Commonwealth Numbered Acts

SOCIAL SECURITY ACT 1991 No. 46, 1991 - SECT 249

249. (1) A person is qualified for a sole parent pension if:

   (a)  the person:

   (i)  is not a member of a couple; or

   (ii) is a member of a couple whose partner has been in gaol for a
        continuous period of at least 14 days; or

   (iii) is a member of a couple who is living separately and apart from his
        or her partner; or

   (iv) is a member of a couple who is unable to live together with his or her
        partner in a matrimonial home because of the illness or infirmity of
        the partner where the illness or informity:

                (A)  results in the partner being unable to care for a child;
                     and

                (B)  is, in the opinion of the Secretary, likely to continue
                     indefinitely; and

   (b)  the person has at least one SPP child (see sections 250 and 251); and

   (c)  at least one of the following conditions is satisfied:

   (i)  if the person has only one SPP child - that child became an SPP child
        while the person was an Australian resident;

   (ii) if the person has 2 or more SPP children - one of those children
        became an SPP child while the person was an Australian resident;

   (iii) if the person has ever been a member of a couple - the person was an
        Australian resident immediately before the person became a person to
        whom paragraph (a) applies;

   (iv) the person had been an Australian resident for a continuous period of
        at least 5 years immediately before the day on which the person lodges
        the claim;

   (v)  the person has, at any time, been an Australian resident for a
        continuous period of at least 10 years.
Note: for "Australian resident" see section 7.

(2) A woman does not have to satisfy paragraph (1) (c) in order to be
qualified for a sole parent pension if:

   (a)  the woman became a person to whom paragraph (1) (a) applied because of
        the death of a man; and

   (b)  the woman was, immediately before the man died, receiving:

        (i)    a wife pension because the man was receiving:

                (A)  an age pension; or

                (B)  an invalid pension; or

                (C)  a special needs age pension; or

                (D)  a special needs invalid pension; or

        (ii)   a wife service pension under Part III of the Veterans'
               Entitlements Act because the man was receiving a
               service pension under that Part; and

   (c)  the woman was not in Australia at the time when the man died.

(3) Subsection (1) has effect subject to:

   (a)  section 1214 (12 months limit on overseas portability); and

   (b)  sections 1218 and 1219 (departure certificate requirements for people
        leaving Australia).