Exceptional Circumstances Relief Payment for Primary Producers

As you may or may not be aware, the region of the Murray River and Lower Lakes Corridor have been Exceptional Circumstances (EC) interim declared. What does this mean for you?  Well, if you satisfy the following requirements, then we strongly recommend that you contact Centrelink on 132316 immediately to register;

EC Requirements

- a farmer or primary producer or a small business whose turnover comes from 70% or more from primary producers who are in an EC declared area.
- Contribute significant labour and capital to the farm, fruitblock or business enterprise.
- over 18 years of age and an Australian resident.
- satisfy income and assets test (see below)

Assets Test

Assets include
- amounts held in bank accounts and investments with other financial institutions.
- real estate apart from your home and the land that you are farming.
- value of any business including goodwill.

Assets not included
- land, plant and machinery and livestock used for farming.
- life insurance policies.
- monies held in superannuation.

Income Test

Income includes
- most payments you receive including income from the farm.
- interest from banks and other financial institutions.
- interest and dividends received from investments.
- the first $10,000 of off farm salary and wages will be disregarded.

Interim Status

As we are currently under the Interim status for EC relief, you are entitled to the Newstart Allowance and the Health Care Card providing you satisfy both the income and assets test. EC relief will be reviewed every 6 months whilst under interim status. Should the government declare full EC relief then you will be entitled to interest rate subsidy relief as well. If you are entitled to receive Newstart Allowance, you will not be required to look for other work.

We recommend that you register your name with Centrelink immediately on the 13 2316 number, even if you are unsure whether you will satisfy the asset and income test. By registering now, they will back date your payments to the date that EC status was declared (27 ^th March 2007) and mail out to you the documents you will be required to complete. The documents need to be completed and returned to the Centrelink office including some original documents showing your personal identification.

We encourage you to contact our office if you have any questions regarding Exceptional Circumstances Relief or any other queries.