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Commonwealth legislation
This Act has been repealed and is no longer in force. It is retained for historical reference.
Australia’s 1915 administrative rulebook for the nation’s first old‑age and invalid pensions sets out how elderly and permanently incapacitated people could apply for and receive government support, and how officials must manage claims, payments and investigations. It affected claimants, registrars, medical referees and local officers, and enshrined means‑testing, strict documentation, character checks and racial and residency exclusions. Its procedures established the bureaucratic machinery that shaped Australia’s early social safety net.
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Direct links to the current provisions in Invalid and Old-age Pensions Regulations (Provisional).
Sourced from the Federal Register of Legislation (legislation.gov.au), CC BY 4.0.
STATUTORY RULES.
PROVISIONAL REGULATIONS UNDER THE INVALID AND OLD-AGE PENSIONS ACT 1908–1912.
I, THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL in and over the Commonwealth of Australia, acting with the advice of the Federal Executive Council, hereby certify that, on account of urgency, the following Regulations under the Invalid and Old-age Pensions Act 1908–1912 should come into immediate operation, and make the Regulations to come into operation forthwith as Provisional Regulations.
Dated this fifteenth day of December, One thousand nine hundred and fifteen.
R. M. FERGUSON,
Governor-General.
By His Excellency’s Command,
W. G. HIGGS,
Treasurer.
INVALID AND OLD-AGE PENSIONS REGULATIONS.
I. General.
1. These Regulations may be cited as the Invalid and Old-age Pensions Regulations.
2. The declaration to be made by the Commissioner, the Assistant Commissioner, and the Deputy Commissioners, under section 13 of the Act, shall be in accordance with Form 1.
3. Every person claiming a pension shall deliver or send to the Registrar of the district in which he resides:—
(1) A pension claim in accordance with Form 2, if claim is made for an Old-age Pension, or a pension claim in accordance with Form 2a if claim is made for an Invalid Pension.
(2) A declaration, in accordance with Form 3, made by a person acquainted with the claimant.
(3) An identification card in accordance with Form 4.
4. All officers in the Public Service of the Commonwealth shall, so far as is consistent with their duties, give all reasonable assistance to claimants in the preparation of pension claims.
C.13634—Price 1s. 6d.
5. (1) Declarations under these Regulations and declarations under the Act other than declarations provided for under section 13, may be made before any of the following persons:—
A postmaster or postmistress, or person in charge of a post-office, a police, stipendiary or special magistrate of the Commonwealth or of a State, a justice of the peace, a barrister or solicitor, a State school head-teacher, an officer of the Department of Trade and Customs, a member of the police force of the Commonwealth or of a State, a legally qualified medical practitioner, a notary public, a commissioner for affidavits, a registrar, a minister of religion, an officer of the Commonwealth Department of the Treasury, or a member of the Parliament of the Commonwealth.
(2) If any person wilfully makes any false statement in any declaration provided for under these Regulations he shall, if subject to no higher penalty under the Act, be liable to a penalty not exceeding One hundred pounds.
II. Investigation and Determination of Claims.
6. Unless otherwise directed by the Commissioner, every Registrar shall keep a record, in accordance with Form 5, of pension claims received by him.
7. As soon as possible after the receipt of a claim the Registrar shall request the police to make a report in accordance with Form 6.
8. On receipt from the police of a report in accordance with Form 6, the Registrar shall examine the claim together with the police report and other papers in the case. If it appears to him that on any material point the evidence is insufficient for a just determination of the claim, he shall, in accordance with Form 7 or 8 or 9, or in ordinary letter-form, cause to be made such further investigations as appear to him desirable. Provided that in any case in which it appears that no documentary evidence as to the claimant’s age is easily obtainable, it shall not be necessary for the Registrar to make further inquiries on the point if he believes that the age qualification will be obvious when the claimant appears before the Magistrate.
9. The Registrar shall ascertain the time and place at which a Magistrate will investigate the claim, and shall send to the claimant and to the Magistrate notices in accordance with Forms 10 and 11 respectively. Notice in accordance with Form 11 need not be sent if the Registrar is aware that the Magistrate does not require such notice. If the Registrar is aware that, by reason of physical disability, or the distance of the claimant’s residence from the place of investigation, or other sufficient cause, the claimant cannot reasonably be expected to attend, the notice in accordance with Form 10 need not be sent, and in that case a note shall be made, on Form 12. If the Registrar will not be in attendance at the place of investigation when claims are to be investigated by the Magistrate, he shall take steps to place the claims and all the papers connected therewith in the hands of the Magistrate before the time for the investigation.
