Statistical Paper no. 9: Income | Australian Government Department Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs

1 Introduction
2 Payments for older people, people with disability and those caring for people with disability, severe medical conditions or those who are frail aged
3 Student and labour market related payments
4 Family assistance
5 Other payments and services
- 5.1 Commonwealth Seniors Health Card
- 5.2 Rent Assistance
6 Pensioners paid overseas

List of tables

Table 1: Summary of income support recipients by payment type, 2000 to 2010
Table 2a: Age Pension qualifying age for women born before 1 July 1952
Table 2b: Age Pension qualifying age for people born on or after 1 July 1952
Table 3: Age Pension customers by sex, June 1990 to June 2010
Table 4: Age Pension customers, characteristics by sex, June 2010
Table 5: Age Pension customers by state/territory and sex, June 2010
Table 6: Disability Support Pension customers by sex, June 1990 to June 2010
Table 7: Disability Support Pension customers, characteristics by sex, June 2010
Table 8: Disability Support Pension customers by state/territory and sex, June 2010
Table 9: Sickness Allowance customers by sex, June 1990 to June 2010
Table 10: Sickness Allowance customers, characteristics by sex, June 2010
Table 11: Sickness Allowance customers by state/territory and sex, June 2010
Table 12: Mobility Allowance customers by sex, June 1990 to June 2010
Table 13: Mobility Allowance customers by state/territory and sex, June 2010
Table 14: Wife Pension customers by partner pension type, June 1990 to June 2010
Table 15: Wife Pension customers, characteristics by pension type, June 2010
Table 16: Wife Pension customers by state/territory and pension type, June 2010
Table 17: Carer Payment customers by payment type of care receiver, June 1990 to June 2010
Table 18: Carer Payment customers, characteristics by sex, June 2010
Table 19: Carer Payment customers by state/territory and sex, June 2010
Table 20: Carer Allowance customers by carer type, June 1990 to June 2010
Table 21: Carer Allowance customers, characteristics by sex, June 2010
Table 22: Carer Allowance customers by state/territory and carer type, June 2010
Table 23: Austudy Payment customers, characteristics by sex, June 2010
Table 24: Austudy Payment customers by state/territory and sex, June 2010
Table 25: ABSTUDY scheme customers, characteristics by sex, June 2010
Table 26: ABSTUDY scheme customers by state/territory and sex, June 2010
Table 27: Youth Allowance (full-time student and apprentice) customers, characteristics by sex, June 2010
Table 28: Youth Allowance (other) customers, characteristics by sex, June 2010
Table 29: Total Youth Allowance customers, characteristics by sex, June 2010
Table 30: Short-term Newstart Allowance customers, characteristics by sex, June 2010
Table 31: Long-term Newstart Allowance customers, characteristics by sex, June 2010
Table 32: Total Newstart Allowance customers, characteristics by sex, June 2010
Table 33: Short-term unemployed customers, characteristics by sex, June 2010
Table 34: Long-term unemployed customers, characteristics by sex, June 2010
Table 35: Total unemployed customers, characteristics by sex, June 2010
Table 36: Total unemployed customers by state/territory, June 2010
Table 37: Partner Allowance customers, characteristics by sex, June 2010
Table 38: Partner Allowance customers by state/territory and sex, June 2010
Table 39: Widow Allowance customers, characteristics, June 2010
Table 40: Widow Allowance customers by state/territory, June 2010
Table 41: Parenting Payment (Single) customers by sex, June 1990 to June 2010
Table 42: Parenting Payment (Single) customers, characteristics by sex, June 2010
Table 43: Parenting Payment (Single) customers by state/territory and sex, June 2010
Table 44: Parenting Payment (Partnered) customers by sex, June 2001 to June 2010
Table 45: Parenting Payment (Partnered) customers by payment category of partner, June 2001 to June 2010
Table 46: Parenting Payment (Partnered) customers, characteristics by sex, June 2010
Table 47: Parenting Payment (Partnered) customers by state/territory and sex, June 2010
Table 48: Special Benefit customers by sex, June 1990 to June 2010
Table 49: Special Benefit customers, Special Benefit category by sex, June 2010
Table 50: Special Benefit customers, characteristics by sex, June 2010
Table 51: Special Benefit customers by state/territory and sex, June 2010
Table 52: Family Tax Benefit, customers by category, 2003–04 to 2008–09 entitlement year, as at June 2010
Table 53: Family Tax Benefit, customers and children, June 2010
Table 54: Family Tax Benefit Part A, customers and children by rate type, June 2010
Table 55: Family Tax Benefit Part A, customers and dependent children by age of child, June 2010
Table 56: Family Tax Benefit Part B, customers by rate type and age of youngest child, June 2010
Table 57: Family Tax Benefit customers, characteristics by payment type, June 2010
Table 58: Family Tax Benefit, customers and children by state/territory, June 2010
Table 59: Baby Bonus and Maternity Immunisation Allowance customers, 2009–10 financial year
Table 60: Baby Bonus customers and children by age and sex of customer, 2009–10 financial year
Table 61: Baby Bonus customers and children by family type, 2009–10 financial year
Table 62: Baby Bonus customers by payment type, 2009–10 financial year
Table 63: Baby Bonus customers by state/territory, 2009–10 financial year
Table 64: Customers using approved Child Care Benefit services by state/territory, 2009–10 financial year
Table 65: Customers using approved Child Care Benefit services by service type, 2009–10 financial year
Table 66: Customers using approved Child Care Benefit services by rate type, 2009–10 financial year
Table 67: Double Orphan Pension, customers and children, June 1990 to June 2010
Table 68: Double Orphan Pension, customers and children by state/territory, June 2010
Table 69: Commonwealth Seniors Health Card holders by sex, June 2001 to June 2010
Table 70: Commonwealth Seniors Health Card holders, characteristics by sex, June 2010
Table 71: Commonwealth Seniors Health Card holders by state/territory and sex, June 2010
Table 72: Rent Assistance income units, average rent and Rent Assistance by primary payment type, June 2010
Table 73: Rent Assistance income units by primary payment type and sex, June 2010
Table 74: Persons paid overseas by Australia by payment type, June 1990 to June 2010
Table 75: Persons paid overseas by Australia, country of residence by payment type, June 2010
Table 76: Persons paid by Australia under a social security agreement by payment type, June 2010

List of figures

Figure 1: Age Pension customers by sex, June 1990 to June 2010
Figure 2: Disability Support Pension customers by sex, June 1990 to June 2010
Figure 3: Sickness Allowance customers by sex, June 1990 to June 2010
Figure 4: Mobility Allowance customers by sex, June 1990 to June 2010
Figure 5: Wife Pension customers, June 1990 to June 2010
Figure 6: Carer Payment customers, June 1990 to June 2010
Figure 7: Carer Allowance customers, June 1990 to June 2010
Figure 8: Parenting Payment (Single) customers by sex, June 1990 to June 2010
Figure 9: Parenting Payment (Partnered) customers by sex, June 2001 to June 2010
Figure 10: Special Benefit customers by sex, June 1990 to June 2010
Figure 11: Double Orphan Pension customers, June 1990 to June 2010
Figure 12: Commonwealth Seniors Health Card holders by sex, June 2001 to June 2010
Figure 13: Total persons paid overseas by Australia, June 1990 to June 2010

1 Introduction

The purpose of the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA) is to improve the lives of Australians by creating opportunities for economic and social participation by individuals, families and communities.

FaHCSIA is the Australian Government's principal source of advice on social policy and works in partnership with other government and non-government organisations to manage a diverse range of programs and services designed to support and improve the lives of Australians. FaHCSIA has whole-of-government responsibilities in relation to Indigenous affairs and women.

This statistical overview covers FaHCSIA income support customers, and some income support payments offered through other Australian Government departments. Unless otherwise indicated, the statistics relate to the relevant pay periods closest to 30 June 2010. These periods will generally be within a fortnight either side of that date.

Key sections of the overview are:

payments for older people, people with disability and those caring for people with disability, severe medical conditions, or those who are frail aged
student and labour market related payments
family assistance
other payments and services
pensioners paid overseas.

Payment and allowance information, including eligibility criteria, are included within each section. Further information to assist with the interpretation of statistics is available from the FaHCSIA and Centrelink websites:

<http://www.centrelink.gov.au>

<http://www.fahcsia.gov.au>.

Confidentiality

In some cases, small cells in tables have been suppressed and replaced with 'n.p.' (not published) for the purposes of confidentiality. Where a small cell can be derived by calculation, consequent suppression of the next smallest cell is performed until the small cell data are protected.

Table 1: Summary of income support recipients by payment type, 2000 to 2010
Payment type	2000	2001^(a)	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010

Age Pension (incl. Dept of Veterans' Affairs Age Pensions)^(b)	1,738,215	1,793,426	1,818,205	1,861,055	1,876,250	1,915,036	1,922,129	1,952,686	2,039,305	2,117,530	2,158,303
Disability Support Pension	602,280	623,926	658,915	673,334	696,742	706,782	712,163	714,156	732,367	757,118	792,581
Sickness Allowance	10,043	11,058	9,540	8,755	8,478	8,367	7,573	7,624	7,437	6,968	6,703
Widow B Pension	8,892	6,456	5,130	2,986	1,879	839	775	732	683	637	600
Wife Pension (partner receives Age Pension)^(b)	31,406	26,476	23,730	20,230	19,646	16,946	16,254	14,045	13,395	11,590	10,873

Wife Pension (partner receives Disability Support Pension)	59,935	51,225	44,238	37,880	33,183	28,144	24,627	21,228	18,555	15,847	13,782
Carer Payment	47,550	57,190	67,260	75,937	84,082	95,446	105,058	116,614	130,657	146,870	168,913
Austudy Payment	42,838	41,992	41,187	38,779	35,026	31,174	27,728	27,869	28,776	34,175	37,342
ABSTUDY	42,754	44,627	46,255	47,028	46,555	45,629	35,045	34,489	33,776	34,612	36,308
Youth Allowance (full-time students and apprentices)	309,528	308,663	313,068	304,946	297,140	285,383	271,408	264,008	256,634	278,664	297,023

Youth Allowance (other)	81,984	84,542	90,339	87,486	84,665	79,573	76,276	68,698	64,907	82,907	88,459
Newstart Allowance	552,879	541,004	554,821	512,332	483,093	453,614	437,667	417,793	399,401	520,194	553,893
Partner Allowance	87,416	90,416	102,330	102,811	90,936	71,615	59,800	45,988	38,456	29,369	24,054
Mature Age Allowance^(c)	41,577	38,919	40,132	41,078	32,912	20,877	11,697	5,032	754
Widow Allowance	32,570	36,416	41,277	43,209	45,328	44,329	44,385	40,247	39,131	36,086	33,886

Parenting Payment (Single)	391,393	416,661	427,846	436,958	449,312	450,811	432,958	395,495	360,633	344,096	333,512
Parenting Payment (Partnered)	220,340	204,576	191,576	181,405	177,157	167,272	158,814	144,427	125,922	129,365	124,910
Special Benefit	10,971	12,712	13,091	12,228	11,216	9,408	6,841	6,244	6,003	5,809	6,307
DVA service pension and income support supplement	373,076	378,058	370,721	368,572	341,020	344,311	312,571	295,033	285,089	271,546	256,826

Total	4,685,647	4,768,343	4,859,661	4,857,009	4,814,620	4,775,556	4,663,769	4,572,408	4,581,881	4,823,383	4,944,275

(a) Break in series for allowances. Previously, customers were counted on a 'paid in the fortnight' basis. From this point, customer numbers now represent the customers 'current' at a point-in-time (excludes suspended recipients).

(b) For some years, Wife Age Pensions paid through the Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA) are captured in Age Pension figures.

(c) Mature Age Allowance was closed to new claimants in September 2003 and there are no recipients of Mature Age Allowance from 2009.

