Commonwealth Consolidated Acts Commonwealth Consolidated Acts(1) In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears:
"relevant AWOTE" , in relation to a calendar year, means the amount that, under the heading "Trend Estimates" in the document entitled "Average Weekly Earnings, States and Australia" last published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics before 1 January in that year, is specified as being the full - time adult ordinary time earnings for Australia for the quarter to which the document relates.
"seasonal work" means:
(a) work that, because of its nature or of factors peculiar to the industry in which it is performed, is available, at approximately the same time or times every year, for part or parts only of the year; or
(aa) work:
(i) that is intermittent; and
(ii) that is to be performed for a period of less than 12 months; and
(iii) that is to be performed for a specified period or a period that can reasonably be calculated by reference to the completion of a specified task; and
(iv) for which the person performing the work does not accrue leave entitlements; or
(b) work that is intermittent and is determined, under subsection (2), to be seasonal work for the purposes of this Act.
Examples: Examples of work described in paragraph (a) are fishing, fruit picking, shearing and work in an industry that is subject to Christmas shutdowns. Examples of work that is intermittent are relief teaching and work as a locum.
"seasonal work income" means gross income from seasonal work less amounts necessarily expended in relation to that seasonal work that the person can demonstrate are allowable deductions for the purposes of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 or the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 , as the case may be.
"seasonal work preclusion period" has the meaning given by subsections (3) and (4).
"subject to a seasonal work preclusion period" has the meaning given by subsection (11).
(1A) Paragraph (aa) of the definition of seasonal work in subsection (1) does not apply to a person undertaking seasonal work if the person was receiving income support payments (whether or not the kind of payment received has changed over the period and whether any part of it occurred before or after the commencement of this section) in respect of a continuous period exceeding 12 months immediately before the person commenced the seasonal work.
Secretary's determination--seasonal work
(2) The Secretary may, by legislative instrument, determine that a specified kind of work that is intermittent is seasonal work for the purposes of this Act.
Seasonal work preclusion periods
(3) If:
(a) a person is not a member of a couple; and
(b) the person has made a claim for jobseeker payment, youth allowance, special benefit, parenting payment, disability support pension, carer payment or austudy payment; and
(c) the person was engaged in seasonal work at any time during the 6 months immediately before the day on which the person lodged the claim;
the person's seasonal work preclusion period in relation to the claim is the period consisting of the number of weeks worked out under subsection (5) that starts on the day on which the claim was lodged.
(4) If:
(a) a person is a member of a couple; and
(b) the person has made a claim for jobseeker payment, parenting payment, youth allowance, special benefit, disability support pension, carer payment or austudy payment; and
(c) the person, or the person's partner, or both, were engaged in seasonal work at any time during the 6 months immediately before the day on which the person lodged the claim;
the person's seasonal work preclusion period in relation to the claim is the period consisting of the number of weeks worked out under subsection (6), (7) or (8) that starts on the day on which the claim was lodged.
(5) If the person is not a member of a couple, the number of weeks in the person's seasonal work preclusion period is worked out as follows:
Method statement
Step 1. Identify each period of continuous seasonal work by the person that ended during the 6 months immediately before the day on which the claim was lodged. If the person has performed seasonal work during 2 periods that are less than 14 days apart, the periods of work and the intervening period are taken to be one continuous period during which the person has performed seasonal work.
Step 2. If a period identified in Step 1 has already been taken into account when working out a seasonal work preclusion period in relation to a previous claim by the person (whether for the same or a different allowance or payment), disregard the period. Each remaining period is called a relevant period of seasonal work .
Step 3. Work out the amount of seasonal work income earned by the person during each of the person's relevant periods of seasonal work, disregarding any income by way of a lump sum that was earned during that period but was not paid to the person before the day on which the claim was lodged.
Step 4. Add together the amounts worked out in Step 3. The result is called the person's seasonal work earnings .
