12. Eligible members

(1) Subject to this section, the following categories of members are eligible members for a premium period:

(a) a member whose gross indemnity costs for a premium period exceed 7.5% of the member’s actual income or, where a calculation is being made as to the amount of an advance subsidy, 7.5% of the member’s estimated income; or

(b) a procedural general practitioner practising in a rural area; or

(c) a member with a MISS entitlement.

(2) A member is a member with a MISS entitlement for a premium period if:

(a) the member made an application under the MISS when the MISS was in force; and

(b) a responsible officer:

(i) determined under the MISS that the member was eligible for a subsidy under the MISS (whether or not payment of the subsidy has yet been made to the member); or

(ii) determines that if the MISS were still in force, the member would have been entitled to a subsidy; and

(c) either:

(i) the member has, since the MISS ceased to be in force, continuously practised in the speciality group which qualified the member for subsidy under the MISS on 30 June 2004; or

(ii) if the member has ceased practising in that speciality group because the member is on maternity leave or other leave and resumes practice in that speciality group within 12 months of the day on which he or she ceased so to practise.

(3) A member whose practice is primarily based on public billings or services, but who during a premium period:

(a) obtains medical indemnity cover for private medical practice for which income is received; and

(b) is not indemnified under a right to private practice agreement,

is not an eligible member in respect of his or her private medical practice unless the member's actual income generated from that practice exceeds $1,000 for the whole of the premium period.

(4) A member who does not receive any income from private medical practice during a premium period:

(a) is not an eligible member unless subsection (5) applies; and

(b) if subsection (5) applies, is taken to be an eligible member for the purpose of paragraph (1) (a).

(5) A member who practises as a medical practitioner only in the public sector during a premium period (and thereby earns no income from private medical practice) is an eligible member for that premium period if the member's contract of insurance with the contractor provides run-off cover, retroactive cover or both for incidents that occurred in the course of, or in connection with, the practitioner's private medical practice at a time when he or she was deriving income from practising as a medical practitioner.