaches as early as 2013 but Higgins was continuously approved on the basis of her own testimony. She received funding at the rate of $225,000 a month for her three-room day care centre, the largest convicted child-care swindle in Australian history.
Higgins defended her level of funding during the department's investigation in 2014.
"All money received for these children has gone straight back into their education," Higgins said. "It should not matter what the fees are as long as the children are educated and cared for."
The documents reveal that despite her record levels of income, Higgins operated a frugal business model. In looking to expand her operations to Wodonga, she advised one of her staff to look for a suitable new home for her growing child-care operation.
"The property must be around the price range of $200 per week," she said. "Suss out a cleaner at the cheapest price for one to two times a week."
It was not until March 2015 that the government made its final payment of $17,582 for one week's work, just before her house was raided by the AFP and $2.25 million was seized along with her $90,000 car.
The federal government has cancelled or suspended 75 child care services since July 2015, while 15 operators have been charged by the Australian Federal Police as part of a crackdown on the sector.
Last Thursday, Higgins was found guilty of 81 forgery and fraud offences. She was granted bail on Friday and will be sentenced on March 24.
With Rachel Olding
