17Relevant period—Prime Minister’s spouse

17  Relevant period—Prime Minister’s spouse

 (1) For the purposes of calculating the normal weekly earnings before an injury of a covered person who is the Prime Minister’s spouse, a reference in section 16 to the relevant period in relation to the covered person is, subject to this section, a reference to the latest period (if any) of 2 weeks, before the date of the injury, during which both of the following applied:

 (a) the covered person was continuously employed;

 (b) the covered person was the Prime Minister’s spouse (disregarding section 6).

 (2) If there is no period of 2 weeks, before the date of the injury, during which both of paragraphs (1)(a) and (b) applied, there is no relevant period in relation to the covered person.

 (3) Subject to subsection (4), if, during the period referred to in subsection (1), the minimum amount per week payable to the covered person in respect of his or her employment was varied as a result of:

 (a) the operation of a law of the Commonwealth or of a State or Territory; or

 (b) the making, alteration or operation of an award, order, determination or industrial agreement, or the doing of any other act or thing, under such a law;

any part of that period that occurred before the variation, or last variation, took place must be disregarded for the purposes of calculating the relevant period.

 (4) If in any case the application of subsection (3) would require that a period be disregarded for the purposes of calculating the relevant period in relation to the covered person, and as a result of disregarding that period:

 (a) it would be impracticable to calculate under section 16 the normal weekly earnings of the covered person before an injury; or

 (b) the normal weekly earnings as so calculated would not fairly represent the weekly rate at which the covered person was being paid in respect of his or her employment before the injury;

subsection (3) does not apply in that case, but the normal weekly earnings of the covered person during that period are taken to be the amount that would have been his or her normal weekly earnings during that period if the variation had taken effect at the beginning of that period.

 (5) If, during any part of the period calculated under the preceding subsections (other than subsection (2)), the covered person’s earnings were reduced, or the covered person did not receive any earnings, because of absence from his or her employment for any reason, that part of that period must be disregarded for the purposes of calculating the relevant period.