(1) In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears:
approved interest, in relation to a person in relation to land or to a dwelling‑house of a kind commonly known as a flat or home unit, means:
(a) an estate in fee simple;
(b) an interest as purchaser of an estate in fee simple from the Crown in right of a State where payment of the purchase price is to be made by instalments over a period of years;
(c) an estate for life approved by the Secretary for the purposes of this Act;
(d) a lease for a term of years from the owner of an estate in fee simple if the Secretary is satisfied that the lease gives reasonable security of tenure to the lessee for a substantial period;
(e) a lease, licence or right of occupancy from the Crown in right of the Commonwealth or a State if the Secretary is satisfied that the lease, licence or right of occupancy gives reasonable security of tenure to the lessee, licensee or holder of the right;
(ea) an interest of the kind referred to in subsection (1) of section 4C; or
(f) any other interest declared by the regulations to be an approved interest for the purposes of this Act.
building society means a society registered or incorporated as a building society or a co‑operative housing society under the law in force in a State or an internal Territory relating to building societies or co‑operative housing societies, and includes a society registered under Part I of the Building and Co‑operative Societies Act, 1901, of the State of New South Wales.
Commonwealth—State Housing Agreement moneys means moneys provided by the Commonwealth in pursuance of an Act relating to the grant of financial assistance to the States for the purpose of housing other than moneys that are required by the Act in pursuance of which they are provided to be used for the provision of finance for persons erecting or purchasing dwelling‑houses for their own use.
credit union means a society or other body of persons:
(a) that is registered or incorporated as a credit union or credit society under the law in force in a State or an internal Territory relating to credit unions or credit societies; or
(b) the principal business of which consists of borrowing moneys from its members and lending those moneys to its members and that is registered or incorporated under the law in force in a State or an internal Territory relating to such societies or bodies of persons.
dependent child, in relation to a person, means a child who is in the custody, care and control of the person, being a child:
(a) who is under the age of sixteen years; or
(b) who:
(i) has attained the age of sixteen years but is under the age of twenty‑one years;
(ii) is receiving full‑time education at a school, college or university; and
(iii) is wholly or substantially dependent on the person;
but does not include:
(c) if the person is a widower or widow—a child who was not born of the person and his or her deceased spouse and whose custody, care and control were assumed by the person after the death of his or her spouse; and
(d) if the person is a divorced person—a child who was not born of the person and his or her former spouse unless the child had been in the custody, care and control of those persons before the dissolution of their marriage.
friendly society means a society registered or incorporated under the law in force in a State or an internal Territory relating to friendly societies.
officer means a person exercising powers, or performing duties or functions, under or in relation to this Act.
savings bank means:
(a) a savings bank within the meaning of the Banking Act 1959;
(b) the State Savings Bank of Victoria;
(c) The Savings Bank of South Australia;
(d) The Rural and Industries Bank of Western Australia;
(e) The Cairns Co‑operative Weekly Penny Savings Bank Limited; and
(f) any other bank determined by the Secretary, by notice published in the Gazette, to be a savings bank for the purposes of this Act.
Secretary means the Secretary of the Department.
share, in relation to the capital of a building society, does not include a share in the capital of that society that is quoted for sale or purchase on a Stock Exchange.
State authority means a body corporate (not being a bank or an incorporated company, society or association) incorporated for a public purpose by or under a law of a State.
the prescribed date, in relation to an eligible person, means:
(a) in the case of a person who or whose spouse, or who together with his or her spouse, has entered into a contract for the purchase of a dwelling‑house situated in Australia:
(i) if the contract was in writing—the date of making of the contract; or
(ii) in any other case—such date as the Secretary determines;
(b) in the case of a person who or whose spouse, or who together with his or her spouse, has entered into a contract for the construction by a building‑contractor of a dwelling‑house on land situated in Australia that is, or that the Secretary is satisfied will be, owned by the person or his or her spouse or by both the person and his or her spouse:
(i) if the contract was in writing—the date of making of the contract or the date on which the construction of the dwelling‑house commenced, whichever was the earlier; or
(ii) in any other case—such date as the Secretary determines; or
(c) in the case of a person who or whose spouse, or who together with his or her spouse, has constructed or is constructing, otherwise than through a building‑contractor, a dwelling‑house on land situated in Australia that is, or that the Secretary is satisfied will be, owned by the person or his or her spouse or by both the person and his or her spouse—the date on which the construction of the dwelling‑house commenced.
trading bank means:
(a) a trading bank within the meaning of the Banking Act 1959;
(b) the Rural Bank of New South Wales;
(c) the State Bank of South Australia;
(d) The Rural and Industries Bank of Western Australia; and
(e) any other bank determined by the Secretary, by notice published in the Gazette, to be a trading bank for the purposes of this Act.
(1A) For the purposes of the definition of dependent child in the last preceding subsection, a child shall be deemed to be in the custody, care and control of a person if the Secretary is satisfied that the child will be in the custody, care and control of the person after the completion of the purchase or construction of the dwelling‑house in respect of which the person has applied for a grant under this Act.
