5Eligibility criteria

5 Eligibility criteria

(1) The eligibility criteria for a person to participate in the Scheme are that the person: (a) suffers from permanent and severe incontinence: (i) caused by an eligible neurological condition; or (ii) Caused by an eligible other condition; and the person has or is eligible to have a pensioner concession card issued under Division 1 of Part 2A.1 of the Social Security Act 1991 or is the dependant of a holder of a pensioner concession card, as defined in section 6A of the Social Security Act 1991; or (iii) caused by an eligible other condition and the person has a Department of Veterans’ Affairs Pensioner Concession Card or entitlement, whether as a primary cardholder or a dependant of a cardholder; and (b) is an Australian citizen or permanent resident within the meaning of those terms in the Australian Citizenship Act 2007; and (c) is not ineligible because of subsection (2). (2) A person in any of the following categories is not eligible to participate in the Scheme: (a) (for the avoidance of doubt) people who suffer from transient, rather than permanent and severe, incontinence; (b) children under 5 years of age; (c) care recipients, under the Aged Care Act 1997: (i) who are being provided with residential care through a residential care service (other than residential care provided as respite care); or (ii) who are receiving a home care package and the care recipient’s care plan includes continence aids; (d) NDIS participants where an NDIS plan is in effect for the NDIS participant and the NDIS plan includes a consumables budget (that includes continence aids) as evidence that reasonable and necessary support will be funded under the National Disability Insurance Scheme; (e) people eligible to receive assistance for continence aids under the Rehabilitation Appliances Program (or replacement program if the name of that program is changed) through the Department of Veterans’ Affairs; (f) Australian citizens or permanent residents who have resided outside Australia for a continuous period of three years (including any periods of leave from the country in which that person resides); (g) a person serving a prison sentence. (3) For a person who: (a) is eligible to participate in the Scheme under subparagraph (1)(a)(iii); and (b) meets the other eligibility criteria for participation in the Scheme; and (c) applied to participate in the Scheme between 1 July 2010 and the commencement of the Continence Aids Payment Scheme Variation 2011 (No.2); the CAPS payment is the amount calculated in accordance with section 11 with effect from the date of application. (4) Subsection (3) applies, even if the person’s application was rejected, provided that the person would have been eligible to participate in the Scheme if subparagraph (1)(a)(iii) had been in effect at that time. (5) For the purposes of this section:

NDIS participant means a participant within the meaning of the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013.