27Suspension of pensions in certain cases

27 Suspension of pensions in certain cases

27 Suspension of pensions in certain cases

(1) If a person who has been awarded a pension in accordance with this Act or the COALSUPER Rules is sentenced to imprisonment for more than 1 month, the person’s pension rights are suspended for the period of imprisonment. Any person who would, if the pensioner were dead, have been eligible for a pension in accordance with those Rules, is eligible for such a pension during the period of imprisonment.

(2) While a mine worker who is eligible for, or who has been awarded, a pension in accordance with this Act or the COALSUPER Rules is a mentally incapacitated person, the person’s pension rights are, if the Corporate Trustee so determines, suspended. While such a determination is in force, any person who would, if the mine worker were dead, have been eligible for a pension in accordance with the COALSUPER Rules—

(a) is eligible for such a pension as if the mine worker were dead, and

(b) is entitled to retain the whole of the pension for the person’s own use.

(3) While a person who is eligible for, or who has been awarded, a pension in accordance with this Act or the COALSUPER Rules (either because of the death of a mine worker or because of the operation of section 19H (2) or this clause) is a mentally incapacitated person, the person’s pension rights are, if the Corporate Trustee so determines, suspended.

(4) The period for which the pension rights of an incapacitated person are suspended under this clause does not, if the Corporate Trustee so determines, include a period while the person is on leave from a hospital (being a hospital within the meaning of the Mental Health Act 1990) before the person’s discharge.

(5) The eligibility of a person for a pension in accordance with this Act or the COALSUPER Rules (either because of the death of a mine worker or because of the operation of section 19H (2) or this clause), and the rights conferred on the person by this clause, cease on a determination of the Corporate Trustee under subclause (4).

(6) The spouse of a mine worker who is eligible for a pension under the COALSUPER Rules who has been deserted by the mine worker or has been left by the mine worker without support and who satisfies the Corporate Trustee—

(a) that the spouse has taken proceedings against the mine worker for an order for the payment of maintenance under the of the Commonwealth and either—