Social Security (Administration) Act 1999

For the purposes of the social security law, particular paid work is unsuitable to be done by a person if and only if:

the person lacks the particular skills, experience or qualifications that are needed to perform the work and no relevant training will be provided to the person; or

it has been established that there is medical evidence that the person has an illness, disability or injury that would be aggravated by the conditions in which the work would be performed; or

the person is the principal carer of one or more children, and does not have access to appropriate care and supervision for the children during:

the times when the person would be required to undertake the work; or

reasonable amounts of time that would be needed for the person to travel from the person’s home to the place of work and from the place of work to the person’s home; or

performing the work in the conditions in which the work would be performed would constitute a risk to health or safety and would contravene a law of the Commonwealth, a State or a Territory relating to occupational health and safety; or

the terms and conditions for the work would be less generous than the applicable statutory conditions; or

commuting between the person’s home and the place of work would be unreasonably difficult; or

the work would require enlistment in the Defence Force or the Reserves; or

the work requires the person to move from a home in a place to a home in another place; or

for any other reason, the work is unsuitable to be done by the person.

For the purposes of paragraph (i), see also subsections (4) and (5).

If:

a person seeks work in an area (the new area) that is outside the area (the old area) in which the person’s home is situated; and

the person is offered permanent full‑time work (whether or not work of the kind sought) in the new area;

the person is under the age of 18; or

the person or the person’s partner is pregnant; or

the person or the person’s partner has a severe medical condition and the condition makes it unreasonable for the person to accept the offer; or

the acceptance of the offer would jeopardise the current paid work, or the paid work prospects, of the person’s partner; or

the person or the person’s partner has a child under the age of 16 who is living with them or is living somewhere else in the old area; or

the person or the person’s partner has significant caring responsibilities in the old area; or

the educational, cultural or religious background of the person makes it unreasonable for the person to accept the offer; or

it is more appropriate for the person to participate in education or training than to accept the offer; or

the person would suffer severe financial hardship if the person were to accept the offer.

Without limiting subsection (2), if a person, when seeking paid work through an employment service provider, represents to the provider that the person is willing to undertake work outside the area in which the person’s home is situated, the person is taken to have sought work outside that area.

The Employment Secretary must, by legislative instrument, determine matters to be taken into account in working out whether particular paid work is unsuitable to be done by a person for the purposes of paragraph (1)(i).

Subsection (4) does not limit the matters that may be taken into account in working out whether particular paid work is unsuitable to be done by a person for the purposes of paragraph (1)(i).

To avoid doubt, for the purposes of this section, paid work is not unsuitable to be done by a person merely because:

the work is not the person’s preferred type of work; or

the work is not commensurate with the person’s highest level of educational attainment or qualification; or

the level of remuneration for the work is not the person’s preferred level of remuneration.