Section 621 — Social Security Act 1991: Duration of ordinary waiting period

(1) Subject to subsections (3) and (5), if a person: (a) is subject to an ordinary waiting period; and (b) is not disqualified for jobseeker payment under section 598 (liquid assets test); the ordinary waiting period is the period of 7 days that starts on the person’s start day (worked out disregarding clauses 4A and 5 of Schedule 2 to the Administration Act). (2) Subject to subsections (3) and (5), if a person: (a) is subject to an ordinary waiting period; and (b) is disqualified for jobseeker payment under section 598 (liquid assets test); the ordinary waiting period is the period of 7 days that starts on the day after the end of the liquid assets test waiting period referred to in subsection 598(2). (3) Subject to subsection (5), if: (a) a person is subject to an ordinary waiting period; and (b) apart from this subsection, the ordinary waiting period would be the period of 7 days that starts on the person’s start day (worked out disregarding clauses 4A and 5 of Schedule 2 to the Administration Act); and (c) that start day falls within one or more of the following periods (each of which is an exclusion period) that the person is subject to: (i) a newly arrived resident’s waiting period; (ii) a seasonal work preclusion period; (iii) a lump sum preclusion period under Part 3.14; (iv) an income maintenance period, where the person’s rate of jobseeker payment on that start day would be nil; then the ordinary waiting period is the period of 7 days that starts on the first day after all the exclusion periods have ended. (4) If: (a) subparagraph (3)(c)(iv) applies to a person; and (b) on a day in that income maintenance period, the person’s rate of jobseeker payment would be greater than nil if jobseeker payment were payable to the person on that day; then, for the purposes of subsection (3), that income maintenance period is taken to have ended at the end of the day before that day. (5) If: (a) a person qualifies for a social security payment (other than jobseeker payment); and (b) because the person is subject to an ordinary waiting period relating to that social security payment, that social security payment is not payable to the person for a period starting on a particular day (the initial day); and (c) during that period the person: (i) ceases to be qualified for that social security payment; and (ii) claims jobseeker payment; the person’s ordinary waiting period relating to jobseeker payment is the period of 7 days that starts on the initial day. Note: Ordinary waiting periods apply to parenting payment, youth allowance and jobseeker payment.