Interpretation
3 Interpretation
In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears:
agency means:
the matching agency; or
a source agency.
assistance agency means:
the Education Department; or
the Social Services Department; or
the Veterans’ Affairs Department; or
the Human Services Department.
assisted person means a person:
to whom personal assistance is being, or has been, given; or
who is claiming personal assistance.
basic data, in relation to a person, means:
the person’s family identity data; or
the person’s income data; or
the person’s TFN data.
Chief Executive Centrelink has the same meaning as in the Human Services (Centrelink) Act 1997.
child, in relation to a person, includes anyone who is the person’s child for the purposes of any personal assistance or any tax law.
data matching cycle means a cycle the steps in which are set out in section 7.
data matching program means the program referred to in section 6.
declared income, in relation to a person, means any income, or income of a particular kind, of the person for the purposes of any personal assistance or tax law.
dependant, in relation to a person, includes anyone who is the person’s dependant for the purposes of any personal assistance or tax law.
Education Department means the Department that is responsible for administering the payments known as child care benefit and child care rebate.
family identity data, in relation to a person, means any of the following data about the person:
surname;
any other name;
initial of any other name;
any former surname;
any other former name;
the initial of any other former name;
where the person is alive, current residential address or addresses and any other current address or addresses;
an identification number for the purpose of personal assistance;
sex;
marital status;
date of birth;
where the person is dead, date of death;
surname, any other name, initial of any other name, address or addresses and date of birth of any living spouse of the person;
surname, any other name, initial of any other name, date of birth and date of death of any deceased spouse of the person;
surname, any other name, initial of any other name, sex and date of birth of any living child of the person;
surname, any other name, initial of any other name, sex, date of birth and date of death of any deceased child of the person;
surname, any other name, initial of any other name, address or addresses and date of birth of any living parent of the person;
surname, any other name, initial of any other name, last address and date of death of any deceased parent of the person;
surname, any other name, initial of any other name, sex and date of birth of any other child of a parent of the person if the child:
has not turned 25; and
is a dependant of a parent of the person;
kind of personal assistance of the person.
Human Services Department means Services Australia.
identification number for the purpose of personal assistance has the meaning given by subsection (2).
income data, in relation to a person, means:
declared income of the person; or
declared income of a spouse of the person; or
declared income of a parent of the person; or
personal assistance data of the person; or
spouse rebate of the person.
matching agency means:
unless a direction under section 3A is in force—the officers of the Social Services Department referred to in subsection 4(1); or
if a direction under section 3A is in force—the Departmental employees (within the meaning of the Human Services (Centrelink) Act 1997) referred to in subsection 4(2).
officer, in relation to a source agency, means a person with duties, powers or functions in relation to an Act matters under which are dealt with by the agency.
parent, in relation to a person, includes anyone who is the person’s parent for the purposes of any personal assistance or any tax law.
person means an individual whether alive or dead.
personal assistance means:
assistance known as any of the following:
assistance under the AUSTUDY Scheme;
assistance under the ABSTUDY Scheme;
financial supplement under the Student Financial Supplement Scheme constituted by Part 4A of the Student Assistance Act 1973;
assistance under the Assistance for Isolated Children Scheme;
assistance under the Aboriginal Overseas Study Assistance Scheme;
assistance under the Scheme providing living allowances for English as a Second Language;
assistance under the Commonwealth rebate for apprentice full‑time training scheme; or
a social security payment within the meaning of the Social Security Act 1991; or
a seniors health card referred to in subsection 1061ZG(1) of the Social Security Act 1991; or
a payment of financial supplement under:
Chapter 2B of the Social Security Act 1991; or
the Student Financial Supplement Scheme established under Chapter 2B of the Social Security Act 1991 as in force before the commencement of Schedule 2 to the Youth Allowance Consolidation Act 2000; or
any pension, allowance or other benefit or assistance given under the Veterans’ Entitlements Act 1986; or
any compensation or other benefit given under the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004; or
family assistance within the meaning of the A New Tax System (Family Assistance) Act 1999; or
an instalment of parental leave pay under the Paid Parental Leave Act 2010;
and, in relation to a person, means personal assistance given to, or claimed by, the person.
personal assistance data, in relation to a person, means:
the type of the person’s personal assistance; and
the rate or amount of that personal assistance; and
any information regarding overpayments of personal assistance to the person.
personal identity data, in relation to a person, means any of the following data about the person:
surname;
first other name;
second other name or initial of second other name (if any);
current address or addresses;
sex;
date of birth.
Social Services Department means the Department administered by the Minister administering this Act.
source agency means:
an assistance agency; or
the tax agency.
spouse, in relation to a person, includes anyone who is:
a spouse or a partner of the person for the purposes of any personal assistance; or
a spouse of the person for the purposes of any tax law;
and marital status has a corresponding meaning.
spouse rebate, in relation to a person, means the dependent spouse rebate of the person within the meaning of the Tax Act.
Tax Act means the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 and the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997.
tax agency means the Commissioner of Taxation.
tax data means:
tax family identity data; or
tax income data; or
tax TFN data.
tax family identity data means the family identity data of persons that is held by the tax agency for the purposes of a tax law.
tax file number has the same meaning as in Part VA of the Tax Act.
tax income data means the income data of persons that is held by the tax agency for the purposes of a tax law.
tax law means any law of the Commonwealth relating to taxation.
tax TFN data means the TFN data of persons that is held by the tax agency for the purposes of a tax law.
TFN data, in relation to a person, means:
the person’s tax file number; or
the tax file number of any spouse of the person; or
the tax file number of any parent of the person.
Veterans’ Affairs Department means the Department administered by the Minister administering section 1 of the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004.
In this Act, identification number for the purpose of personal assistance means:
for the purposes of the definition of family identity data in subsection (1) and any references to family identity data—a number allocated to a person by an assistance agency for the purpose of assistance provided to the person; and
for any other purpose—a number referred to in paragraph (a) as modified by the matching agency.
The reference in paragraph 5 in Step 2 of the data‑matching cycle in section 7 to the matching agency extracting numbers from data includes a reference to the matching agency extracting numbers and modifying them as mentioned in paragraph (2)(b), and numbers so modified are taken to have been extracted from that data.
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