Note: This is not a complete list of social security income support payments.

Source: Centrelink and DVA administrative data.

2 Payments for older people, people with disability and those caring for people with disability, severe medical conditions or those who are frail aged

2.1 Age Pension

The Age Pension is a non-contributory payment for people satisfying age and residence requirements and whose income and assets are below certain limits. It is designed to ensure that senior Australians have adequate means of support.

For men, the current qualifying age for Age Pension is 65 years. For women, the qualifying age is gradually being increased to 65 years.

Table 2a: Age Pension qualifying age for women born before 1 July 1952
Period within which a woman was born	Pension age	Date pension age changes
Prior to 1 July 1935	60 years
From 1 July 1935 to 31 December 1936	60 years and 6 months	1 July 1995
From 1 January 1937 to 30 June 1938	61 years	1 July 1997
From 1 July 1938 to 31 December 1939	61 years and 6 months	1 July 1999
From 1 January 1940 to 30 June 1941	62 years	1 July 2001
From 1 July 1941 to 31 December 1942	62 years and 6 months	1 July 2003
From 1 January 1943 to 30 June 1944	63 years	1 July 2005
From 1 July 1944 to 31 December 1945	63 years and 6 months	1 July 2007
From 1 January 1946 to 30 June 1947	64 years	1 July 2009
From 1 July 1947 to 31 December 1948	64 years and 6 months	1 July 2011
From 1 January 1949 to 30 June 1952	65 years	1 July 2013

For both men and women born on or after 1 July 1952, the pension qualifying age is progressively increasing from 65 years to 67 years, starting on 1 July 2017, and will reach 67 years in 2023. This change is part of the Secure and Sustainable Pensions reform package. People born before 1 July 1952 will not be affected.

Table 2b: Age Pension qualifying age for people born on or after 1 July 1952
Period within which a person was born	Pension age	Date pension age changes
From 1 July 1952 to 31 December 1953	65 years and 6 months	1 July 2017
From 1 January 1954 to 30 June 1955	66 years	1 July 2019
From 1 July 1955 to 31 December 1956	66 years and 6 months	1 July 2021
From 1 January 1957	67 years	1 July 2023

Other Age Pension eligibility requirements specify that the person claiming must:

have been an Australian resident for at least 10 years, with at least five of these years in one continuous period, or
have a qualifying residence exemption (arrived as a refugee or under special humanitarian program), or
be a woman widowed in Australia, when both she and her late partner were Australian residents, and who has at least two years' residence immediately prior to claiming, or
be a person in receipt of Widow B Pension, Widow Allowance or Partner Allowance immediately before reaching Age Pension age.

Special rules apply to residence in countries with which Australia has an International Social Security Agreement.

The Age Pension is also subject to income and assets tests.

Table 3: Age Pension customers by sex, June 1990 to June 2010
As at June	Male		Female		Total
As at June	No.	%	No.	%	No.
1990	404,486	30.2	935,982	69.8	1,340,468

1991	418,383	30.4	957,466	69.6	1,375,849
1992	447,888	31.0	998,280	69.0	1,446,168
1993	481,196	31.7	1,034,486	68.3	1,515,682
1994	514,217	32.5	1,067,657	67.5	1,581,874
1995	544,571	34.5	1,034,127	65.5	1,578,698

1996	570,328	35.6	1,032,506	64.4	1,602,834
1997	597,859	35.6	1,082,355	64.4	1,680,214
1998	618,607	36.6	1,072,987	63.4	1,691,594
1999	639,008	37.1	1,085,581	62.9	1,724,589
2000	659,188	37.9	1,079,027	62.1	1,738,215

2001	688,563	38.4	1,104,863	61.6	1,793,426
2002	714,324	39.3	1,103,881	60.7	1,818,205
2003	739,187	39.7	1,121,868	60.3	1,861,055
2004	761,025	40.6	1,115,225	59.4	1,876,250
2005	782,977	40.9	1,132,059	59.1	1,915,036

2006	800,310	41.6	1,121,819	58.4	1,922,129
2007	815,912	41.8	1,136,774	58.2	1,952,686
2008	868,179	42.6	1,171,126	57.4	2,039,305
2009	906,769	42.8	1,210,761	57.2	2,117,530
2010	939,442	43.5	1,218,861	56.5	2,158,303

Note: Includes Age Pension payments administered by Centrelink and the Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA).

Source: Centrelink and DVA administrative data.

Figure description

Figure 1: Age Pension customers by sex, June 1990 to June 2010

Figure 1: Age Pension customers by sex, June 1990 to June 2010

Note: Includes Age Pension payments administered by Centrelink and the Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA).

Source: Centrelink and DVA administrative data.

Table 4: Age Pension customers, characteristics by sex, June 2010
Characteristics	Male		Female		Total
Characteristics	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
Total	936,681	43.5	1,216,494	56.5	2,153,175	100.0
Age (years)
Under 65	0	0.0	53,688	4.4	53,688	2.5
65–69	257,147	27.5	308,324	25.3	565,471	26.3
70–74	260,004	27.8	290,207	23.9	550,211	25.6
75–79	207,386	22.1	235,206	19.3	442,592	20.6
80–84	147,431	15.7	170,987	14.1	318,418	14.8
85–89	47,103	5.0	98,653	8.1	145,756	6.8
90–94	13,983	1.5	43,859	3.6	57,842	2.7
95–99	3,341	0.4	13,708	1.1	17,049	0.8
100 and over	286	0.0	1,862	0.2	2,148	0.1
Marital status^(a)
Married/de facto	666,496	71.2	562,311	46.2	1,228,807	57.1
Single/separated/divorced/widowed	270,185	28.8	654,183	53.8	924,368	42.9
Country of birth (top five countries)
Australia	541,359	57.8	761,451	62.6	1,302,810	60.5
United Kingdom	108,927	11.6	130,426	10.7	239,353	11.1
Italy	56,058	6.0	54,552	4.5	110,610	5.1
Greece	30,381	3.2	34,356	2.8	64,737	3.0
Germany	15,546	1.7	18,842	1.5	34,388	1.6
Other	184,410	19.7	216,867	17.8	401,277	18.6
Home ownership
Home owner	695,922	74.3	840,729	69.1	1,536,651	71.4
Non-home owner	240,759	25.7	375,765	30.9	616,524	28.6
Payment status
Current—automatically assessed
Maximum rate	542,099	57.9	746,778	61.4	1,288,877	59.9
Reduced rate	393,018	42.0	468,290	38.5	861,308	40.0
Total	935,117	99.8	1,215,068	99.9	2,150,185	99.9
Current—-manually assessed	408	0.0	480	0.0	888	0.0
Current total	935,525	99.9	1,215,548	99.9	2,151,073	99.9
Suspended	1,156	0.1	946	0.1	2,102	0.1
Paid under income test^(b)
Single	267,549	28.6	633,730	52.1	901,279	41.9
Partnered	558,036	59.6	464,182	38.2	1,022,218	47.5
Home owner paid under assets test
Single	17,164	1.8	31,670	2.6	48,834	2.3
Partnered	87,814	9.4	78,408	6.4	166,222	7.7
Non-home owner paid under assets test
Single	3,077	0.3	5,862	0.5	8,939	0.4
Partnered	2,070	0.2	1,858	0.2	3,928	0.2
Income/assets test not coded^(c)	971	0.1	784	0.1	1,755	0.1

(a) Marital status figures will differ from figures on single and partnered pension rate as partnered pensioners may be eligible for a single rate of pension in some limited circumstances. (Social security law provides that where a couple is married or living together their social security pension payment is based on the partnered rate of payment. However, in special circumstances, a partnered person can be treated as single for social security purposes, for example, a member of a couple separated by illness or receiving respite care, or where a member of a couple is in gaol.)

(b) All pensioners paid a full rate of pension are classified as income tested and included in the 'paid under income test' category.

(c) At least one of the variables required to determine the customer's income or assets test category was not coded (that is, partnership category, home ownership type or whether income or assets tested).

Note: Table excludes 5,128 Age Pension payments administered by the Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA).

Source: Centrelink administrative data.

Table 5: Age Pension customers by state/territory and sex, June 2010
State/territory	Male		Female		Total
State/territory	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
New South Wales	303,149	43.1	400,950	56.9	704,099	32.7
Victoria	229,957	42.6	309,505	57.4	539,462	25.1
Queensland	170,971	44.2	216,221	55.8	387,192	18.0
Western Australia	78,352	43.0	103,955	57.0	182,307	8.5
South Australia	80,436	42.4	109,356	57.6	189,792	8.8
Tasmania	26,219	44.1	33,296	55.9	59,515	2.8
Australian Capital Territory	8,213	40.2	12,242	59.8	20,455	0.9
Northern Territory	3,558	48.1	3,845	51.9	7,403	0.3
Other^(a)	35,826	56.9	27,124	43.1	62,950	2.9
Total	936,681	43.5	1,216,494	56.5	2,153,175	100.0

(a) Includes all overseas pensioners, regardless of their length of stay overseas.

Note: Table excludes 5,128 Age Pension payments administered by the Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA).

Source: Centrelink administrative data.

2.2 Disability Support Pension

Disability Support Pension is intended to ensure that people who have an incapacity to work because of impairment have an adequate level of income.

As at June 2010, to be eligible for Disability Support Pension a person must be permanently blind or have a permanent physical, intellectual or psychiatric impairment of at least 20 points under the impairment tables. An 'impairment' is defined as permanent under the Social Security Act 1991 if it is fully diagnosed, treated and stabilised and likely to last for at least two years without significant functional improvement. The person must be unable to work for at least 15 hours per week at or above the relevant minimum wage for the next two years or be retrained for such work within the next two years because of that impairment.

To qualify for Disability Support Pension, a person must be aged 16 years or over but have not reached Age Pension age at the time of claiming. If already receiving Disability Support Pension, a person can continue to be paid Disability Support Pension after reaching Age Pension age. The person must also be an Australian resident, living in Australia at the time they claim, and have 10 years' qualifying residence.

There is no period of residence qualification required if the inability to work or permanent blindness occurs while the person is an Australian resident.

Disability Support Pension is subject to income and assets tests.

Table 6: Disability Support Pension customers by sex, June 1990 to June 2010
As at June	Male		Female		Total
As at June	No.	%	No.	%	No.
1990	233,251	73.6	83,462	26.4	316,713

1991^(a)	244,699	73.2	89,535	26.8	334,234
1992	273,697	72.3	104,861	27.7	378,558
1993	291,471	71.7	115,101	28.3	406,572
1994	309,123	70.9	127,111	29.1	436,234
1995	324,672	69.9	139,758	30.1	464,430

1996	340,256	68.2	158,979	31.8	499,235
1997	352,607	66.8	174,907	33.2	527,514
1998	361,539	65.3	191,797	34.7	553,336
1999	373,340	64.6	204,342	35.4	577,682
2000	382,351	63.5	219,929	36.5	602,280

2001	392,354	62.9	231,572	37.1	623,926
2002	406,893	61.8	252,022	38.2	658,915
2003	412,777	61.3	260,557	38.7	673,334
2004	418,829	60.1	277,913	39.9	696,742
2005	420,073	59.4	286,709	40.6	706,782

2006	415,618	58.4	296,545	41.6	712,163
2007	413,033	57.8	301,123	42.2	714,156
2008	413,484	56.5	318,883	43.5	732,367
2009	422,290	55.8	334,828	44.2	757,118
2010	433,456	54.7	359,125	45.3	792,581

(a) Disability Support Pension replaced Invalid Pension, Sheltered Employment Allowance and Rehabilitation Allowance from November 1991 as part of the Disability Reform Package.

Source: Centrelink administrative data.