(1B) A determination by the Secretary, by notice published in the Gazette, that a bank is a savings bank or a trading bank for the purposes of this Act may be expressed to have taken effect from a date before the date on which the determination is made (including a date before the commencement of this subsection) and, where a determination is so expressed to have taken effect from a date before the date on which the determination is made, the bank to which the determination relates shall be deemed for the purposes of this Act to have been a savings bank or a trading bank, as the case may be, on and from the date from which the determination is so expressed to have taken effect.
(2) In this Act:
(a) a reference, in relation to any time (in this paragraph referred to as the relevant time), to the spouse of an eligible person:
(i) is a reference to the person who was the spouse of the eligible person at the prescribed date or became the spouse of the eligible person at a later date, whether or not he or she was the spouse of the eligible person at the relevant time; and
(ii) in the case of an eligible person in relation to whom the prescribed date is a date later than 26 October 1969—includes, for the purpose of ascertaining the acceptable savings of the eligible person as at the relevant time, a reference to the person who was the spouse of the eligible person at the relevant time or became the spouse of the eligible person at a later time, notwithstanding that he or she subsequently ceased to be the spouse of the eligible person; and
(b) a reference, in relation to any time (in this paragraph referred to as the relevant time), to a deceased spouse of an eligible person shall be read as a reference to any person who, at the time of his or her death, was the spouse of the eligible person, whether or not he or she was the spouse of the eligible person at the relevant time.
(2A) For the purposes of this Act:
(a) moneys saved at any time by a deceased spouse of a person shall be deemed to have been saved at that time by the person;
(b) moneys held (whether in the form of an investment or otherwise), or paid or expended, at any time by a person jointly with a deceased spouse of the person shall be deemed to have been held, or paid or expended, as the case may be, at that time by the person alone;
(c) moneys held (whether in the form of an investment or otherwise) at any time by a deceased spouse of a person shall be deemed to have been held at that time by the person;
(d) where moneys that were held (whether in the form of an investment or otherwise) by a deceased spouse of a person at the time of his or her death are, by reason of the last preceding paragraph, to be deemed to have been held at that time by the person, the Secretary may treat those moneys as having continued, in whole or in part, to be held by that person for such period after that time as the Secretary thinks reasonable and as having continued to be so held in the same form as the form in which the moneys were held by the deceased spouse of the person at that time; and
(e) moneys paid or expended at any time by a deceased spouse of a person shall be deemed to have been paid or expended, as the case may be, at that time by the person.
(3) A reference in this Act to moneys saved by a person does not include a reference to moneys borrowed by the person.
(4) For the purposes of this Act, a person shall be deemed not to have ceased to reside in Australia during any temporary absence from Australia.
(5) For the purposes of this Act:
(a) a person who has, whether before or after the commencement of this Act, saved moneys by depositing those moneys, and maintaining them on deposit, with a branch of a savings bank or of a trading bank in an external Territory, shall be deemed to have saved those moneys in Australia; and
(b) a reference in this Act to a branch in Australia of a savings bank or of a trading bank shall, in relation to such a person, be read as including a reference to a branch of a savings bank or of a trading bank, as the case may be, in such a Territory.
(5A) After the establishment of an independent sovereign state in the territories that constitute the Territory of Papua and the Territory of New Guinea, this Act applies in relation to the territories in which that independent sovereign state was established in like manner as it applied in relation to those territories before the establishment of that independent sovereign state.
(6) For the purposes of this Act, a person shall be deemed not to have received a grant under this Act if the person or his or her spouse has paid to the Commonwealth, or the Commonwealth has recovered from the person or his or her spouse, an amount equal to the amount of the grant in pursuance of subsection (2) of section 24 or section 28, or of an order under subsection (2) of section 26.
(6A) Where a person has entered into a contract for the purchase of a structure for removal to land situated in Australia, being a structure intended for use as a dwelling‑house on that land, then, for the purposes of this Act:
(a) that contract and any other contract relating to the removal of that structure to, or its siting on, that land shall be deemed to be a contract for the construction by a building‑contractor of a dwelling‑house on that land; and
(b) construction under that last‑mentioned contract shall be deemed to have commenced on the date on which the contract for the purchase of the structure was entered into.
(7) For the purposes of this Act:
(a) the construction of a dwelling‑house shall be deemed to have commenced on:
(i) the day on which work commenced on the laying of the foundations of the dwelling‑house; or
(ii) if the Secretary determines that, having regard to all the circumstances, the construction of the dwelling‑house should be treated as having commenced on a later day—that later day; and
(b) the completion of the construction of a partly constructed dwelling‑house shall be deemed to have commenced on such date as the Secretary determines, having regard to all the circumstances, should be treated as the date on which that construction commenced to be completed.
(8) Unless the contrary intention appears, a reference in this Act to the construction of a dwelling‑house by a person (whether through a building‑contractor or not) shall, if the construction of the dwelling‑house was commenced by another person (whether through a building‑contractor or not), be read as a reference to the completion of the construction of the dwelling‑house by the first‑mentioned person.
Section 4 - Homes Savings Grant Act 1964 - Interpretation | Zoe