Step 5. Divide the person's seasonal work earnings by the amount of the relevant AWOTE for the calendar year in which the claim was lodged. The result is called the person's AWOTE weeks and represents the number of weeks (including any part of a week) that a person paid at a rate equal to the relevant AWOTE for that calendar year would have to work to earn an amount equal to the person's seasonal work earnings.
Step 6. Work out the number of weeks in the person's relevant periods of seasonal work by dividing the total number of days included in those periods by 7. The result (including any part of a week) is called the person's seasonal work weeks .
Step 6A. If there is a period between one relevant period of seasonal work and another, or between a relevant period of seasonal work and the day on which the claim was lodged, work out the number of weeks in the period (the intervening period ). This is done by dividing the total number of days in the intervening period by 7.
Step 6B. If there is more than one intervening period, add together the number of weeks worked out for each intervening period. The result (including any part of a week) is called the person's intervening weeks .
Step 6C. Add together the number of seasonal work weeks worked out under Step 6 and the number of intervening weeks (if any) worked out under Step 6B. The result (including any part of a week) is called the person's self - supported weeks .
Step 7. Subtract the person's self - supported weeks from the person's AWOTE weeks. The result (rounded down, if necessary, to the nearest whole number) is the number of weeks in the person's seasonal work preclusion period . If the result is a negative number, the number of weeks in the period is taken to be nil.
Note 1: For relevant AWOTE see subsection (1).
Note 2: For seasonal work see subsection (1).
Note 3: For seasonal work income see subsection (1).
(6) If:
(a) the person is a member of a couple; and
(b) the person was engaged in seasonal work at any time during the 6 months immediately before the day on which the person lodged the claim (the relevant period ); and
(c) the person's partner was not engaged in seasonal work at any time during the relevant period;
the number of weeks in the person's seasonal work preclusion period is worked out as follows:
Method statement
Step 1. Identify each period of continuous seasonal work by the person that ended during the 6 months immediately before the day on which the claim was lodged. If the person has performed seasonal work during 2 periods that are less than 14 days apart, the periods of work and the intervening period are taken to be one continuous period during which the person has performed seasonal work.
Step 2. If a period identified in Step 1 has already been taken into account when working out a seasonal work preclusion period in relation to a previous claim by the person (whether for the same or a different allowance or payment), disregard the period. Each remaining period is called a relevant period of seasonal work .
Step 3. Work out the amount of seasonal work income earned by the person during each of the person's relevant periods of seasonal work, disregarding any income by way of a lump sum that was earned during that period but was not paid to the person before the day on which the claim was lodged.
Step 4. Add together the amounts worked out in Step 3. The result is called the person's seasonal work earnings .
Step 5. Work out the total amount of income from personal exertion earned by the person's partner during the person's relevant periods of seasonal work. Add the amount obtained to the person's seasonal work earnings. The result is called the couple's combined earnings .
Step 6. Divide the couple's combined earnings by twice the amount of the relevant AWOTE for the calendar year in which the claim was lodged. The result is called the couple's AWOTE weeks and represents the number of weeks (including any part of a week) that 2 persons, each paid at a rate equal to the relevant AWOTE for that calendar year, would have to work to earn together an amount equal to the couple's combined earnings.
Step 7. Work out the number of weeks in the person's relevant periods of seasonal work by dividing the total number of days included in those periods by 7. The result (including any part of a week) is called the person's seasonal work weeks .
Step 7A. If there is a period between one relevant period of seasonal work and another, or between a relevant period of seasonal work and the day on which the claim was lodged, work out the number of weeks in the period (the intervening period ). This is done by dividing the total number of days in the intervening period by 7.
Step 7B. If there is more than one intervening period, add together the number of weeks worked out for each intervening period. The result (including any part of a week) is called the person's intervening weeks .
Step 7C. Add together the number of seasonal work weeks worked out under Step 7 and the number of intervening weeks (if any) worked out under Step 7B. The result (including any part of a week) is called the person's self - supported weeks .
Step 8. Subtract the person's self - supported weeks from the couple's AWOTE weeks. The result (rounded down, if necessary, to the nearest whole number) is the number of weeks in the person's seasonal work preclusion period . If the result is a negative number, the number of weeks in the period is taken to be nil.