10. If for any reason no Magistrate can investigate any claim within a reasonable time the Registrar shall inform the Deputy Commissioner. The information shall be conveyed to the Deputy Commissioner by telegraph if the Registrar deems it advisable.
11. The Registrar shall refer the claim to the Magistrate in accordance with Form 12.
11b. When it is necessary to have, a claimant examined by a Commonwealth Medical Referee the Registrar shall notify the claimant and the Medical Referee in accordance with Forms 34 and 35 respectively. A medical certificate of permanent incapacity for work may be in accordance with Form 1a.
12. In calculating the maximum pension which may be recommended, there shall be deducted from fifty-two pounds the amount of claimant’s income, including income from accumulated property, and from the balance remaining, or from twenty-six pounds, whichever is lower in amount, there shall be deducted an amount, calculated as directed in section, 24 sub-section 2 of the Act, in respect of the net capital value of the claimant’s accumulated property.
12a. If for any special reason the Commissioner is of opinion that paragraph (d) of section 25 of the Act should not apply in any particular case, he may direct that it shall not apply.
13. The Magistrate shall make his recommendation in accordance with Form 13 (indorsed on Form 2) if the claim is for an Old-age Pension, or on Form 13a (indorsed on Form 2a) if the claim is for an Invalid Pension. In any case in which he postpones an investigation, he shall, on the claim, record as proved all matters as to which he is satisfied.
14. (1) When a Magistrate has recommended the admission or rejection of a pension claim, he shall forward to the Registrar all the papers in the case together with the notes of evidence taken at the investigation of the case.
(2) Subject to paragraph (3) of this regulation, the Registrar shall send the papers and the evidence received from the Magistrate and the identification card to the Deputy Commissioner.
(3) In cases where the Magistrate’s recommendation for the rejection of the claim shows that no material point has been disproved, but that some material points have not been proved or have not been sufficiently proved, the Registrar shall retain the papers for one month, or until he has received from the claimant a notice in accordance with Form 15 of intention to adduce fresh evidence, in which case the matter shall be dealt with as prescribed by section 32 of the Act. If no notice in accordance with Form 15 has been received, or if the notice has been received and the case has been dealt with as directed, the Registrar shall forthwith forward the papers, evidence, and identification card to the Deputy Commissioner.
15. A claimant may, within thirty days after the date of the Magistrate’s recommendation for the rejection of his claim, appeal to the Minister in respect of matters found by the Magistrate to be disproved. The appeal shall be in accordance with Form 16.
16. Any request of the Commissioner or a Deputy Commissioner for a re-hearing of a pension claim, previously admitted or rejected, shall be addressed to a Registrar, who shall, in accordance with Forms 10 and 11, notify the claimant or pensioner and the Magistrate. For this purpose verbal alterations in those forms may be made. In connexion with the re-hearing the Registrar shall have the same powers as in connexion with the original claim.
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17. The determination of the Commissioner or Deputy Commissioner in relation to any claim shall be communicated to the claimant in accordance with Form 17 or 18.
18. On the grant of a pension, a pension certificate in accordance with Form 19 and an identification card in accordance with Form 4 shall be forwarded to a postmaster or other officer, who shall retain the identification card, and deliver the certificate to the pensioner under departmental instructions.
III. Payment of Pensions.
19. The possession of any identification card shall be regarded as the authority of the postmaster or other officer to make payment of the pension thereon described. Provided that, as regards the method of paying he shall follow such instructions as are from time to time issued by the Commissioner. Provided also that, if so instructed by the Commissioner or Deputy Commissioner, the postmaster or other officer shall not make payment of the pension.
19a. The fortnights in respect of which instalments of pensions are payable shall in every case commence on a Thursday and end on a Wednesday. The first of such fortnights shall be deemed to have commenced on Thursday, 1st July, 1909, and all subsequent fortnights shall be calculated accordingly. Every such fortnight shall be known as a “pension fortnight,” and the first day of every “pension fortnight” shall be known as “Pension Thursday.”
19d. The due date of each instalment of pensions granted prior to the 1st December, 1910, shall be the first day following the pension fortnight for which the instalment is payable. The due date of each instalment of pensions granted on or after the 1st December, 1910, shall be the first day of the pension fortnight for which the instalment is payable. In every case, however, all moneys due in respect of the period during which a pensioner is an inmate of a Hospital or an Asylum for the Insane shall be deemed to be one instalment, and the due date thereof shall be the day of the pensioner’s discharge from the institution.
