Section 55 — Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986: Service pension, income support supplement or veteran payment may be suspended or forfeited when person in gaol or in psychiatric confinement following criminal charge

(1) Subject to subsection (3), an instalment of a service pension, income support supplement or a veteran payment is not payable to a person in respect of a day on which the person is: (a) in gaol; or (b) undergoing psychiatric confinement because the person has been charged with an offence. Note: While an instalment is not payable to a person, the person is not entitled to benefits under Division 12 because the person is not receiving a service pension or income support supplement unless a determination is in force under subsection 53D(3), 55A(1) or 85(8). (3) Subsection (1) does not apply to so much of an instalment as has been redirected under a direction given under section 55A. Meaning of in gaol (4) For the purposes of this Act, a person is in gaol if: (a) the person is being lawfully detained (in prison or elsewhere) while under sentence for conviction of an offence and not on release on parole or licence; or (b) the person is undergoing a period of custody pending trial or sentencing for an offence. Meaning of psychiatric confinement (5) Subject to subsection (6), psychiatric confinement in relation to a person includes confinement in: (a) a psychiatric section of a hospital; and (b) any other place where persons with psychiatric disabilities are, from time to time, confined. (6) The confinement of a person in a psychiatric institution during a period when the person is undertaking a course of rehabilitation is not to be taken to be psychiatric confinement.