Services Australia performs several regulatory functions under legislation it administers, as well as Commonwealth legislation, such as the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 (PGPA) Rule and the Commonwealth Fraud Control Framework.
Our regulatory role includes:
- powers to recover debts relating to social security and welfare payments under the Social Security Act 1991
- the exercise of investigative powers under Part IID of the Human Services (Medicare) Act 1973
- powers to require the payment and recovery of child support debts under Part V of the Child Support (Registration and Collection) Act 1988
- the management of fraud and corruption in accordance with the PGPA Rule and the Commonwealth Fraud Control Framework across all payments made.
We perform some regulatory roles on behalf of policy partners to administer, monitor, enforce and encourage compliance with regulations, administer payments and recover debts. We also protect the integrity of government outlays through fraud prevention, detection, investigation and reporting mechanisms.
Agencies performing regulatory functions are accountable to the Parliament, including through Senate Estimates and Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) scrutiny. In addition, ministers set out their expectations and guidance on how agencies should perform their regulatory functions through ministerial statements of expectations. The agency then produces a statement of intent, outlining how it will deliver on those expectations. You can read Services Australia’s:
For more information on how we assess and report our regulatory performance, please read our corporate plans and annual reports.