Figure description

Figure 2: Disability Support Pension customers by sex, June 1990 to June 2010

Figure 2: Disability Support Pension customers by sex, June 1990 to June 2010

Note: Disability Support Pension replaced Invalid Pension, Sheltered Employment Allowance and Rehabilitation Allowance from November 1991 as part of the Disability Reform Package.

Source: Centrelink administrative data.

Table 7: Disability Support Pension customers, characteristics by sex, June 2010
Characteristics	Male		Female		Total
Characteristics	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
Total	433,456	54.7	359,125	45.3	792,581	100.0
Age (years)
Under 20	12,263	2.8	7,551	2.1	19,814	2.5
20–29	38,877	9.0	28,055	7.8	66,932	8.4
30–39	56,050	12.9	40,812	11.4	96,862	12.2
40–49	89,849	20.7	74,032	20.6	163,881	20.7
50–59	127,172	29.3	124,147	34.6	251,319	31.7
60–64	97,946	22.6	79,313	22.1	177,259	22.4
65 and over	11,299	2.6	5,215	1.5	16,514	2.1
Marital status
Married/de facto	140,053	32.3	112,589	31.4	252,642	31.9
Single/separated/divorced/widowed	293,403	67.7	246,536	68.6	539,939	68.1
Country of birth (top five countries)
Australia	327,671	75.6	263,994	73.5	591,665	74.7
United Kingdom/Ireland/Eire	22,696	5.2	18,326	5.1	41,022	5.2
New Zealand	7,522	1.7	6,438	1.8	13,960	1.8
Lebanon	6,340	1.5	5,175	1.4	11,515	1.5
Yugoslavia	5,376	1.2	4,568	1.3	9,944	1.3
Other	63,851	14.7	60,624	16.9	124,475	15.7
Home ownership
Home owner	125,399	28.9	122,104	34.0	247,503	31.2
Non-home owner	308,057	71.1	237,021	66.0	545,078	68.8
Paid under income test
Single	291,790	67.3	245,019	68.2	536,809	67.7
Partnered	136,399	31.5	108,842	30.3	245,241	30.9
Home owner paid under assets test
Single	1,263	0.3	1,282	0.4	2,545	0.3
Partnered	3,527	0.8	3,633	1.0	7,160	0.9
Non-home owner paid under assets test
Single	350	0.1	235	0.1	585	0.1
Partnered	127	0.0	114	0.0	241	0.0
Duration^(a)
<1 year	27,777	6.4	19,412	5.4	47,189	6.0
1 to <2 years	25,646	5.9	20,055	5.6	45,701	5.8
2 to <3 years	21,547	5.0	17,082	4.8	38,629	4.9
3 to <4 years	19,324	4.5	15,411	4.3	34,735	4.4
4 to <5 years	18,805	4.3	14,541	4.0	33,346	4.2
5 to <10 years	95,755	22.1	76,214	21.2	171,969	21.7
10 years and over	224,602	51.8	196,410	54.7	421,012	53.1

Mean (weeks)	609.9		627.4		617.9
Median (weeks)	557.0		591.0		573.0

(a) Duration is measured from the income support start date (that is, duration may take into account periods on another income support payment before Disability Support Pension is granted).

Source: Centrelink administrative data.

Table 8: Disability Support Pension customers by state/territory and sex, June 2010
State/territory	Male		Female		Total
State/territory	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
New South Wales	141,504	55.2	114,661	44.8	256,165	32.3
Victoria	101,194	52.7	90,979	47.3	192,173	24.2
Queensland	85,537	56.0	67,314	44.0	152,851	19.3
Western Australia	33,817	54.1	28,694	45.9	62,511	7.9
South Australia	40,563	54.5	33,885	45.5	74,448	9.4
Tasmania	14,978	55.1	12,199	44.9	27,177	3.4
Australian Capital Territory	4,005	51.6	3,750	48.4	7,755	1.0
Northern Territory	5,441	56.7	4,163	43.3	9,604	1.2
Other^(a)	6,417	64.8	3,480	35.2	9,897	1.2
Total	433,456	54.7	359,125	45.3	792,581	100.0

(a) State/territory not coded.

Source: Centrelink administrative data.

2.3 Sickness Allowance

Sickness Allowance is a payment that provides assistance for people who are employed or studying full-time and who are temporarily unable to work or study due to a medical condition and have a job or full-time study to which they can return.

To qualify for Sickness Allowance, a person must be 21 years of age or over but have not reached Age Pension age.

Sickness Allowance may be paid for up to 13 weeks when a customer is temporarily absent from Australia to seek medical treatment of a kind that is not available in Australia.

Sickness Allowance is subject to residence requirements and income and assets tests.

Table 9: Sickness Allowance customers by sex, June 1990 to June 2010
As at June^(a)	Male		Female		Total
As at June^(a)	No.	%	No.	%	No.
1990	56,674	71.6	22,521	28.4	79,195

1991^(b)	50,991	71.4	20,408	28.6	71,399
1992	30,844	69.8	13,328	30.2	44,172
1993	31,802	68.3	14,777	31.7	46,579
1994	31,274	66.4	15,858	33.6	47,132
1995	31,131	65.8	16,180	34.2	47,311

1996^(c)	22,254	67.0	10,961	33.0	33,215
1997	10,721	68.0	5,038	32.0	15,759
1998^(d)	11,166	68.6	5,119	31.4	16,285
1999	7,799	69.8	3,382	30.2	11,181
2000	6,990	69.6	3,053	30.4	10,043

2001	7,598	68.7	3,460	31.3	11,058
2002	6,414	67.2	3,126	32.8	9,540
2003	5,973	68.2	2,782	31.8	8,755
2004	5,613	66.2	2,865	33.8	8,478
2005	5,671	67.8	2,696	32.2	8,367

2006	5,011	66.2	2,562	33.8	7,573
2007	4,877	64.0	2,747	36.0	7,624
2008	4,523	60.8	2,914	39.2	7,437
2009	4,182	60.0	2,786	40.0	6,968
2010	3,928	58.6	2,775	41.4	6,703

(a) Prior to 1998, these figures are an average of the number of weekly payments during June. Breakdown by sex for this table was estimated based on the proportion of males and females receiving this allowance from a point-in-time in the relevant quarter.

(b) Sickness Allowance replaced Sickness Benefit from November 1991 as part of the Disability Reform Package. This resulted in some customers transferring to the Disability Support Pension.

(c) From March 1996, unemployed people who became ill did not transfer to Sickness Allowance after 13 weeks. They continued to be paid Youth Training Allowance, Job Search Allowance or Newstart Allowance, subject to Sickness Allowance conditions.

(d) Break in series. Data from 1998 onward are derived from a point-in-time in June of the relevant year.

Source: Centrelink administrative data (Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Blue Book dataset).

Figure description

Figure 3: Sickness Allowance customers by sex, June 1990 to June 2010

Figure 3: Sickness Allowance customers by sex, June 1990 to June 2010

Notes: Prior to 1998, the table figures are an average of the number of weekly payments during June. Breakdown by sex for this table was estimated based on the proportion of males and females receiving this allowance from a point-in-time in the relevant quarter. Data from 1998 onward are derived from a point-in-time in June of the relevant year.

Sickness Allowance replaced Sickness Benefit from November 1991 as part of the Disability Reform Package. This resulted in some customers transferring to the Disability Support Pension.

From March 1996, unemployed people who became ill did not transfer to Sickness Allowance after 13 weeks. They continued to be paid Youth Training Allowance, Job Search Allowance or Newstart Allowance, subject to Sickness Allowance conditions.

Source: Centrelink administrative data (Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Blue Book dataset).

Table 10: Sickness Allowance customers, characteristics by sex, June 2010
Characteristics	Male		Female		Total
Characteristics	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
Total	3,928	58.6	2,775	41.4	6,703	100.0
Age (years)
21–24	431	11.0	209	7.5	640	9.5
25–34	915	23.3	462	16.6	1,377	20.5
35–44	912	23.2	640	23.1	1,552	23.2
45–54	919	23.4	931	33.5	1,850	27.6
55–59	401	10.2	340	12.3	741	11.1
60–64	350	8.9	193	7.0	543	8.1
Marital status
Married/de facto	1,426	36.3	558	20.1	1,984	29.6
Single/separated/divorced/widowed	2,502	63.7	2,217	79.9	4,719	70.4
Country of birth (top five countries)
Australia	3,086	78.6	2,138	77.0	5,224	77.9
United Kingdom	186	4.7	142	5.1	328	4.9
New Zealand	101	2.6	87	3.1	188	2.8
Philippines	n.p.	n.p.	n.p.	n.p.	65	1.0
Vietnam	n.p.	n.p.	n.p.	n.p.	65	1.0
Other	500	12.7	333	12.0	833	12.4
Duration^(a)
<1 year—total	3,309	84.2	2,275	82.0	5,584	83.3
<7 weeks	765	19.5	492	17.7	1,257	18.8
7 weeks to <3 months	933	23.8	552	19.9	1,485	22.2
3 to <6 months	919	23.4	684	24.6	1,603	23.9
6 months to <1 year	692	17.6	547	19.7	1,239	18.5
1 year and longer—total	619	15.8	500	18.0	1,119	16.7
1 to <2 years	467	11.9	344	12.4	811	12.1
2 to <3 years	86	2.2	68	2.5	154	2.3
3 years and over	66	1.7	88	3.2	154	2.3

Mean (weeks)	30.5		40.3		34.6
Median (weeks)	16.0		18.0		17.0
Income ($ per week)^(b)
Nil	3,720	94.7	2,414	87.0	6,134	91.5
0.01 and above	208	5.3	361	13.0	569	8.5

(a) Duration is measured from the allowance start date.

(b) Income is defined as earned income.

Notes: The table figures exclude 169 people who received a nil rate of payment due to their own or partner's income.

'n.p.'=not published. See 'Confidentiality' on page 1.

Source: Centrelink administrative data (Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Blue Book dataset).

Table 11: Sickness Allowance customers by state/territory and sex, June 2010
State/territory	Male		Female		Total
State/territory	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
New South Wales	1,062	60.1	705	39.9	1,767	26.4
Victoria	1,134	57.8	828	42.2	1,962	29.3
Queensland	936	59.5	637	40.5	1,573	23.5
Western Australia	278	55.9	219	44.1	497	7.4
South Australia	366	60.4	240	39.6	606	9.0
Tasmania	85	47.8	93	52.2	178	2.7
Australian Capital Territory	33	47.1	37	52.9	70	1.0
Northern Territory	n.p.	n.p.	n.p.	n.p.	41	0.6
Other^(a)	n.p.	n.p.	n.p.	n.p.	9	0.1
Total	3,928	58.6	2,775	41.4	6,703	100.0

(a) Includes unspecified state/territory.

Notes: The table figures exclude 169 people who received a nil rate of payment due to their own or partner's income.

'n.p.'=not published. See 'Confidentiality' on page 1.

Source: Centrelink administrative data (Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Blue Book dataset).

2.4 Mobility Allowance

The purpose of Mobility Allowance is to ensure that people with disability are encouraged to gain, retain or extend their independence. It assists with transport costs for people with disability who cannot use public transport without assistance.

To qualify for Mobility Allowance, a person must be aged 16 years or over, be undertaking an approved activity and be required to travel to and from their home for the purpose of undertaking that activity. A person is considered to be undertaking an approved activity if they are:

engaged in paid or voluntary work or vocational training or any combination of these activities for at least 32 hours every four weeks, or
undertaking job search activities under an agreement between Centrelink and a service provider funded by the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR), or
receiving Newstart Allowance, Youth Allowance or Austudy Payment and meet the activity or study tests for these payments, or
participating in a Disability Employment Services—Disability Management Service.

Mobility Allowance is not payable if a person has a car under the Vehicle Assistance Scheme from the Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA).

A person must be an Australian resident and be in Australia when claiming and receiving Mobility Allowance. Reviews of Mobility Allowance are conducted annually. Customers with a temporary medical condition undergo a medical review as part of their annual review.

