Commonwealth Consolidated Acts Commonwealth Consolidated ActsPerson holds a seniors health card
(1) A person is eligible for energy supplement if:
(a) the person is the holder of a seniors health card; and
(aa) the person:
(i) is in Australia; or
(ii) is temporarily absent from Australia and has been so for a continuous period not exceeding 6 weeks; and
(b) the person is not receiving any of the following:
(i) a service pension;
(ii) income support supplement;
(iii) a social security pension or social security benefit;
(iv) energy supplement under Part 2.25B of the Social Security Act.
(1A) Subject to subsections (1C), (1E) and (1G), subsection (1) applies to a person on or after the commencement of this subsection only if on 19 September 2016:
(a) energy supplement was payable to the person under section 118PA; or
(b) energy supplement was payable to the person under section 1061UA of the Social Security Act 1991 .
Note: For subsection (1) to apply to the person on a day on or after that commencement, the person needs to satisfy paragraphs (1)(a) to (b) on that day.
(1B) Subject to subsection (1G), if:
(a) energy supplement was payable to a person under section 118PA, or section 1061UA of the Social Security Act 1991 , on 19 September 2016; and
(b) energy supplement ceases to be payable to the person under either of those sections on or after 20 September 2016;
then subsection (1) of this section does not apply, and never again applies, to the person from:
(c) if the cessation occurred before the commencement of this subsection--the start of the day this subsection commences; or
(d) if the cessation occurred on or after the commencement of this subsection--the start of the day of that cessation.
(1C) If:
(a) a person was not eligible for energy supplement under subsection (1) on 19 September 2016; and
(b) on 19 September 2016 the person was receiving an income support payment (within the meaning of the Social Security Act 1991 ), where energy supplement was used to work out the rate of that payment; and
(c) on a day (the cessation day ) on or after the commencement of this subsection the person ceases to be in receipt of any income support payment (within the meaning of the Social Security Act 1991 ); and
(d) on the day before the cessation day the person was receiving an income support payment (within the meaning of the Social Security Act 1991 ) where energy supplement was used to work out the rate of that payment; and
(e) the person is required to make a claim for a seniors health card in order for such a card to be granted to the person;
the person can become eligible for energy supplement under subsection (1) only if the person makes a claim for a seniors health card within the period of 6 weeks beginning on the cessation day.
(1D) Subject to subsection (1G), if:
(a) as a result of a claim mentioned in subsection (1C), a person becomes the holder of a seniors health card on a day; and
(b) energy supplement ceases to be payable to the person under section 118PA on or after that day;
then subsection (1) of this section does not apply, and never again applies, to the person from the start of the day of that cessation.
(1E) If:
(a) a person was not eligible for energy supplement under subsection (1) on 31 December 2016; and
(b) on that day, the person was receiving a service pension and an amount of energy supplement was added to the rate of that pension; and
(c) under subsection 118XA(3), the Commission made a determination under section 118ZG that the person is entitled to a seniors health card;
the person can become eligible for energy supplement under subsection (1) of this section because of being the holder of that card.
(1F) Subject to subsection (1G), if:
(a) as mentioned in paragraph (1E)(c), a person becomes the holder of a seniors health card on a day; and
(b) energy supplement ceases to be payable to the person under section 118PA on or after that day;
then subsection (1) of this section does not apply, and never again applies, to the person from:
(c) if the cessation occurred before the commencement of this subsection--the start of the day this subsection commences; or
(d) if the cessation occurred on or after the commencement of this subsection--the start of the day of that cessation.
(1G) If:
(a) on a day on or after 20 September 2016 the person ceases to hold a seniors health card under this Act or the Social Security (Administration) Act 1999 ; and
(b) on that day the person receives an income support payment (within the meaning of the Social Security Act 1991 ) where energy supplement was used to work out the rate of that payment; and
(c) on a day (the cessation day ) on or after the commencement of this subsection the person ceases to be in receipt of any income support payment (within the meaning of the Social Security Act 1991 ); and
(d) on the day before the cessation day the person was receiving an income support payment (within the meaning of the Social Security Act 1991 ) where energy supplement was used to work out the rate of that payment; and
(e) the person is required to make a claim for a seniors health card in order for such a card to be granted to the person;
the person can become eligible for energy supplement under subsection (1) only if the person makes a claim for a seniors health card within the period of 6 weeks beginning on the cessation day.
(2) A person is eligible for energy supplement if:
(a) the person is the holder of a gold card; and
(b) the person has reached qualifying age; and
(c) the person:
(i) is in Australia; or
(ii) is temporarily absent from Australia and has been so for a continuous period not exceeding 6 weeks; and
(d) the person is not receiving any of the following:
(i) a service pension;
(ii) income support supplement;
(iii) a social security pension or social security benefit;
(iv) energy supplement under Part 2.25B of the Social Security Act.
(3) In this section:
"gold card" means a card known as the Repatriation Health Card--For All Conditions, that evidences a person's eligibility, under this Act, the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004 , the Australian Participants in British Nuclear Tests and British Commonwealth Occupation Force (Treatment) Act 2006 or the Treatment Benefits (Special Access) Act 2019 , to be provided with treatment for all injuries or diseases.
(4) If:
(a) on 19 September 2016 energy supplement was payable to a person under section 118PA; and
(b) either:
(i) the person is absent from Australia on 19 September 2016 and has been so for a continuous period not exceeding 6 weeks; or
(ii) the person leaves Australia on a day on or after 20 September 2016 and, on the day before so leaving, energy supplement was payable to the person under section 118PA; and
(c) the person returns to Australia, where the period of that absence has exceeded 6 weeks but not exceeded 19 weeks; and
(d) the person is the holder of a seniors health card on the day before the person returns to Australia;
then the person is taken to have been eligible for energy supplement under this section on each day that occurs in the period beginning on the day after the end of that 6 - week period of absence and ending at the end of the day before the person returned to Australia.
(5) Subsection (4) does not limit section 118PB.
Note: After the person's period of absence exceeds 6 weeks, there will be no daily rate of energy supplement for the person: see subsection 118PB(2).