{"id":"F2023L00304","name":"Social Security (Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment) (Northern Queensland Monsoon and Flooding – December 2022 – March 2023) Determination 2023 (No. 1)","slug":"social-security-australian-government-disaster-recovery-payment-northern-queensland-monsoon-and-floo","collection":"legislative_instrument","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":null,"makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":103968,"registerId":"commonwealth-F2023L00304-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-03","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Social Security (Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment) (Northern Queensland Monsoon and Flooding – December 2022 – March 2023) Determination 2023 (No. 1)","content":"![cid:image001.png@01D8F5E7.C3E0A6C0](image.001.png)\n\nLIN 23/032\n\nSocial Security (Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment) (Northern Queensland Monsoon and Flooding – December 2022 – March 2023) Determination 2023 (No. 1)\n\nI, Murray Watt, Minister for Emergency Management, make this instrument under subsection 1061L(2) of the Social Security Act 1991.\n\nDated 15 March 2023\n\nMURRAY WATT\n\nMinister for Emergency Management\n\n1 Name\n\nThis instrument is the Social Security (Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment) (Northern Queensland Monsoon and Flooding – December 2022 – March 2023) Determination 2023 (No. 1).\n\n2 Commencement\n\nThis instrument commences on the day it is signed.\n\n3 Definitions\n\n(1) In this instrument:\n\n> destroyed means damaged to the extent that:\n\n(a) for a residence—it must be demolished; or\n\n(b) for a major asset or assets—it is unusable.\n\n> immediate family member, of a person, means:\n\n(a) the person’s partner; or\n\n(b) the person’s natural child, adoptive child or step-child; or\n\n(c) the person’s natural parent, adoptive parent or step-parent; or\n\n(d) the person’s legal guardian; or\n\n(e) the person’s brother, sister, step-brother or step-sister.\n\n> Note This term is used in a different sense to that used in the Act.\n\n> major asset means:\n\n(a) an asset, with a market value of at least $20 000, located at the person’s principal place of residence; or\n\n(b) assets, with a combined market value of at least $20 000, located at the person’s principal place of residence.\n\n> Note: Examples Building, large fixed structure, motor vehicle, caravan, water tank, large scale machinery, heavy equipment.\n\n> major damage means:\n\n(a) for a residence:\n\n(i) damage to the interior of the residence; or\n\n(ii) that the residence is structurally unsound; or\n\n(iii) damage to the residence that exposes the interior of the residence to the elements; or\n\n(iv) sewage contamination of the interior of the residence or of the water supply to the residence; or\n\n(b) for a major asset or assets other than a water tank that is flooded, or damaged by the severe weather, to the extent that it needs to be replaced; or\n\n(c) for a major asset that is a water tank—damage to the extent that it needs to be repaired or cleaned, or the water replaced.\n\n> seriously injured, for a person, means:\n\n(a) the person has sustained an injury; and\n\n(b) because of the injury:\n\n(i) the person was admitted to hospital; or\n\n(ii) under normal circumstances, the person would have been admitted to hospital.\n\n(2) A place of residence is a person’s principal place of residence if:\n\n(a) the person regularly lives at the place with a degree of settled purpose; and\n\n(b) the person has a lawful right to reside at the place; and\n\n(c) the place is not:\n\n(i) a prison or a place of detention; or\n\n(ii) a secondary residence used for holidays.\n\n> Note It is possible for a person to have more than 1 principal place of residence.\n\n4 Person adversely affected by a major disaster\n\n(1) This section applies to the major disaster being the severe weather and associated flooding that commenced on 20 December 2022 and continued into March 2023 in Queensland affecting the local government areas of Boulia, Burke and Mount Isa.\n\n(2) For subsection 1061L(2) of the Act, a person is taken to be adversely affected by the major disaster if any of the following circumstances apply:\n\n(a) the person is seriously injured as a direct result of the disaster;\n\n(b) the person is an immediate family member of an Australian citizen or resident who is killed as a direct result of the disaster;\n\n(c) the person’s principal place of residence has been destroyed or has major damage as a direct result of the disaster;\n\n(d) a major asset of the person has been destroyed or suffered major damage as a direct result of the disaster;\n\n(e) the person is a principal carer of a child to whom paragraph (a), (b), (c) or (d) applies.","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"flash_summary_failed":{"failed":true,"reason":"A positive credit balance is required for all requests, including BYOK, so fallback providers remain available. Add credits at https://vercel.com/d?to=%2F%5Bteam%5D%2F%7E%2Fai%3Fmodal%3Dtop-up to continue.","source":"analysis-cron"},"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":3,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The instrument does not alter the underlying Social Security Act scheme; it applies subsection 1061L(2) to a specific event and population by specifying eligible harms and geographic boundaries. In other words, it operationalises eligibility for this disaster (see s4(1)–(2)) rather than expanding or contracting the statutory power itself."