{"id":"C1973A00049","name":"National Health Act 1973","slug":"national-health-act-1973","collection":"act","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"repealed","isInForce":false,"actNumber":"49 of 1973","makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":2544,"registerId":"commonwealth-C1973A00049-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-03-29","status":"Repealed","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"National Health Act 1973","content":"National Health Act 1973\n\nNo. 49 of 1973\n\nAN ACT\n\nTo amend section 9a of the National Health Act 1953–1972.\n\n\\[Assented to 14 June 1973\\]\n\nBE IT ENACTED by the Queen, the Senate and the House of Representatives of Australia, as follows:—\n\nShort title and citation.\n\n1\\. (1) This Act may be cited as the National Health Act 1973.\n\n(2) The National Health Act 1953–1972, as amended by this Act, may be cited as the National Health Act 1953–1973.\n\nCommencement.\n\n2. This Act shall come into operation on 3rd July, 1973.\n\nHearing aids.\n\n3. Section 9a of the National Health Act 1953–1972 is amended by adding at the end thereof the following sub-section:—\n\n“(4) In this section, ‘pensioner’ includes a woman who is in receipt of a benefit under Part IVaaa of the Social Services Act 1947–1973 or would be in receipt of such a benefit if she were not receiving vocational\n\n  \n\ntraining under Part VIII of that Act, other than a woman to whom such, a benefit would not be payable if any amendment of the Social Services Act 1947–1967, or of that Act as amended, the effect of which is to diminish or eliminate any reduction that would otherwise be made in the rate of benefit payable to her by reason of her means as assessed had not been made.”.","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"kimi_summary":{"_metrics":{"model":"kimi-k2.5","source":"moonshot-batch","completionTokens":2019},"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":5,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"This is a narrow, technical expansion of eligibility criteria. It remains tightly focused on the original purpose of the National Health Act 1953—providing health benefits to specific disadvantaged groups—and does not broaden the Act into new policy areas."},"complexity_factors":["Single amendment containing triple-nested conditional logic (vocational training exception within an inclusion within a definition)","Counterfactual exception clause requiring analysis of hypothetical legislative scenarios ('would not be payable if any amendment... had not been made')","Cross-reference to Part IVaaa of the Social Services Act 1947-1973 (the Supporting Mother's Benefit provisions)","Interaction between two different means-testing regimes (the mother's benefit means test and the hypothetical 'but for' means test)"],"plain_english_summary":"This Act expands eligibility for subsidised hearing aids by treating recipients of the Supporting Mother's Benefit (including those temporarily in vocational training) as “pensioners” for the government scheme. It thereby opens access to free or subsidised hearing devices for single mothers on that payment, but excludes women who only qualify because recent relaxations to the means test put them on the benefit."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/national-health-act-1973","history":"/api/acts/national-health-act-1973/history","analysis":"/api/acts/national-health-act-1973/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/national-health-act-1973/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/national-health-act-1973/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/national-health-act-1973/documents"}}