Commonwealth Consolidated Acts Commonwealth Consolidated Acts(1) If, apart from this subsection and paragraph 31(b), the Commonwealth does not have power under this Act to make a payment of an amount purportedly by way of an entitlement of a person (the recipient ) to travel at Commonwealth expense, then:
(a) the Commonwealth has the power to make the payment; and
(b) for the purpose of section 31, the payment is taken to be a payment of costs of travel under this Act; and
(c) the amount of the payment:
(i) is a debt due to the Commonwealth by the recipient; and
(ii) may be recovered by action in a court of competent jurisdiction.
(2) The reference in subsection ( 1) to the Commonwealth not having power to make a payment of an amount purportedly by way of an entitlement of a person to travel at Commonwealth expense includes a reference to the Commonwealth only having power to make a payment for lower - cost travel. In this situation, paragraph ( 1)(c) applies to the amount by which the payment of costs exceeds what it would have been if the lower - cost travel had instead been undertaken.
Interaction with debt recovery regime in section 33
(3) If an amount is recovered under subsection 33(2), the amount cannot be recovered under paragraph ( 1)(c) of this section.
(4) If an amount is recovered under paragraph ( 1)(c), the amount cannot be recovered under subsection 33(2).