},"complexity_factors":["Cross-reference to Social Security Act subsection 1061L(2) for legal effect (instrument operates by 'taking' persons to be adversely affected; see instrument heading and s4(2)).","Multiple defined terms with multi-part tests (see s3): 'destroyed', 'major damage', 'major asset', 'major damage' and 'seriously injured' each contain distinct sub-criteria.","Monetary threshold for 'major asset' ($20,000 market value) creates an objective cutoff that requires valuation evidence (s3 definition of 'major asset').","'Seriously injured' depends on hospital admission or a normative expectation of admission, introducing a medical/evidentiary judgment (s3 'seriously injured').","'Principal place of residence' requires settled-purpose and lawful right to reside and excludes certain places; this is a mixed fact-and-law test (s3(2)).","Geographic limitation to specific LGAs (Boulia, Burke and Mount Isa) narrows scope but requires clear locational proof (s4(1)).","Causation requirement: eligibility requires that listed harms be 'as a direct result of the disaster', which can produce administrative evidentiary determinations (s4(2)).","Immediate commencement on signing reduces lead time for administration (s2)."],"plain_english_summary":"This instrument designates who counts as “adversely affected” for the Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment after the Northern Queensland monsoon and flooding (20 Dec 2022–March 2023) in the local government areas of Boulia, Burke and Mount Isa. It takes effect on signing and ties eligibility to concrete events: serious injury, death of an Australian citizen or resident in the immediate family, destruction or major damage to a principal residence or major assets, or being the principal carer of an affected child. It also sets definitional thresholds (for example, a $20,000 market-value test for major assets)."},"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"This instrument maintains its original narrow scope. It is a standard disaster-specific determination that does exactly what its title suggests: establishes eligibility criteria for the Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment for a specific flooding event in specific Queensland local government areas. These determinations are routinely made for individual disasters and are intentionally limited in scope to particular events and geographic areas."},"complexity_factors":["Short, focused instrument (5 sections total)","Only 4 defined terms in section 3, with straightforward definitions","Single purpose: establishing eligibility criteria for one specific disaster event","No cross-references to other legislation beyond the empowering provision (Social Security Act 1991, section 1061L(2))","Simple conditional structure: if disaster in specified areas + one of five circumstances = eligibility","No nested exceptions or complex temporal provisions"],"plain_english_summary":"This Determination triggers a one‑off Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment for people affected by severe flooding in Boulia, Burke and Mount Isa between December 2022 and March 2023.  \n\nEligible recipients include seriously injured people, immediate family of disaster fatalities, owners whose principal home was destroyed or suffered major damage, those who lost major assets (≈$20,000+), and principal carers of qualifying children — enabling federal financial relief for significant losses in these communities."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/social-security-australian-government-disaster-recovery-payment-northern-queensland-monsoon-and-floo","history":"/api/acts/social-security-australian-government-disaster-recovery-payment-northern-queensland-monsoon-and-floo/history","analysis":"/api/acts/social-security-australian-government-disaster-recovery-payment-northern-queensland-monsoon-and-floo/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/social-security-australian-government-disaster-recovery-payment-northern-queensland-monsoon-and-floo/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/social-security-australian-government-disaster-recovery-payment-northern-queensland-monsoon-and-floo/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/social-security-australian-government-disaster-recovery-payment-northern-queensland-monsoon-and-floo/documents"}}