Woman who owned three Melbourne properties ripped off Centrelink

A former communist who fled China after the Tiananmen Square massacre has been convicted of ripping off Centrelink.

Minning Ye, from South Melbourne, was caught claiming $63,653 in parenting payments, hiding that she owned three properties from which she was collecting what the court heard was "substantial rent".

Ye, 53, held the properties in her former name and Centrelink was not aware of them.

She said she held no assets and collected the payments over four years.

A Melbourne magistrate yesterday heard she had two drivers' licences.

The mother of three migrated to Australia in 1989 from Canton province in China, where she was a leader in the Communist Youth League.

She applied to Australia for a visa and was admitted after the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy demonstration in Beijing, which ended in the massacre of protesters.

Ye was part of a protest in a provincial city observed by the Chinese government and it was deemed dangerous for her to stay.

She became an Australian citizen in 1994 and worked at Crown Casino as a croupier.

The court heard she went on to become a regular publisher of poetry "with an enthusiastic audience", including the Chinese government, which her lawyer said is interested in publishing her work.

She also volunteers at the Chinese Museum, in Melbourne's CBD.

Ye fought the charges of obtaining financial advantage by deception but a Magistrate found them proven.

She was convicted and sentenced to an 18 month Community Correction Order, with 200 hours community work and ordered to pay back the money.