Reference no: EM13823544

Summary of case

A retired nurse applied for a pension from Centrelink, and was informed that she would receive a small pension of $8 per fortnight, and a Pension Card. She then received a letter saying that her pension would not be paid because she had assets of over $18 million, and an annual income of over $770,000. It took this lady several attempts to get Centrelink to examine her case. Finally, the cause of the mistake was found to be a "human error" when the lady's investment details were coded into the computer. When the cause of the mistake was discovered, she was informed that they "couldn't remove it from the computer". Centrelink claimed that this was an "isolated incident". However, at the same time, another man was discussing with Centrelink their claim that he had an income of $6 million, which was not the case.

1.2.1 Public Interest

a) identify those potentially impacted by your work and explicitly consider their interests;

d) take into consideration the fact that your profession traverses many other professions, and has implications for other social systems and organisations;

1.2.2 Quality of Life

c) understand, and give due regard to, the perceptions of those affected by your work;

d) attempt to increase the feelings of personal satisfaction, competence, and control of those affected by your work.

1.2.3 Honesty

b) not knowingly mislead a client or potential client as to the suitability of a product or service;

1.2.4 Competence

a) endeavour to provide products and services which match the operational and financial needs of your stakeholders;

1.2.6 Professionalism

g) endeavour to extend public knowledge and understanding of ICT;

i) have pride in your profession, and protect and promote professionalism and trustworthiness in ICT.