Commonwealth Consolidated Acts

STUDENT ASSISTANCE ACT 1973 - SECT 40

             (1)  This section applies if a person has been paid (whether before or after the commencement of this subsection) an amount (the recoverable amount ) that is a special educational assistance scheme overpayment or a student assistance overpayment.

          (1A)  Where the whole or a part of the recoverable amount is due to the Commonwealth, the Secretary may give the person by whom the amount is due a written notice that specifies however much of the recoverable amount as is still due and draws the person's attention to the terms of subsection (2).

             (2)  If the whole or a part of the recoverable amount is still due to the Commonwealth at the end of 3 months after the notice is given, the person is liable:

                     (a)  to pay to the Commonwealth an additional amount of $100; and

                     (b)  to pay interest to the Commonwealth:

                              (i)  from the date when the notice was given until the date when the recoverable amount is repaid; and

                             (ii)  at the rate ascertained under the regulations;

on so much of the recoverable amount as, from time to time, remains due.

             (3)  If:

                     (a)  judgment is given by, or entered in, a court for the payment of:

                              (i)  the whole or a part of the recoverable amount; or

                             (ii)  an amount that consists of the whole or a part of the recoverable amount (which whole or part is in this subsection called the recoverable portion ) and also another amount; and

                     (b)  the judgment debt carries interest;

then:

                     (c)  the recoverable amount, or the part of the recoverable amount, as the case may be, does not, for the purposes of subsection (2), stop being due solely because of the giving or entering of the judgment; and

                     (d)  the interest that would, but for this subsection, be payable under this section in relation to the recoverable amount is reduced by:

                              (i)  if subparagraph (a)(i) applies--the amount of the interest on the judgment debt; or

                             (ii)  if subparagraph (a)(ii) applies--the amount worked out using the following formula:

             (4)  Any amount paid to the Commonwealth by or under the authority of the person in relation to the recoverable amount is:

                     (a)  to be taken first to reduce any additional amount payable under paragraph (2)(a); and

                     (b)  to be taken secondly to reduce any interest payable under paragraph (2)(b).

             (5)  Interest is not payable under this section in relation to the recoverable amount in relation to any period during which a decision under section 39A is in force in relation to the recoverable amount unless the decision provides that interest is to be so payable or an instalment is not paid in accordance with the decision.

             (6)  If a person has unsatisfied liabilities to the Commonwealth in relation to more than one student assistance overpayment or special educational assistance scheme overpayment, the Secretary may, for the purposes of subsection (1), treat the overpayments as if they were a single amount.