The Law Handbook 2024

Chapter 5.1: Dealing with social security 319 receive Youth Allowance until they complete the course or apprenticeship. The activity test for Austudy is satisfied if the person is undertaking a full-time Australian apprenticeship or is undertaking qualifying study (this is a full-time (i.e. at least 75 per cent) study load in an approved course). A person may receive Austudy if they are not studying full-time if they have a disability and are unable to take on a full-time study load. However, they must take on at least 25 per cent of the full-time study load. Also, a person may continue to receive Austudy if there has been a change to their course that is beyond their control (e.g. unavailability of subjects). However, they must still take on at least 66 per cent of the full-time study load. A person cannot satisfy the Austudy activity test if they have completed a doctoral study or an overseas course of the same standing. Full-time Australian apprentices do not have activity test requirements. People receiving Austudy must also satisfy progress rules (i.e. the rate at which they progress through their course). There are allowable time limits for the payment of Austudy. The time spent in a course may be disregarded if the course could not be completed because of circumstances beyond the person’s control (e.g. illness, family trauma, or a natural disaster – see section 569H SS Act). A person commits an ‘Austudy participation failure’ by failing, without a reasonable excuse, to comply with certain Centrelink requirements or to satisfy the activity test. Following an Austudy participation failure, Austudy is not payable until the person undertakes an activity required by, or complies with a direction of, Centrelink about the failure. An eight-week non-payment period applies following repeated participation failures, although Centrelink has discretion not to apply the non-payment period. The ‘multiple entitlement exclusion’ prohibits the payment of Austudy if the person is on another, more appropriate, pension or allowance from Centrelink or from another Commonwealth Government agency (e.g. the Department of Veterans’ Affairs). Austudy is not payable if the person is subject to an ‘assurance of support’ or receives financial support under another scheme (see ss 578, 578A SS Act). Rate of allowance The rate of Austudy (ss 581, 1067L SS Act) depends on whether the person is single or has a partner and whether the person has dependent children. The income and assets test also applies to Austudy. In addition, a special rate is available for long-term income-support recipients who are starting full-time study or an Australian apprenticeship. (See also A Guide to Australian Government Payments for more information about Austudy.) JobSeeker Payment Eligibility Since March 2020, the JobSeeker Payment (pt 2.12, Division 1 SS Act) has replaced the Newstart Allowance as the main working-age income-support payment. To be eligible for the JobSeeker Payment, a person must be aged 22 or older but younger than the Age Pension age. The person must: • be unemployed (i.e. primarily concerned with finding full-time work, and not significantly engaged in setting up a business or some activity that interferes with their ability to look for, or take up, employment); or • be sick or injured and, as a result, be unable to do their usual work or study for a short time; the recipient has to meet certain rules and provide a medical certificate; • be an Australian resident; • be prepared to enter into an Employment Pathway Plan and fulfil the ‘mutual obligation’ requirements; • not be involved in industrial action involving the person or their trade union; • not reduce their job prospects by moving to an area with lower employment rates; and • not be enrolled as a full-time student. The JobSeeker Payment is also available to New Zealanders for a limited six-month period. To be eligible, a New Zealander must have: • a special category visa; and • arrived in Australia after 26 February 2001; and • continuously lived in Australia for 10 years on the special category visa.