Home Affairs officer accessed data on “friends and associates”

A former immigration officer at Home Affairs accessed restricted data on 17 “friends and associates” over 1000 times over a six-year period.

The woman also approved a visitor visa for her brother-in-law after an earlier application was refused.

The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) said in a statement that the woman was sentenced to eight months’ imprisonment for abuse of public office but released on a recognisance order.

The visitor visa approval triggered the initial investigation, with the NACC saying the woman “self-allocated the application” re-submitted by her brother-in-law “to herself as the visa decision-maker” and approved it after three days, after an earlier application was refused.

The investigation went by the name Operation Carbunup, described at the time as a matter where an officer allegedly “facilitated the unlawful entry of a foreign national into Australia”.

The NACC, however, also noted that the case had another side to it with the “unauthorised access to restricted data”, for which the woman was also convicted following a guilty plea.

“Between 2016 and 2021, [the woman] accessed the records of 17 individuals, including friends and associates, on 1164 occasions,” the NACC said.