The Australian of the Year award betting sandal has continued after police made two more arrests over use of inside information. [Image: Shutterstock.com]

Betting scandal taints awards

The shadow cast by the shady betting activity around one of Australia’s most celebrated awards has lengthened after police made two more arrests.

Since 1960, the National Australia Day Council has awarded the prestigious title of Australian of the Year to nationals who effect positive change, such as quantum physicist Michelle Simmons and Thai cave rescuers Craig Challen and Richard Harris.

focus of an inside information betting operation

While the Australian Federal Police don’t accuse AOY award-winning Simmons, the cave rescue duo, or biomedical scientist Alan Mackay-Sim of wrongdoing around their 2017 to 2019 awards, they were the focus of an inside information betting operation.  

Police have accused two Victoria men – 39-year-old James Dawkins and 38-year-old Dean Young – of providing and acting on insider information to bet on the aforementioned AOY awards.

Made some money

Police have alleged that Dawkins used inside information to place a series of bets on the AOY awards between 2017 to 2019 that earned him $13,302 (US$8,684). According to The Guardian, police charged him with three counts of “aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring offences of abuse of public office.”

The last charge also applies to Young, the provider of the inside information. He was charged with three counts of abuse of public office.

erodes public trust in our institutions”

Addressing the two arrests in a statement, AFP Det Supt Glenn Tod said that the “misuse of official or privileged information erodes public trust in our institutions.” The police chief warned the repercussions of positions of trust abuse “can be extremely serious.”

Both men are expected to appear at the Dandenong magistrates court on Thursday and face five years prison if convicted.

Operation bears fruit

The Detective Superintendent also revealed how the two arrests were aided by various bodies collaborating to share financial intelligence so “they could act swiftly if alleged criminality occurred.”

While the sanctity of Australia’s noblest award might be tarnished, the AFP is finally reaping the fruits of setting up Operation Maridun three years ago, a strategic pivot off an Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission report flagging alleged betting irregularities around the 2021 AOY awards.

Maridun’s breakthrough came in January, when the AFP charged a 47-year-old Sydney man with six counts of using inside information to bet on the 2021 outcome, and allegedly winning $7,542 (US$4,923).