Mobility Allowance is not an income or assets tested payment; however, there are residence requirements.

Table 12: Mobility Allowance customers by sex, June 1990 to June 2010
As at June	Male		Female		Total
As at June	No.	%	No.	%	No.
1990	7,422	56.2	5,785	43.8	13,207

1991	7,535	56.0	5,909	44.0	13,444
1992	7,826	56.3	6,085	43.7	13,911
1993^(a)	9,118	56.4	7,042	43.6	16,160
1994	11,916	57.3	8,879	42.7	20,795
1995	13,106	57.4	9,745	42.6	22,851

1996	14,200	56.8	10,785	43.2	24,985
1997	15,066	56.6	11,529	43.4	26,595
1998	16,346	56.4	12,629	43.6	28,975
1999	17,415	56.2	13,586	43.8	31,001
2000	19,673	56.0	15,481	44.0	35,154

2001	20,887	55.6	16,687	44.4	37,574
2002	22,863	55.2	18,593	44.8	41,456
2003	24,370	55.1	19,869	44.9	44,239
2004	25,763	55.0	21,084	45.0	46,847
2005	26,940	54.7	22,275	45.3	49,215

2006	28,755	54.6	23,897	45.4	52,652
2007	29,995	54.6	24,947	45.4	54,942
2008	30,151	54.5	25,148	45.5	55,299
2009	30,462	54.3	25,618	45.7	56,080
2010	31,199	54.4	26,150	45.6	57,349

(a) Eligibility requirements were eased in March 1993 to include those undertaking eight hours a week or more of voluntary work, and to include Disability Support pensioners and Sickness Allowance recipients who have job search incorporated into their activity plan.

Source: Centrelink administrative data (Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Blue Book dataset).

Figure description

Figure 4: Mobility Allowance customers by sex, June 1990 to June 2010

Figure 4: Mobility Allowance customers by sex, June 1990 to June 2010

Source: Centrelink administrative data (Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Blue Book dataset).

Table 13: Mobility Allowance customers by state/territory and sex, June 2010
State/territory	Male		Female		Total
State/territory	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
New South Wales	9,157	55.4	7,366	44.6	16,523	28.8
Victoria	8,434	54.0	7,196	46.0	15,630	27.3
Queensland	6,246	56.4	4,823	43.6	11,069	19.3
Western Australia	2,494	55.0	2,039	45.0	4,533	7.9
South Australia	3,423	50.2	3,399	49.8	6,822	11.9
Tasmania	1,007	52.2	922	47.8	1,929	3.4
Australian Capital Territory	287	52.2	263	47.8	550	1.0
Northern Territory	108	48.9	113	51.1	221	0.4
Other^(a)	43	59.7	29	40.3	72	0.1
Total	31,199	54.4	26,150	45.6	57,349	100.0

(a) Includes unspecified state/territory.

Source: Centrelink administrative data (Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Blue Book dataset).

2.5 Wife Pension

Wife Pension is gradually being phased out. No new grants have been made from 1 July 1995. However, women who received a Wife Pension at that date can continue to receive this payment. To qualify for Wife Pension, a woman must be the wife of an Age or Disability Support pensioner and not receiving a pension in her own right.

Partners of new applicants for Age or Disability Support Pensions need to test their own eligibility for payments such as Age Pension, Parenting Payment, Carer Payment, Disability Support Pension or Newstart Allowance.

Wife Pension is subject to income and assets tests. Residence requirements may apply.

Table 14: Wife Pension customers by partner pension type, June 1990 to June 2010
As at June	Age Pension^(a)		Disability Support Pension		Rehabilitation Allowance^(b)		Sheltered Employment Allowance^(c)		Total^(d)
As at June	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.
1990	23,766	20.5	91,068	78.7	583	0.5	278	0.2	115,695

1991	26,537	21.8	94,006	77.1	1,128	0.9	262	0.2	121,933
1992	30,902	23.2	101,731	76.4	561	0.4			133,194
1993	33,520	23.6	108,327	76.3	166	0.1			142,013
1994	36,539	23.9	116,036	76.0	45	0.0			152,620
1995	39,611	24.5	121,839	75.5	7	0.0			161,457

1996	41,125	27.6	107,803	72.4	3	0.0			148,931
1997	36,577	28.6	91,307	71.4	1	0.0			127,885
1998	36,233	31.2	79,892	68.8					116,125
1999	32,196	32.0	68,523	68.0					100,719
2000	31,406	34.4	59,935	65.6					91,341

2001	26,476	34.1	51,225	65.9					77,701
2002	23,730	34.9	44,238	65.1					67,968
2003	20,230	34.8	37,880	65.2					58,110
2004	19,646	37.2	33,183	62.8					52,829
2005	16,946	37.6	28,144	62.4					45,090

2006	16,254	39.8	24,627	60.2					40,881
2007	14,045	39.8	21,228	60.2					35,273
2008	13,395	41.9	18,555	58.1					31,950
2009	11,590	42.2	15,847	57.8					27,437
2010	10,873	44.1	13,782	55.9					24,655

(a) Includes Wife (Age) Pension payments administered by the Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA). For some years, Wife (Age) Pensions paid through DVA are captured in Age Pension figures.

(b) Rehabilitation Allowance began in March 1983 and was phased out in November 1991 as part of the Disability Reform Package. Rehabilitation Allowance recipients continue on the payment until their program is completed.

(d) Excludes Wife Disability Wage Supplement. From 1 January 1998, there were no further grants of Disability Wage Supplement.

Source: Centrelink administrative data.

Figure description

Figure 5: Wife Pension customers, June 1990 to June 2010

Figure 5: Wife Pension customers, June 1990 to June 2010

Note: Includes Wife (Age) Pension payments administered by the Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA). For some years, Wife (Age) Pensions paid through DVA are captured in Age Pension figures. Excludes Wife Disability Wage Supplement. From 1 January 1998, there were no further grants of Disability Wage Supplement.

Source: Centrelink administrative data.

Table 15: Wife Pension customers, characteristics by pension type, June 2010
Characteristics	Age Pension^(a)		Disability Support Pension		Total^(b)
Characteristics	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
Total	10,834	44.0	13,782	56.0	24,616	100.0
Age (years)
Under 40	15	0.1	215	1.6	230	0.9
40–49	368	3.4	2,458	17.8	2,826	11.5
50–59	3,486	32.2	7,667	55.6	11,153	45.3
60–64	6,304	58.2	3,329	24.2	9,633	39.1
65 and over	661	6.1	113	0.8	774	3.1
Marital status^(c)
Married/de facto	10,751	99.2	13,742	99.7	24,493	99.5
Single/separated/divorced/widowed	83	0.8	40	0.3	123	0.5
Country of birth (top five countries)
Australia	4,826	44.5	8,760	63.6	13,586	55.2
Lebanon	623	5.8	692	5.0	1,315	5.3
United Kingdom/Ireland/Eire	501	4.6	720	5.2	1,221	5.0
Italy	812	7.5	360	2.6	1,172	4.8
Greece	664	6.1	501	3.6	1,165	4.7
Other	3,408	31.5	2,749	19.9	6,157	25.0
Home ownership
Home owner	7,960	73.5	8,915	64.7	16,875	68.6
Non-home owner	2,874	26.5	4,867	35.3	7,741	31.4
Rate
Full rate	8,462	78.1	9,708	70.4	18,170	73.8
Part rate	2,372	21.9	4,074	29.6	6,446	26.2
Paid under income test^(d)
Single	222	2.0	40	0.3	262	1.1
Partnered	10,371	95.7	13,498	97.9	23,869	97.0
Paid under assets test^(d)
Home owners	227	2.1	130	0.9	357	1.5
Non-home owners	9	0.1	14	0.1	23	0.1
Not coded^(e)	5	0.0	100	0.7	105	0.4

(a) Excludes 39 Wife (Age) Pension payments administered by the Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA).

(b) 'Total' percentages based on combined 'Age' and 'Disability' payments.

(c) Occurrences of 'single' wife pensioners can be attributed to rules that state that if the loss of the survivor's entitlement occurs as a result of the partner's death they can continue to temporarily remain qualified for Wife Pension for up to 14 weeks after the partner's death.

(d) All pensioners paid a full rate of pension are classified as income tested and included in the 'paid under income test' category. Wife Pension can be paid at the single pension rate if the couple is living apart because of ill health—the 'partnered' income and assets tests still apply.

(e) At least one of the variables required to determine the customer's income or assets test category was not coded (that is, partnership category, home ownership type or whether income or assets tested).

Note: Wife pensioners over age 65 years are most likely to be women who are not residentially qualified for Age Pension in their own right (that is, women who have been on Wife Pension since before 1 July 1995 but have not been an Australian resident for 10 years).

Source: Centrelink administrative data.

Table 16: Wife Pension customers by state/territory and pension type, June 2010
State/territory	Age Pension^(a)		Disability Support Pension		Total
State/territory	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
New South Wales	3,543	44.7	4,375	55.3	7,918	32.2
Victoria	2,549	46.0	2,990	54.0	5,539	22.5
Queensland	1,895	41.7	2,646	58.3	4,541	18.4
Western Australia	891	42.1	1,225	57.9	2,116	8.6
South Australia	1,062	46.0	1,248	54.0	2,310	9.4
Tasmania	372	38.8	588	61.3	960	3.9
Australian Capital Territory	62	51.7	58	48.3	120	0.5
Northern Territory	42	49.4	43	50.6	85	0.3
Other^(b)	418	40.7	609	59.3	1,027	4.2
Total	10,834	44.0	13,782	56.0	24,616	100.0

(a) Excludes 39 Wife (Age) Pension payments administered by the Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA).

(b) Includes all overseas pensioners, regardless of their length of stay overseas.

Source: Centrelink administrative data.

2.6 Carer Payment

Carer Payment is for carers who provide full-time care in the home of the person(s) being cared for, and who, because of the demands of their caring role, are unable to support themselves by participating substantially in the workforce.

To qualify for Carer Payment, a person must be caring for someone who has a severe disability or medical condition and who is:

receiving a social security or a Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA) income support payment, or
not receiving payment solely for reasons of lack of sufficient period of residence in Australia, or
not receiving a social security or a DVA income support payment but satisfying the special care receiver income and assets tests.

The person claiming must:

be personally providing constant care to a care receiver who satisfies eligibility requirements, and
not be in receipt of any other income support payment, and
be in Australia at the time the care is given and be a permanent resident of Australia.

A care receiver satisfies the eligibility requirements if they:

have a physical, intellectual or psychiatric disability, and
are a person who is being provided with constant care, and
are likely to suffer from that disability permanently or for an extended period, and
have been assessed, rated and given a score of at least 25 under the Adult Disability Assessment Tool (ADAT), or
have been assessed, rated and given a score of at least 20 under the ADAT, and have a Carer Allowance child under the age of 16 years or a child under the age of 6 years, or
are a child that has been assessed under the Disability Care Load assessment as requiring an intense level of care.

Prior to 1 July 1997, Carer Payment was known as Carer Pension.

Eligibility for Carer Payment for carers of children under 16 years of age was introduced on 1 July 1998.

From 1 July 2009, Carer Payment (Child) assessment changed to being assessed under the Disability Care Load Assessment (DCLA) and the following categories are now covered:

a child with severe disability or severe medical condition, or
two or more children with disability or medical condition, or
a disabled adult and one or more children each with a disability or medical condition, or
a child with severe disability or severe medical condition on a short term or episodic basis, or
a profoundly disabled child or a disabled child (continuing to qualify for a payment under previous legislation (pre–1 July 2009)).

