Commonwealth legislation

Social Security Exempt Lump Sum (Redress WA) (FaHCSIA) Determination 2008

RepealedCTH

This Act has been repealed and is no longer in force. It is retained for historical reference.

Jurisdiction

Commonwealth

Collection

legislative instrument

Plain English Summary

1/10 complexity

This determination protects Centrelink benefits for people who received compensation from the Western Australian government for childhood abuse suffered in state care.

What it does

Under the Redress WA scheme, the WA government made one-off ex-gratia (voluntary) payments of up to $80,000 to survivors. Normally, receiving a large lump sum would count as income and could reduce or cancel your Age Pension, Disability Support Pension, or other Centrelink payments.

This instrument creates an exempt lump sum rule. It means these specific Redress WA payments are ignored when Centrelink calculates your income. You can receive the full compensation without it affecting your fortnightly benefits.

Who it covers

Anyone who received a payment under the Redress WA scheme (which operated until 2011).

Why it matters

Without this exemption, survivors on Centrelink would effectively have their compensation reduced through lower benefit payments. This ensures the redress money goes entirely to the survivor.

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Current sections

Direct links to the current provisions in Social Security Exempt Lump Sum (Redress WA) (FaHCSIA) Determination 2008.

Part 1

Preliminary

Part 1 Preliminary

1 Name of determination

This determination is the Social Security Exempt Lump Sum (Redress WA) (FaHCSIA) Determination 2008.

2 Commencement

This determination commences on 1 May 2008.

3 Interpretation

In this determination:

Act means the Social Security Act 1991;

Ex-gratia payment means:

a one-off lump sum payment up to a maximum amount of $80,000.00 made by the State of Western Australia under the scheme known as Redress WA.

Note: All eligibility criteria for receipt of this payment are determined by the State of Western Australia.

Part 2 Exempt Lump Sums

Amount or class of amounts

4 Amount or class of amounts

(1) Paragraph 8(11)(d) of the Act provides that the Secretary may determine that an amount or class of amounts received by a person, is an exempt lump sum.

(2) If a person receives an ex-gratia payment, any amount of that payment received by the person is an exempt lump sum.

Application—Exempt Lump Sums

5 Application—Exempt Lump Sums

On or after the date of commencement of this determination, an amount referred to in subsection 4(2) of this determination received by a person is an exempt lump sum for the purposes of paragraph 8(11)(d) of the Act from the date that the amount was received.

Source text

Sourced from the Federal Register of Legislation (legislation.gov.au), CC BY 4.0.

Social Security Exempt Lump Sum (Redress Social Security Exempt Lump Sum (Redress WA) (FaHCSIA) Determination 2008