Payment of pensions
54 Payment of pensions
Subject to subsection (2), a pension shall be paid to the pensioner.
The Commission may, if it thinks it proper to do so in the circumstances of a particular case:
approve payment of a pension to such person, other than the pensioner, and for such period, as the Commission, from time to time, determines, to be applied by that person for the benefit of the pensioner; or
approve:
payment to that pensioner of such part of the pension as the Commission, from time to time, determines; and
payment to such other person as the Commission so determines for such period as the Commission so determines of the balance of the pension to be applied by that other person for the benefit of the pensioner.
Where a pension has been granted to a person, a payment of that pension made to another person in accordance with paragraph (2)(a), or a payment of a part of that pension made to another person in accordance with subparagraph (2)(b)(ii), shall, for all purposes, be deemed to be a payment of the pension or a payment of that part of the pension, as the case may be, to the pensioner, and neither the Commonwealth nor the Commission is bound to oversee the application of the payment by the person to whom it is paid.
A pension shall be paid in such manner as the Commission determines.
Where, by reason of a public holiday or a bank holiday, or for any other reason, an instalment of, or the amount of, a pension cannot be paid on the day on which it would normally be paid, the instalment or amount of the pension may be paid on an earlier day.
In this section, pension means a pension, allowance or other pecuniary benefit payable under this Act or the Regulations, and includes an instalment of such a pension, allowance or other benefit.
Subsection 55(1):
Omit the subsection, substitute the following subsection:
Where:
the time has not expired for making application to the Board under section 35 for a review of a decision of the Commission or a Pensions Committee with respect to:
a claim for a pension in accordance with section 26; or
an application for an increased pension, or for a pension, in accordance with section 26AA; or
an application has been duly made to the Board under section 35 for a review of such a decision of the Commission or a Pensions Committee but has not been determined by the Board;
the Commission may, in its discretion, review that decision and, if it varies that decision, it may approve as the date as from which the variation shall operate a date not earlier than the earliest date as from which the decision as so varied could have operated if it had been made by the Board, in substitution for the original decision, upon a review of the original decision.
Subsection 55(2):
Insert “and, with the consent of the applicant, vary that decision” after “review that decision”.
Subsection 55(5):
Omit “or (2)”.
Omit “or (2) (a)”.
Omit “or Administrative Appeals Tribunal, as the case may be,”.
After subsection 55(5):
Insert the following subsections:
Where the Commission is satisfied that:
having regard to any matter that affects the payment of a pension, being a matter that was not before the Commission, a Pensions Committee, the Board or the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, as the case requires, where the decision to grant the pension or a decision to vary the rate of the pension, was made; or
by reason of a refusal or failure of any person to comply with a provision of this Act;
a pension should be cancelled or suspended, or the rate of a pension is higher than it should be, the Commission may, by determination in writing, cancel or suspend, or decrease the rate of, the pension with effect, subject to subsection (5B), from the date of the determination or such later date as is specified in the determination.
Where a determination is made under subsection (5A):
by reason of the refusal or failure of a person to comply with a provision of this Act other than:
subsection 29(4) in relation to a notice under paragraph 29(1)(f); or
subsection 30(4); or
by reason that an amount has been paid by way of pension that, but for the false statement or misrepresentation of any person, would not have been paid;
a date earlier than the date of the determination may be specified in the determination as the date as from which the cancellation, suspension or decrease, as the case may be, is to take effect.
Where the Commission is satisfied that, having regard to any matter that affects the payment of a pension, the rate of the pension is less than it should be, the Commission may, by determination in writing, increase the rate of the pension with effect from the date of the determination, or such earlier date (not being a date more than 3 months before the date of the determination), or later date, as is specified in the determination.
Subsections 55(7), (8), (9) and (10):
Omit the subsections, substitute the following subsections:
A decision of the Commission upon its review under this section of a decision in relation to a pension is not subject to review by the Board or the Administrative Appeals Tribunal unless the Commission cancels, suspends or varies the decision reviewed by the Commission.
This section applies to and in relation to a decision made before the commencement of this subsection but does not apply to or in relation to a decision of the Board referred to in subsection 154(1) of the Veterans’ Entitlements Act 1986, in its application to pensions under this Act, that is binding on the Commission by reason that the period specified in that subsection has not expired.
Section 57A:
Omit “Repatriation Act 1920” (wherever occurring), substitute “Veterans’ Entitlements Act 1986”.
Section 58:
Repeal the section, substitute the following sections:
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