Table 17: Carer Payment customers by payment type of care receiver, June 1990 to June 2010
As at June	Age Pension		Disability Support Pension		Other^(a)		Total
As at June	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.
1990	4,025	45.8	4,771	54.2			8,796

1991	4,619	45.5	5,478	53.9	64	0.6	10,161
1992	5,574	44.1	6,790	53.8	267	2.1	12,631
1993	6,507	43.3	8,056	53.5	482	3.2	15,045
1994	7,441	42.0	9,450	53.4	808	4.6	17,699
1995	8,324	41.4	10,633	52.9	1,141	5.7	20,098

1996	9,500	37.9	13,483	53.9	2,054	8.2	25,037
1997	10,954	37.1	15,735	53.2	2,869	9.7	29,558
1998	11,740	34.6	18,556	54.6	3,683	10.8	33,979
1999	13,407	33.5	21,392	53.4	5,271	13.2	40,070
2000	15,346	32.3	24,500	51.5	7,704	16.2	47,550

2001	18,097	31.6	28,171	49.3	10,922	19.1	57,190
2002^(b)							67,260
2003							75,937
2004							84,082
2005							95,446

2006							105,058
2007							116,614
2008							130,657
2009							146,870
2010							168,913

(a) Includes those caring for a person on a Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA) payment other than Age Pension or Disability Support Pension. It also includes those caring for a person not on a FaHCSIA payment.

(b) Figures by pension type are not available from 2002.

Source: Centrelink administrative data.

Figure description

Figure 6: Carer Payment customers, June 1990 to June 2010

Figure 6: Carer Payment customers, June 1990 to June 2010

Note: Includes those caring for a person on a Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA) payment other than Age Pension or Disability Support Pension. It also includes those caring for a person not on a FaHCSIA payment.

Source: Centrelink administrative data.

Table 18: Carer Payment customers, characteristics by sex, June 2010
Characteristics	Male		Female		Total
Characteristics	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
Total	52,202	30.9	116,711	69.1	168,913	100.0
Age (years)
Under 20	715	1.4	1,157	1.0	1,872	1.1
20–29	3,682	7.1	6,720	5.8	10,402	6.2
30–39	6,456	12.4	15,502	13.3	21,958	13.0
40–49	11,055	21.2	28,086	24.1	39,141	23.2
50–59	13,930	26.7	36,179	31.0	50,109	29.7
60–64	9,097	17.4	19,909	17.1	29,006	17.2
65 and over	7,267	13.9	9,158	7.8	16,425	9.7
Marital status
Married/de facto	31,934	61.2	74,705	64.0	106,639	63.1
Single/separated/divorced/widowed	20,268	38.8	42,006	36.0	62,274	36.9
Country of birth (top five countries)
Australia	33,663	64.5	73,283	62.8	106,946	63.3
United Kingdom	3,132	6.0	5,456	4.7	8,588	5.1
Lebanon	1,406	2.7	4,298	3.7	5,704	3.4
Iraq	1,925	3.7	2,857	2.4	4,782	2.8
Vietnam	1,174	2.2	3,497	3.0	4,671	2.8
Other^(a)	10,902	20.9	27,320	23.4	38,222	22.6
Home ownership
Home owner	20,985	40.2	58,474	50.1	79,459	47.0
Non-home owner	31,217	59.8	58,237	49.9	89,454	53.0
Rate^(b)
Full rate						74.0
Part rate						26.0
Paid under income test
Single	19,782	37.9	41,238	35.3	61,020	36.1
Partnered	30,809	59.0	71,376	61.2	102,185	60.5
Home owner paid under assets test
Single	211	0.4	483	0.4	694	0.4
Partnered	1,104	2.1	3,053	2.6	4,157	2.5
Non-home owner paid under assets test	125	0.2	230	0.2	355	0.2
Income/assets test not coded^(c)	171	0.3	331	0.3	502	0.3
Duration^(d)
<1 year	10,787	20.7	24,045	20.6	34,832	20.6
1 to <2 years	8,611	16.5	18,730	16.0	27,341	16.2
2 to <3 years	5,829	11.2	15,125	13.0	20,954	12.4
3 to <4 years	4,850	9.3	12,111	10.4	16,961	10.0
4 to <5 years	3,917	7.5	9,155	7.8	13,072	7.7
5 to <10 years	12,756	24.4	28,565	24.5	41,321	24.5
10 years and over	5,452	10.4	8,980	7.7	14,432	8.5

Mean (weeks)	230.6		212.2		217.9
Median (weeks)	160.9		156.5		156.5

(a) Includes any unknown country of birth.

(b) Full/part rate customer counts unavailable due to data integrity issues with the data source. Overall percentage breakdown for 'Total' derived from the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs Annual Report.

(c) At least one of the variables required to determine the customer's assets test category was not coded (that is, partnership category, home ownership type or whether income or assets tested).

(d) Duration is measured from the income support start date.

Source: Centrelink administrative data.

Table 19: Carer Payment customers by state/territory and sex, June 2010
State/territory	Male		Female		Total
State/territory	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
New South Wales	20,197	31.2	44,617	68.8	64,814	38.4
Victoria	12,980	30.2	29,934	69.8	42,914	25.4
Queensland	9,025	29.8	21,213	70.2	30,238	17.9
Western Australia	3,029	30.2	7,005	69.8	10,034	5.9
South Australia	4,312	33.8	8,452	66.2	12,764	7.6
Tasmania	2,082	33.6	4,121	66.4	6,203	3.7
Australian Capital Territory	297	33.2	597	66.8	894	0.5
Northern Territory	255	27.2	684	72.8	939	0.6
Other^(a)	25	22.1	88	77.9	113	0.1
Total	52,202	30.9	116,711	69.1	168,913	100.0

(a) Includes unknown postcodes and overseas recipients.

Source: Centrelink administrative data.

2.7 Carer Allowance

Carer Allowance is a supplementary payment available to a person who provides daily care and attention for adults or children with a disability or medical condition.

Carer Allowance was introduced on 1 July 1999. It combined Child Disability Allowance with Domiciliary Nursing Care Benefit (the latter of which was the responsibility of the Health and Aged Care portfolio).

Carer Allowance may be paid for up to two adults who receive daily care and attention, and/or any number of dependent children with a disability or medical condition. The carer or parent may be eligible to receive a fortnightly payment of Carer Allowance for each eligible person in their care.
Parents caring for two children with disabilities, who individually fall just below the qualification for Carer Allowance but whose combined assessment under the Child Disability Assessment Tool (CDAT) meets the threshold for payment, will receive a single rate of Carer Allowance.
Customers who were entitled to Child Disability Allowance on 30 June 1998 were eligible for Carer Allowance until 30 June 2003, providing their circumstances did not change, and were not subject to Centrelink-initiated medical reviews during that period. These customers were subject to review against the current eligibility criteria from 1 July 2003.
All Domiciliary Nursing Care Benefit recipients as at 30 June 1999 were automatically transferred to Carer Allowance (Adult) on 1 July 1999 when the new Carer Allowance was introduced.

The person claiming must:

be personally providing daily care to a care receiver who satisfies eligibility requirements, and
provide care and attention in a private home, or participate in the provision of care and attention given to the care receiver during a period of temporary hospitalisation, and
provide at least 20 hours per week of personal care on a daily basis if not residing with the care receiver, and be in Australia at the time the care is given and be a permanent resident of Australia.

A care receiver satisfies the eligibility requirements if they are:

aged 16 years or over with a disability that causes a substantial functional impairment (as assessed under the Adult Disability Assessment Tool (ADAT)), or
a dependent child aged under 16 years:
- with a disability or medical condition that is included in the list of disabilities or conditions that result in automatic qualification, or
- assessed under the CDAT as functioning at a level below the standard expected for his or her age, and
- living with the claimant, and
an Australian resident, living with the claimant and likely to suffer from the disability permanently or for an extended period of at least 12 months (unless their condition is terminal).

In respect of a child care receiver only, a person can get either:

a fortnightly payment plus a Health Care Card, or
a Health Care Card.

Carer Allowance is neither income nor assets tested.

Table 20: Carer Allowance customers by carer type, June 1990 to June 2010
As at June	Child	Adult^(a)	Adult and child	Total
1990	37,746			37,746

1991	42,405			42,405
1992	50,797			50,797
1993	61,174			61,174
1994	69,693			69,693
1995	78,898			78,898

1996	90,644			90,644
1997	95,520			95,520
1998	90,830			90,830
1999	100,452			100,452
2000^(b)	116,955	84,104		201,059

2001	111,691	121,755	1,595	235,041
2002	115,404	154,425	2,216	272,045
2003	119,003	177,862	2,744	299,609
2004^(c)	96,153	198,598	2,856	297,607
2005	102,535	233,859	3,611	340,005

2006	106,622	256,107	4,231	366,960
2007	109,118	279,243	4,902	393,263
2008	113,549	303,661	5,695	422,905
2009	120,090	334,511	6,485	461,086
2010	126,315	362,185	7,233	495,733

(a) From 2002, includes customers not coded by carer type.

(b) Estimates for 2000 were derived from a different Centrelink data source. Caution should be exercised when utilising data for 2000 in conjunction with historical data and data from 2001 onwards.

Note: Carer Allowance was introduced on 1 July 1999. It combined Child Disability Allowance with Domiciliary Nursing Care Benefit (the latter of which was the responsibility of the Health and Aged Care portfolio). Excludes Health Care Card only customers.

Source: Centrelink administrative data.

Figure description

Figure 7: Carer Allowance customers, June 1990 to June 2010

Figure 7: Carer Allowance customers, June 1990 to June 2010

Source: Centrelink administrative data.

Table 21: Carer Allowance customers, characteristics by sex, June 2010
Characteristics	Male		Female		Total
Characteristics	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
Total	125,474	25.3	370,259	74.7	495,733	100.0
Age (years)
Under 20	1,066	0.8	1,724	0.5	2,790	0.6
20–29	4,800	3.8	17,989	4.9	22,789	4.6
30–39	10,595	8.4	69,963	18.9	80,558	16.3
40–49	19,232	15.3	89,764	24.2	108,996	22.0
50–59	23,104	18.4	74,365	20.1	97,469	19.7
60–69	27,953	22.3	67,414	18.2	95,367	19.2
70–79	24,326	19.4	36,211	9.8	60,537	12.2
80 and over	14,398	11.5	12,829	3.5	27,227	5.5
Marital status
Married/de facto	90,785	72.4	263,880	71.3	354,665	71.5
Single/separated/divorced/widowed	34,689	27.6	106,379	28.7	141,068	28.5
Country of birth (top five countries)
Australia	78,561	62.6	258,423	69.8	336,984	68.0
United Kingdom	9,232	7.4	19,639	5.3	28,871	5.8
Italy	5,088	4.1	8,705	2.4	13,793	2.8
Greece	3,884	3.1	6,295	1.7	10,179	2.1
Lebanon	2,019	1.6	6,972	1.9	8,991	1.8
Other	26,690	21.3	70,225	19.0	96,915	19.5
Home ownership
Home owner	67,024	53.4	206,133	55.7	273,157	55.1
Non-home owner	58,450	46.6	164,126	44.3	222,576	44.9
Duration^(a)
<1 year	23,678	18.9	55,087	14.9	78,765	15.9
1 to <2 years	23,229	18.5	59,711	16.1	82,940	16.7
2 to <3 years	15,168	12.1	43,148	11.7	58,316	11.8
3 to <4 years	12,989	10.4	36,642	9.9	49,631	10.0
4 to <5 years	9,706	7.7	24,017	6.5	33,723	6.8
5 to <10 years	34,227	27.3	115,316	31.1	149,543	30.2
10 years and over	6,477	5.2	36,338	9.8	42,815	8.6

Mean (weeks)	200.6		237.7		228.3
Median (weeks)	156.5		191.3		182.6

(a) Duration is measured from the allowance start date.

Note: Excludes 12,860 customers who receive a Health Care Card only.

Source: Centrelink administrative data.