20. If a pensioner loses his pension certificate, he may make application, in accordance with Form 20, to the Deputy Commissioner for a duplicate certificate; and the Deputy Commissioner, if he issues a duplicate, shall notify the postmaster or other officer who is authorized to pay the pension. The duplicate shall bear across its face the word “duplicate,” together with a note in writing, under the hand of the Deputy Commissioner, stating the date on which the duplicate is issued.
21. If a pensioner desires to permanently leave the place at which he resides to reside in another place, he may make application in Form 21 to the postmaster or other officer authorized to pay his pension, and if such postmaster or other officer is satisfied that the request is a reasonable one, he shall make a note on the pensioner’s identification card and on the pension certificate, as follows-“Payment to be made in future at .” Also he shall make a note on the identification card as follows:—“The last payment made at this office was due on ‘Pension Thursday,’ the 191 .” To such notes he shall add his signature, and shall forward the identification card by post
to the office to which payment is to be transferred. After the receipt of the identification card at that office, the postmaster or other officer there shall, subject to any instructions issued by the Commissioner or Deputy Commissioner, make payment of the pension as it falls due.
22. No pensioner shall be allowed to change the office of payment more than twice in any calendar year without the permission of the Deputy Commissioner.
23. The application in accordance with Form 21 shall, if approved by the postmaster or other officer, be transmitted to the Deputy Commissioner.
24. The receipt given by a pensioner shall be in accordance with Form 22. If the payee is other than the pensioner, the payee shall give a receipt in accordance with Form 23.
25. No payment shall be made to any person other than the pensioner unless such person is the holder of a warrant under sections 43 or 44 of the Act, and certifies that he has seen the pensioner within the preceding three months. Provided that, if approved by the Deputy Commissioner, payments may be made to the holder of a warrant who has not seen the pensioner within the preceding three months.
26. In the event of any instalment being forfeited under section 40 of the Act, the pensioner, or other person the holder of a warrant, may make application, in accordance with Form 24, to the Registrar of the district in which the pension is payable, for payment of the forfeited instalment. The waiver of forfeiture shall be in accordance with Form 25, and shall not be granted in any case in which the application has not been made within sixty days after the expiration of the period during which the instalment was payable.
27. Any undrawn instalment of a pension due at the date of a pensioner’s decease, if applied for within six months after such decease, may be paid to such person as in the opinion of the Deputy Commissioner has an equitable claim thereto.
28. With respect to warrants under sections 43 and 44 of the Act, authorizing payment of instalments of a pension to any benevolent or charitable society, minister of religion, justice of the peace, or other person, for the benefit of the pensioner, the following provisions shall apply:—
(1) The application for the warrant shall be in accordance with Form 26.
(2) The application shall bear the proposed payee’s consent in writing, and shall disclose the names of all pensioners on whose behalf the proposed payee already holds warrants.
(3) The warrant shall be in accordance with Form 27, and shall continue in force until a date to be therein named or until otherwise ordered by the Deputy Commissioner.
(4) Where the Deputy Commissioner considers it expedient so to do, he may, issue a warrant in accordance with Form 27, though application in accordance with Form 26 has not been made.
29. Whenever any instalment is payable under a warrant or waiver of forfeiture, the pension certificate shall be produced, at the time of payment, by the pensioner or other payee, together with the warrant or waiver.
30. When any pensioner enters any Benevolent Asylum, Hospital, or Asylum for the Insane, the Secretary or other officer of the Benevolent Asylum, Hospital, or Asylum for the Insane, should forthwith send a notification in accordance with Form 28 to the Postmaster or other officer authorized to pay the pension. Upon receipt of the notification the Postmaster or other officer shall suspend payment of the pension.
31. On receipt of notice of discharge, in accordance with Form 29, the Postmaster or other officer may resume payment of the pension, and, in a case in which the pensioner has been an inmate of the institution for a period of not more than four weeks, he shall be entitled to payment of his pension for the whole of such period; but, in a case in which the pensioner has been an inmate for a longer period, he shall, in respect of the period during which he was an inmate he entitled to payment of his pension only from the twenty-eighth day preceding the date of his discharge. In every case in which a pensioner has been an inmate for more than four weeks, the calculation of the amount payable on his discharge shall be made in accordance with Form 36.
IV. Miscellaneous.
32. (1) Whenever the death of any person is reported to a Registrar of Deaths for registration, the Registrar of Deaths may inquire whether the deceased was a pensioner, and the person reporting the death shall state, to the best of his knowledge, whether the deceased was a pensioner or not. If the deceased was a pensioner, the Registrar of Deaths shou
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