36Obligation of Secretary to determine claim

36  Obligation of Secretary to determine claim  (1) Subject to this section, the Secretary must, in accordance with the social security law, determine a claim for a social security payment or a concession card, either granting or rejecting the claim.  (2) If a person claims both a pension bonus and an age pension, the Secretary must not determine the claim for pension bonus until the claim for age pension has been granted.  (3) If more than one person makes a claim for an AVTOP as a secondary victim of a declared overseas terrorist act in relation to the same close family member, the Secretary must determine the claims at the same time.  (4) If a person claims a student start‑up loan for a qualification period, the Secretary may determine the person’s claim at a time the Secretary considers appropriate, having regard to the principle that, for a claim made before the start of the period of study concerned for the relevant approved scholarship course, the time should generally be close to the start of that period of study. Note: For approved scholarship course, see section 592M of the 1991 Act.  (5) Nothing in subsection (4) affects the operation of section 39.