Table 22: Carer Allowance customers by state/territory and carer type, June 2010
State/territory	Child^(a)		Adult^(b)		Adult and child		Total
State/territory	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
New South Wales	42,176	33.4	128,803	35.6	2,674	37.0	173,653	35.0
Victoria	33,455	26.5	97,483	26.9	1,866	25.8	132,804	26.8
Queensland	23,847	18.9	66,485	18.4	1,322	18.3	91,654	18.5
Western Australia	10,153	8.0	24,669	6.8	413	5.7	35,235	7.1
South Australia	11,269	8.9	29,155	8.0	648	9.0	41,072	8.3
Tasmania	3,013	2.4	11,042	3.0	241	3.3	14,296	2.9
Australian Capital Territory	1,632	1.3	2,903	0.8	51	0.7	4,586	0.9
Northern Territory	752	0.6	1,595	0.4	17	0.2	2,364	0.5
Other^(c)	18	0.0	50	0.0	1	0.0	69	0.0
Total	126,315	100.0	362,185	100.0	7,233	100.0	495,733	100.0

(a) Excludes 12,860 customers who receive a Health Care Card only.

(b) Includes 99 customers not coded by carer type.

Source: Centrelink administrative data.

3 Student and labour market related payments

3.1 Austudy Payment

Austudy Payment provides support for students and Australian apprentices aged 25 years and over. Austudy Payment was introduced on 1 July 1998 and replaced the program formerly known as AUSTUDY.

Students must be full-time and undertaking an approved course with an approved institution. Approved courses generally include secondary education courses, undergraduate courses, associate diplomas and some other diplomas, TAFE courses and some postgraduate courses.

Apprentices must be full-time and have a current Commonwealth Registration Identification number.

Austudy Payment is subject to the personal income and assets tests and the partner income test.

Austudy Payment is subject to residence requirements.

Table 23: Austudy Payment customers, characteristics by sex, June 2010
Characteristics	Male		Female		Total
Characteristics	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
Total	18,842	50.5	18,500	49.5	37,342	100.0
Age (years)
25–29	8,512	45.2	7,845	42.4	16,357	43.8
30–34	4,258	22.6	3,273	17.7	7,531	20.2
35–39	2,589	13.7	2,175	11.8	4,764	12.8
40–44	1,464	7.8	1,810	9.8	3,274	8.8
45–49	954	5.1	1,674	9.0	2,628	7.0
50–54	548	2.9	1,119	6.0	1,667	4.5
55–59	360	1.9	477	2.6	837	2.2
60 and over	157	0.8	127	0.7	284	0.8
Marital status
Single or partnered (no child)	14,679	77.9	14,945	80.8	29,624	79.3
Single with children	329	1.7	1,629	8.8	1,958	5.2
Partnered with children	3,834	20.3	1,926	10.4	5,760	15.4
Duration^(a)
<3 months	1,385	7.4	1,484	8.0	2,869	7.7
3 to <6 months	4,050	21.5	4,269	23.1	8,319	22.3
6 to <9 months	1,047	5.6	1,129	6.1	2,176	5.8
9 months to <1 year	1,521	8.1	1,348	7.3	2,869	7.7
1 to <2 years	5,291	28.1	4,609	24.9	9,900	26.5
2 to <3 years	2,208	11.7	2,011	10.9	4,219	11.3
3 years and over	3,340	17.7	3,650	19.7	6,990	18.7

Mean (weeks)	100.0		121.3		110.5
Median (weeks)	66.0		63.0		65.0
Income ($ per week)^(b)
Nil	14,052	74.6	12,592	68.1	26,644	71.4
0.01–118.00	1,344	7.1	1,521	8.2	2,865	7.7
Over 118.00	3,446	18.3	4,387	23.7	7,833	21.0
Study level
Secondary	443	2.4	309	1.7	752	2.0
Tertiary Group A	1,075	5.7	1,162	6.3	2,237	6.0
Tertiary Group B	9,977	53.0	9,329	50.4	19,306	51.7
Tertiary Group C	2,772	14.7	2,912	15.7	5,684	15.2
Tertiary Group D	2,885	15.3	3,369	18.2	6,254	16.7
Other	1,213	6.4	1,202	6.5	2,415	6.5
Not recorded	477	2.5	217	1.2	694	1.9

(a) Duration is measured from the income support start date. For customers who previously received AUSTUDY, this duration would have been reset when Austudy Payment was introduced and their durations may be underestimated.

(b) Income is defined as earned income.

Note: Customer numbers include 1,068 people who received a nil rate of payment due to their own or partner's income. Tertiary Group 'A' refers to postgraduate bachelor degrees or postgraduate/graduate diplomas. Tertiary Group 'B' refers to undergraduate bachelor degrees. Tertiary Group 'C' refers to associate diplomas/degrees and TAFE diplomas that require completion of Year 12 for entry, or two-year undergraduate diploma and certificate courses. Tertiary Group 'D' refers to certificate courses. Figures represented in this table are not comparable to the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) Annual Report published figures due to an improved attribution of student income support recipient data.

Source: Centrelink administrative data (DEEWR Blue Book dataset).

Table 24: Austudy Payment customers by state/territory and sex, June 2010
State/territory	Male		Female		Total
State/territory	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
New South Wales	6,225	50.2	6,169	49.8	12,394	33.2
Victoria	5,355	51.1	5,134	48.9	10,489	28.1
Queensland	3,118	47.5	3,446	52.5	6,564	17.6
Western Australia	1,452	49.4	1,488	50.6	2,940	7.9
South Australia	1,678	54.8	1,386	45.2	3,064	8.2
Tasmania	582	52.8	521	47.2	1,103	3.0
Australian Capital Territory	319	56.4	247	43.6	566	1.5
Northern Territory	55	50.0	55	50.0	110	0.3
Other^(a)	58	51.8	54	48.2	112	0.3
Total	18,842	50.5	18,500	49.5	37,342	100.0

(a) Includes unspecified state/territory.

Note: Customer numbers include 1,068 people who received a nil rate of payment due to their own or partner's income. Figures represented in this table are not comparable to the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) Annual Report published figures due to an improved attribution of student income support recipient data.

Source: Centrelink administrative data (DEEWR Blue Book dataset).

3.2 ABSTUDY scheme

The purpose of the ABSTUDY scheme is to address the particular educational disadvantages faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people by improving educational outcomes to a level commensurate with the Australian population in general. ABSTUDY policy aims to encourage eligible Indigenous students to take full advantage of available educational opportunities and improve their employment opportunities.

The main objectives of the ABSTUDY scheme are to:

encourage Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to take full advantage of the educational opportunities available
promote equity of educational opportunity, and
improve educational outcomes.

ABSTUDY is subject to residence requirements and income and assets tests dependent on the person's individual circumstances. Provisions could include personal or parental income test, and/or family assets test, family actual means test, independent assets test or independent partner income test.

Table 25: ABSTUDY scheme customers, characteristics by sex, June 2010
Characteristics	Male		Female		Total
Characteristics	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
Total	17,314	47.7	18,994	52.3	36,308	100.0
Age (years)
12 or less	1,363	7.9	1,420	7.5	2,783	7.7
13	2,830	16.3	2,828	14.9	5,658	15.6
14	3,039	17.6	2,852	15.0	5,891	16.2
15	2,756	15.9	2,830	14.9	5,586	15.4
16	2,116	12.2	2,017	10.6	4,133	11.4
17	1,569	9.1	1,625	8.6	3,194	8.8
18	654	3.8	737	3.9	1,391	3.8
19	357	2.1	498	2.6	855	2.4
20	268	1.5	361	1.9	629	1.7
21 and over	2,362	13.6	3,826	20.1	6,188	17.0
Marital status
Married/de facto	611	3.5	1,324	7.0	1,935	5.3
Single/separated/divorced/widowed	16,703	96.5	17,670	93.0	34,373	94.7
Duration^(a)
<3 months	1,245	7.2	1,381	7.3	2,626	7.2
3 to <6 months	6,823	39.4	7,739	40.7	14,562	40.1
6 to <9 months	586	3.4	634	3.3	1,220	3.4
9 months to <1 year	821	4.7	918	4.8	1,739	4.8
1 to <2 years	4,623	26.7	4,867	25.6	9,490	26.1
2 to <3 years	2,171	12.5	2,271	12.0	4,442	12.2
3 years and over	1,045	6.0	1,184	6.2	2,229	6.1

Mean (weeks)	60.8		59.5		60.1
Median (weeks)	39.0		34.0		37.0
Income ($ per week)^(b)
Nil	16,629	96.0	17,737	93.4	34,366	94.7
0.01–118.00	210	1.2	416	2.2	626	1.7
Over 118.00	475	2.7	841	4.4	1,316	3.6
Study level
Secondary	13,912	80.4	13,810	72.7	27,722	76.4
Tertiary	2,991	17.3	4,988	26.3	7,979	22.0
Other	411	2.4	196	1.0	607	1.7
Student status
Full-time	16,413	94.8	17,613	92.7	34,026	93.7
Part-time^(c)	901	5.2	1,381	7.3	2,282	6.3

(a) Duration is measured from the ABSTUDY start date.

(b) Income is defined as earned income.

Note: Figures represented in this table are not comparable to the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) Annual Report published figures due to an improved attribution of student income support recipient data.

Source: Centrelink administrative data (DEEWR Blue Book dataset).

Table 26: ABSTUDY scheme customers by state/territory and sex, June 2010
State/territory^(a)	Male		Female		Total
State/territory^(a)	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
New South Wales	6,237	47.4	6,913	52.6	13,150	36.2
Victoria	1,167	46.9	1,319	53.1	2,486	6.8
Queensland	4,819	47.5	5,323	52.5	10,142	27.9
Western Australia	2,124	50.6	2,077	49.4	4,201	11.6
South Australia	1,004	45.7	1,195	54.3	2,199	6.1
Tasmania	421	46.5	484	53.5	905	2.5
Australian Capital Territory	130	46.9	147	53.1	277	0.8
Northern Territory	1,399	47.9	1,524	52.1	2,923	8.1
Other^(b)	13	52.0	12	48.0	25	0.1
Total	17,314	47.7	18,994	52.3	36,308	100.0

(a) State/territory is the home or residential state/territory of the scheme participant. Participants may be attending an educational institution in a state/territory other than their home state/territory.

(b) Includes unspecified state/territory.

Source: Centrelink administrative data (DEEWR Blue Book dataset).

3.3 Youth Allowance

Introduced on 1 July 1998, Youth Allowance (full-time student and apprentice) replaced AUSTUDY for full-time students under 25 years and Youth Allowance (other) replaced Sickness Allowance, Youth Training Allowance and Newstart Allowance for young people under 21 years of age who are temporarily incapacitated or unemployed and looking for work.

These changes were introduced in response to concerns from the community about the need for income support arrangements that address changing labour market conditions, the need for increased flexibility and simplicity, and the removal of disincentives to study.

Young people aged 16 to 20 years who are unemployed or aged 16 to 25 years (15 years if considered independent) and undertaking full-time studies, or a combination of approved activities such as part-time work and part-time study, are eligible for Youth Allowance.

A parental means test applies unless the customer is assessed as independent. Independence for Youth Allowance purposes can be obtained in a number of ways, including through minimum levels of prior workforce participation, marital status, or where it is considered by a Centrelink Social Worker unreasonable for the young person to live at home. Single, dependent young people receive the 'at home' rate of payment unless they live apart from their parent(s) for approved reasons.

Residence requirements apply.