Note 1: For relevant AWOTE see subsection (1).
Note 2: For seasonal work see subsection (1).
Note 3: For seasonal work income see subsection (1).
(7) If:
(a) the person is a member of a couple; and
(b) the person was not engaged in seasonal work at any time during the 6 months immediately before the day on which the person lodged the claim (the relevant period ); and
(c) the person's partner was engaged in seasonal work at any time during the relevant period;
the number of weeks in the person's seasonal work preclusion period is worked out as follows:
Method statement
Step 1. Identify each period of continuous seasonal work by the partner that ended during the 6 months immediately before the day on which the claim was lodged. If the partner has performed seasonal work during 2 periods that are less than 14 days apart, the periods of work and the intervening period are taken to be one continuous period during which the partner has performed seasonal work.
Step 2. If a period identified in Step 1 has already been taken into account when working out a seasonal work preclusion period in relation to a previous claim by the person (whether for the same or a different allowance or payment), disregard the period. Each remaining period is called a relevant period of seasonal work .
Step 3. Work out the total amount of income from personal exertion earned by the person during the partner's relevant periods of seasonal work. The result is called the person's earnings .
Step 4. Work out the amount of seasonal work income earned by the partner during each of the partner's relevant periods of seasonal work, disregarding any income by way of a lump sum that was earned during that period but was not paid to the partner before the day on which the claim was lodged.
Step 5. Add together the amounts worked out in Step 4. The result is called the partner's seasonal work earnings .
Step 6. Add the partner's seasonal work earnings and the person's earnings. The result is called the couple's combined earnings .
Step 7. Divide the couple's combined earnings by twice the amount of the relevant AWOTE for the calendar year in which the claim was lodged. The result is called the couple's AWOTE weeks and represents the number of weeks (including any part of a week) that 2 persons, each paid at a rate equal to the relevant AWOTE for that calendar year, would have to work to earn together an amount equal to the couple's combined earnings.
Step 8. Work out the number of weeks in the partner's relevant periods of seasonal work by dividing the total number of days included in those periods by 7. The result (including any part of a week) is called the partner's seasonal work weeks .
Step 8A. If there is a period between one relevant period of seasonal work and another, or between a relevant period of seasonal work and the day on which the claim was lodged, work out the number of weeks in the period (the intervening period ). This is done by dividing the total number of days in the intervening period by 7.
Step 8B. If there is more than one intervening period, add together the number of weeks worked out for each intervening period. The result (including any part of a week) is called the partner's intervening weeks .
Step 8C. Add together the number of seasonal work weeks worked out under Step 8 and the number of intervening weeks (if any) worked out under Step 8B. The result (including any part of a week) is called the partner's self - supported weeks .
Step 9. Subtract the partner's self - supported weeks from the couple's AWOTE weeks. The result (rounded down, if necessary, to the nearest whole number) is the number of weeks in the person's seasonal work preclusion period . If the result is a negative number, the number of weeks in the period is taken to be nil.
Note 1: For relevant AWOTE see subsection (1).
Note 2: For seasonal work see subsection (1).
Note 3: For seasonal work income see subsection (1).
(8) If:
(a) the person is a member of a couple; and
(b) both the person and the person's partner have engaged in seasonal work during the 6 months immediately before the day on which the claim was lodged;
the number of weeks in the person's seasonal work preclusion period is worked out as follows:
Method statement
Step 1. Work out what would be the number of weeks in the person's seasonal work preclusion period if subsection (6) applied to the person.
Step 2. Work out what would be the number of weeks in the person's seasonal work preclusion period if subsection (7) applied to the person.
Step 3. Compare the number of weeks in each period. The number of weeks in the person's seasonal work preclusion period is equal to the number of weeks in the longer of the 2 periods.
Subject to a seasonal work preclusion period
(11) If a person's seasonal work preclusion period in relation to a claim consists of a number of weeks that is greater than nil, then, except as otherwise provided under this Act, the person is subject to that period for the purposes of this Act.