Table 27: Youth Allowance (full-time student and apprentice) customers, characteristics by sex, June 2010
Characteristics	Male		Female		Total
Characteristics	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
Total	134,733	45.4	162,290	54.6	297,023	100.0
Age (years)
15	48	0.0	105	0.1	153	0.1
16	26,304	19.5	27,170	16.7	53,474	18.0
17	23,229	17.2	25,770	15.9	48,999	16.5
18	15,505	11.5	18,772	11.6	34,277	11.5
19	14,322	10.6	19,096	11.8	33,418	11.3
20	15,367	11.4	21,347	13.2	36,714	12.4
21	13,637	10.1	18,514	11.4	32,151	10.8
22	10,239	7.6	13,168	8.1	23,407	7.9
23	7,196	5.3	8,611	5.3	15,807	5.3
24	5,194	3.9	5,752	3.5	10,946	3.7
25 and over	3,692	2.7	3,985	2.5	7,677	2.6
Rate
At home	75,961	56.4	81,450	50.2	157,411	53.0
Away from home or couple	58,772	43.6	80,840	49.8	139,612	47.0

Independent	49,613	36.8	67,562	41.6	117,175	39.4
Dependent	85,120	63.2	94,728	58.4	179,848	60.6
Duration^(a)
<3 months	14,804	11.0	17,050	10.5	31,854	10.7
3 to <6 months	22,492	16.7	27,372	16.9	49,864	16.8
6 to <9 months	10,312	7.7	11,633	7.2	21,945	7.4
9 months to <1 year	11,342	8.4	12,916	8.0	24,258	8.2
1 to <2 years	38,423	28.5	46,115	28.4	84,538	28.5
2 to <3 years	18,099	13.4	22,850	14.1	40,949	13.8
3 years and over	19,261	14.3	24,354	15.0	43,615	14.7

Mean (weeks)	79.6		81.3		80.5
Median (weeks)	59.0		62.0		61.0
Income ($ per week)^(b)
Nil	99,044	73.5	102,934	63.4	201,978	68.0
0.01–118.00	13,550	10.1	22,696	14.0	36,246	12.2
Over 118.00	22,139	16.4	36,660	22.6	58,799	19.8
Study level
Secondary	54,596	40.5	57,080	35.2	111,676	37.6
Tertiary Group A	1,284	1.0	2,122	1.3	3,406	1.1
Tertiary Group B	58,163	43.2	79,395	48.9	137,558	46.3
Tertiary Group C	6,656	4.9	8,268	5.1	14,924	5.0
Tertiary Group D	8,526	6.3	10,964	6.8	19,490	6.6
Apprentices/other	5,023	3.7	3,880	2.4	8,903	3.0
Not recorded	485	0.4	581	0.4	1,066	0.4

(a) Duration is measured from the income support start date.

(b) Income is defined as earned income.

Notes: Data include 6,462 customers who received a nil rate of payment due to their own or partner's income and 4,479 apprentices. Figures represented in this table are not comparable to Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) Annual Report published figures due to an improved attribution of student income support recipient data.

Tertiary Group 'A' refers to postgraduate bachelor degrees or postgraduate/graduate diplomas. Tertiary Group 'B' refers to undergraduate bachelor degrees. Tertiary Group 'C' refers to associate diplomas/degrees and TAFE diplomas that require completion of Year 12 for entry, or two-year undergraduate diploma and certificate courses. Tertiary Group 'D' refers to certificate courses.

Source: Centrelink administrative data (DEEWR Blue Book dataset).

Table 28: Youth Allowance (other) customers, characteristics by sex, June 2010
Characteristics	Male		Female		Total
Characteristics	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
Total	46,782	52.9	41,677	47.1	88,459	100.0
Age (years)
15	23	0.0	47	0.1	70	0.1
16	2,622	5.6	2,444	5.9	5,066	5.7
17	6,208	13.3	6,031	14.5	12,239	13.8
18	12,433	26.6	11,751	28.2	24,184	27.3
19	13,087	28.0	11,567	27.8	24,654	27.9
20	12,368	26.4	9,806	23.5	22,174	25.1
21 and over	41	0.1	31	0.1	72	0.1
Rate
At home	22,603	48.3	17,805	42.7	40,408	45.7
Away from home or couple	24,179	51.7	23,872	57.3	48,051	54.3

Independent	20,986	44.9	20,387	48.9	41,373	46.8
Dependent	25,796	55.1	21,290	51.1	47,086	53.2
Duration^(a)
<3 months	7,463	16.0	5,555	13.3	13,018	14.7
3 to <6 months	7,197	15.4	6,077	14.6	13,274	15.0
6 to <9 months	4,284	9.2	3,564	8.6	7,848	8.9
9 months to <1 year	3,427	7.3	2,822	6.8	6,249	7.1
1 to <2 years	10,779	23.0	9,443	22.7	20,222	22.9
2 to <3 years	7,262	15.5	7,362	17.7	14,624	16.5
3 years and over	6,370	13.6	6,854	16.4	13,224	14.9

Mean (weeks)	74.1		81.7		77.7
Median (weeks)	56.0		66.0		60.0
Income ($ per week)^(b)
Nil	41,099	87.9	33,426	80.2	74,525	84.2
0.01–31.00	257	0.5	391	0.9	648	0.7
31.01–118.00	1,695	3.6	2,540	6.1	4,235	4.8
Over 118.00	3,731	8.0	5,320	12.8	9,051	10.2
Main activity type
Jobsearch	12,964	27.7	13,015	31.2	25,979	29.4
Incapacitated	1,016	2.2	1,121	2.7	2,137	2.4
Work for dole	330	0.7	168	0.4	498	0.6
CDEP participant	438	0.9	240	0.6	678	0.8
Jobs placement, employment & training	239	0.5	175	0.4	414	0.5
Other	31,795	68.0	26,958	64.7	58,753	66.4

(a) Duration is measured from the income support start date. This may include periods on Youth Allowance as a full-time student.

(b) Income is defined as earned income.

Note: Data include 2,521 customers who received a nil rate of payment due to their own or partner's income. The figures also include 674 Community Development Employment Project (CDEP) participants who received a nil rate of basic Youth Allowance but received CDEP Supplement.

Source: Centrelink administrative data (Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Blue Book dataset).

Table 29: Total Youth Allowance customers, characteristics by sex, June 2010
Characteristics	Male		Female		Total
Characteristics	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
Total	181,515	47.1	203,967	52.9	385,482	100.0
Age (years)
15	71	0.0	152	0.1	223	0.1
16	28,926	15.9	29,614	14.5	58,540	15.2
17	29,437	16.2	31,801	15.6	61,238	15.9
18	27,938	15.4	30,523	15.0	58,461	15.2
19	27,409	15.1	30,663	15.0	58,072	15.1
20	27,735	15.3	31,153	15.3	58,888	15.3
21	13,677	7.5	18,545	9.1	32,222	8.4
22	10,240	5.6	13,168	6.5	23,408	6.1
23	7,196	4.0	8,611	4.2	15,807	4.1
24	5,194	2.9	5,752	2.8	10,946	2.8
25 and over	3,692	2.0	3,985	2.0	7,677	2.0
Rate
At home	98,564	54.3	99,255	48.7	197,819	51.3
Away from home or couple	82,951	45.7	104,712	51.3	187,663	48.7

Independent	70,599	38.9	87,949	43.1	158,548	41.1
Dependent	110,916	61.1	116,018	56.9	226,934	58.9
Duration^(a)
<3 months	22,267	12.3	22,605	11.1	44,872	11.6
3 to <6 months	29,689	16.4	33,449	16.4	63,138	16.4
6 to <9 months	14,596	8.0	15,197	7.5	29,793	7.7
9 months to <1 year	14,769	8.1	15,738	7.7	30,507	7.9
1 to <2 years	49,202	27.1	55,558	27.2	104,760	27.2
2 to <3 years	25,361	14.0	30,212	14.8	55,573	14.4
3 years and over	25,631	14.1	31,208	15.3	56,839	14.7

Mean (weeks)	78.2		81.4		79.9
Median (weeks)	59.0		62.0		60.0
Income ($ per week)^(b)
Nil	140,143	77.2	136,360	66.9	276,503	71.7
0.01–31.00	1,541	0.8	2,505	1.2	4,046	1.0
31.01–118.00	13,961	7.7	23,122	11.3	37,083	9.6
Over 118.00	25,870	14.3	41,980	20.6	67,850	17.6
Student status
Apprentice	3,258	1.8	1,221	0.6	4,479	1.2
Full-time	131,475	72.4	161,069	79.0	292,544	75.9
Part-time	380	0.2	608	0.3	988	0.3
Not a student	46,402	25.6	41,069	20.1	87,471	22.7

(a) Duration is measured from the income support start date.

(b) Income is defined as earned income.

Note: Figures represented in this table are not comparable to Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) Annual Report published figures due to an improved attribution of income support recipient data.

Source: Centrelink administrative data (DEEWR Blue Book dataset).

3.4 Newstart Allowance

Newstart Allowance is paid to people between 21 years and Age Pension age who are unemployed and satisfy the activity test. A person satisfies the activity test if they are actively seeking and willing to undertake suitable paid work, including casual and part-time work. The activity test can also be satisfied in other ways including, for example, undertaking a course of vocational training, participating in a labour market program, or entering and complying with the terms of an activity agreement requiring the person to engage in specified activities.

From 1 July 1998, mutual obligation requirements were placed on young people (18 to 24 years) who were unemployed for at least six months. These Newstart Allowance and Youth Allowance (other) recipients were required to supplement their normal job search efforts with one of a range of activities, including part-time work, voluntary work, Work for the Dole, job search training and intensive employment assistance. From 1 July 1999, mutual obligation requirements were extended to 25 to 34 year olds who have been unemployed for 12 months or more.

Newstart Allowance is subject to residence requirements and income and assets tests. Newstart Allowance customers are required to complete a fortnightly statement (in some circumstances this period may be extended) to advise of changes in circumstances that may affect entitlement to the allowance or the rate payable and, in most cases, to provide details of their job search efforts.

Jobseekers

The jobseeker population is derived for Newstart Allowance and Youth Allowance (other) recipients by excluding all people who did not receive a payment and those known not to have been required to search for work. People receiving intensive assistance under Job Network arrangements are classified as jobseekers. These people negotiate their activity agreement with their Job Network member. They may not always be undertaking job search. The total number of jobseekers is calculated by adding together the number of jobseekers in receipt of Newstart Allowance and Youth Allowance (other).

In the following tables, customers are defined as short-term (in receipt of a payment for less than 12 months) and long-term (in receipt of a payment for one year or more).

Table 30: Short-term Newstart Allowance customers, characteristics by sex, June 2010
Characteristics	Male		Female		Total
Characteristics	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
Total	143,736	64.6	78,641	35.4	222,377	100.0
Age (years)
21–24	26,748	18.6	15,011	19.1	41,759	18.8
25–29	24,343	16.9	9,654	12.3	33,997	15.3
30–34	19,446	13.5	6,932	8.8	26,378	11.9
35–39	18,067	12.6	8,101	10.3	26,168	11.8
40–44	14,820	10.3	8,669	11.0	23,489	10.6
45–49	12,841	8.9	9,469	12.0	22,310	10.0
50–59	19,149	13.3	15,203	19.3	34,352	15.4
60 and over	8,322	5.8	5,602	7.1	13,924	6.3
Marital status
Married/de facto	36,248	25.2	20,928	26.6	57,176	25.7
Single/separated/divorced/widowed	107,488	74.8	57,713	73.4	165,201	74.3
Country of birth (top five countries)
Australia	105,399	73.3	55,747	70.9	161,146	72.5
United Kingdom	5,284	3.7	3,267	4.2	8,551	3.8
New Zealand	3,912	2.7	2,248	2.9	6,160	2.8
Vietnam	2,378	1.7	1,419	1.8	3,797	1.7
China	1,583	1.1	1,731	2.2	3,314	1.5
Other	25,180	17.5	14,229	18.1	39,409	17.7
Duration^(a)
<7 weeks	26,740	18.6	14,044	17.9	40,784	18.3
7 weeks to <3 months	21,287	14.8	11,379	14.5	32,666	14.7
3 to <6 months	41,848	29.1	22,901	29.1	64,749	29.1
6 to <9 months	29,093	20.2	16,769	21.3	45,862	20.6
9 months to <1 year	24,768	17.2	13,548	17.2	38,316	17.2

Mean (weeks)	21.6		21.9		21.7
Median (weeks)	19.0		20.0		19.0
Income ($ per week)^(b)
Nil	125,289	87.2	61,278	77.9	186,567	83.9
0.01–31.00	571	0.4	521	0.7	1,092	0.5
Over 31.00	17,876	12.4	16,842	21.4	34,718	15.6
Activity type
Jobseekers	90,222	62.8	41,586	52.9	131,808	59.3
Incapacitated	7,570	5.3	5,653	7.2	13,223	5.9
Other^(c)	45,944	32.0	31,402	39.9	77,346	34.8

(a) Duration is measured from the income support start date.

(b) Income is defined as earned income.

(c) 'Other' activity types include customers involved in paid employment, full-time and part-time voluntary work, part-time study, self-employment development, training, or otherwise exempt from job search for reasons such as major personal crisis, remote location or jury duty.

Note: The figures in this table are not comparable to the Labour Market and Related Payments (LMRP) publication due to different extract rules. The LMRP reports average numbers over the reporting period and the above table is reporting point-in-time numbers as at June 2010. The table figures exclude 14,876 customers who received a nil rate of payment due to their own or partner's income and 1,178 Community Development Employment Project (CDEP) participants who received a nil rate of basic Newstart Allowance but received CDEP Supplement.

Source: Centrelink administrative data (Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Blue Book dataset).

Table 31: Long-term Newstart Allowance customers, characteristics by sex, June 2010
Characteristics	Male		Female		Total
Characteristics	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
Total	195,301	58.9	136,215	41.1	331,516	100.0
Age (years)
21–24	27,542	14.1	17,995	13.2	45,537	13.7
25–29	28,790	14.7	13,324	9.8	42,114	12.7
30–34	24,681	12.6	11,289	8.3	35,970	10.9
35–39	24,520	12.6	14,654	10.8	39,174	11.8
40–44	21,367	10.9	17,049	12.5	38,416	11.6
45–49	18,998	9.7	18,833	13.8	37,831	11.4
50–59	30,933	15.8	30,417	22.3	61,350	18.5
60 and over	18,470	9.5	12,654	9.3	31,124	9.4
Marital status
Married/de facto	46,626	23.9	34,576	25.4	81,202	24.5
Single/separated/divorced/widowed	148,675	76.1	101,639	74.6	250,314	75.5
Country of birth (top five countries)
Australia	145,970	74.7	97,371	71.5	243,341	73.4
United Kingdom	7,549	3.9	5,198	3.8	12,747	3.8
Vietnam	4,471	2.3	4,515	3.3	8,986	2.7
New Zealand	4,047	2.1	3,054	2.2	7,101	2.1
China	1,837	0.9	2,716	2.0	4,553	1.4
Other	31,427	16.1	23,361	17.2	54,788	16.5
Duration^(a)
1 to <2 years	79,211	40.6	41,354	30.4	120,565	36.4
2 to <3 years	31,780	16.3	19,796	14.5	51,576	15.6
3 to <4 years	17,492	9.0	12,826	9.4	30,318	9.1
4 to <5 years	12,167	6.2	7,621	5.6	19,788	6.0
5 years or more	54,651	28.0	54,618	40.1	109,269	33.0

Mean (weeks)	225.2		313.9		261.6
Median (weeks)	128.0		182.0		147.0
Income ($ per week)^(b)
Nil	169,131	86.6	102,855	75.5	271,986	82.0
0.01–31.00	842	0.4	891	0.7	1,733	0.5
Over 31.00	25,328	13.0	32,469	23.8	57,797	17.4
Activity type
Jobseekers	85,166	43.6	47,389	34.8	132,555	40.0
Incapacitated	7,849	4.0	6,990	5.1	14,839	4.5
Other^(c)	102,286	52.4	81,836	60.1	184,122	55.5

(a) Duration is measured from the income support start date.

(b) Income is defined as earned income.

Note: The figures in this table are not comparable to the Labour Market and Related Payments (LMRP) publication due to different extract rules. The LMRP reports average numbers over the reporting period and the above table is reporting point-in-time numbers as at June 2010. The table figures exclude 13,859 customers who received a nil rate of payment due to their own or partner's income and 3,733 Community Development Employment Project (CDEP) participants who received a nil rate of basic Newstart Allowance but received CDEP Supplement.

Source: Centrelink administrative data (Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Blue Book dataset).

Table 32: Total Newstart Allowance customers, characteristics by sex, June 2010
Characteristics	Male		Female		Total
Characteristics	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
Total	339,037	61.2	214,856	38.8	553,893	100.0
Age (years)
21–24	54,290	16.0	33,006	15.4	87,296	15.8
25–29	53,133	15.7	22,978	10.7	76,111	13.7
30–34	44,127	13.0	18,221	8.5	62,348	11.3
35–39	42,587	12.6	22,755	10.6	65,342	11.8
40–44	36,187	10.7	25,718	12.0	61,905	11.2
45–49	31,839	9.4	28,302	13.2	60,141	10.9
50–59	50,082	14.8	45,620	21.2	95,702	17.3
60 and over	26,792	7.9	18,256	8.5	45,048	8.1
Marital status
Married/de facto	82,874	24.4	55,504	25.8	138,378	25.0
Single/separated/divorced/widowed	256,163	75.6	159,352	74.2	415,515	75.0
Country of birth (top five countries)
Australia	251,369	74.1	153,118	71.3	404,487	73.0
United Kingdom	12,833	3.8	8,465	3.9	21,298	3.8
New Zealand	7,959	2.3	5,302	2.5	13,261	2.4
Vietnam	6,849	2.0	5,934	2.8	12,783	2.3
China	3,420	1.0	4,447	2.1	7,867	1.4
Other	56,607	16.7	37,590	17.5	94,197	17.0
Duration^(a)
<1 year	143,736	42.4	78,641	36.6	222,377	40.1
1 to <2 years	79,211	23.4	41,354	19.2	120,565	21.8
2 to <3 years	31,780	9.4	19,796	9.2	51,576	9.3
3 to <4 years	17,492	5.2	12,826	6.0	30,318	5.5
4 to <5 years	12,167	3.6	7,621	3.5	19,788	3.6
5 years or more	54,651	16.1	54,618	25.4	109,269	19.7

Mean (weeks)	138.9		207.0		165.3
Median (weeks)	66.0		83.0		71.0
Income ($ per week)^(b)
Nil	294,420	86.8	164,133	76.4	458,553	82.8
0.01–31.00	1,413	0.4	1,412	0.7	2,825	0.5
Over 31.00	43,204	12.7	49,311	23.0	92,515	16.7
Activity type
Jobseekers	175,388	51.7	88,975	41.4	264,363	47.7
Incapacitated	15,419	4.5	12,643	5.9	28,062	5.1
Other^(c)	148,230	43.7	113,238	52.7	261,468	47.2

(a) Duration is measured from the income support start date.

(b) Income is defined as earned income.

Note: The figures in this table are not comparable to the Labour Market and Related Payments (LMRP) publication due to different extract rules. The LMRP reports average numbers over the reporting period and the above table is reporting point-in-time numbers as at June 2010. The table figures exclude 28,735 customers who received a nil rate of payment due to their own or partner's income and 4,911 Community Development Employment Project (CDEP) participants who received a nil rate of basic Newstart Allowance but received CDEP Supplement.

Source: Centrelink administrative data (Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Blue Book dataset).

Table 33: Short-term unemployed customers, characteristics by sex, June 2010
Characteristics	Male		Female		Total
Characteristics	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
Total	166,107	63.2	96,659	36.8	262,766	100.0
Age (years)
Under 18	5,650	3.4	5,111	5.3	10,761	4.1
18–24	43,469	26.2	27,918	28.9	71,387	27.2
25–29	24,343	14.7	9,654	10.0	33,997	12.9
30–34	19,446	11.7	6,932	7.2	26,378	10.0
35–39	18,067	10.9	8,101	8.4	26,168	10.0
40–44	14,820	8.9	8,669	9.0	23,489	8.9
45–49	12,841	7.7	9,469	9.8	22,310	8.5
50–59	19,149	11.5	15,203	15.7	34,352	13.1
60 and over	8,322	5.0	5,602	5.8	13,924	5.3
Marital status
Married/de facto	37,560	22.6	22,621	23.4	60,181	22.9
Single/separated/divorced/widowed	128,547	77.4	74,038	76.6	202,585	77.1
Country of birth (top five countries)
Australia	125,939	75.8	72,483	75.0	198,422	75.5
United Kingdom	5,450	3.3	3,410	3.5	8,860	3.4
New Zealand	4,299	2.6	2,587	2.7	6,886	2.6
Vietnam	2,400	1.4	1,437	1.5	3,837	1.5
China	1,627	1.0	1,752	1.8	3,379	1.3
Other	26,392	15.9	14,990	15.5	41,382	15.7
Duration^(a)
<7 weeks	30,680	18.5	16,921	17.5	47,601	18.1
7 weeks to <3 months	24,810	14.9	14,057	14.5	38,867	14.8
3 to <6 months	49,045	29.5	28,978	30.0	78,023	29.7
6 to <9 months	33,377	20.1	20,333	21.0	53,710	20.4
9 months to <1 year	28,195	17.0	16,370	16.9	44,565	17.0

Mean (weeks)	21.5		21.8		21.6
Median (weeks)	19.0		20.0		19.0
Income ($ per week)^(b)
Nil	145,337	87.5	76,068	78.7	221,405	84.3
0.01–31.00	676	0.4	696	0.7	1,372	0.5
Over 31.00	20,094	12.1	19,895	20.6	39,989	15.2
Activity type
Jobseekers	96,038	57.8	47,185	48.8	143,223	54.5
Incapacitated	8,173	4.9	6,200	6.4	14,373	5.5
Other^(c)	61,896	37.3	43,274	44.8	105,170	40.0

(a) Duration is measured from the income support start date.

(b) Income is defined as earned income.

Note: The figures in this table are not comparable to the Labour Market and Related Payments (LMRP) publication due to different extract rules. The LMRP reports average numbers over the reporting period and this table is reporting point-in-time numbers as at June 2010. Unemployed customers are those who are in receipt of either Youth Allowance with a student status other than full-time student (generally referred to as Youth Allowance (other)) or Newstart Allowance. The table figures exclude 14,876 Newstart Allowance customers who received a nil rate of payment due to their own or partner's income and 1,178 Community Development Employment Project (CDEP) participants who received a nil rate of basic Newstart Allowance but received CDEP Supplement.

Source: Centrelink administrative data (Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Blue Book dataset).

Table 34: Long-term unemployed customers, characteristics by sex, June 2010
Characteristics	Male		Female		Total
Characteristics	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
Total	219,712	57.9	159,874	42.1	379,586	100.0
Age (years)
Under 18	3,203	1.5	3,411	2.1	6,614	1.7
18–24	48,750	22.2	38,243	23.9	86,993	22.9
25–29	28,790	13.1	13,324	8.3	42,114	11.1
30–34	24,681	11.2	11,289	7.1	35,970	9.5
35–39	24,520	11.2	14,654	9.2	39,174	10.3
40–44	21,367	9.7	17,049	10.7	38,416	10.1
45–49	18,998	8.6	18,833	11.8	37,831	10.0
50–59	30,933	14.1	30,417	19.0	61,350	16.2
60 and over	18,470	8.4	12,654	7.9	31,124	8.2
Marital status
Married/de facto	48,215	21.9	36,557	22.9	84,772	22.3
Single/separated/divorced/widowed	171,497	78.1	123,317	77.1	294,814	77.7
Country of birth (top five countries)
Australia	168,292	76.6	119,403	74.7	287,695	75.8
United Kingdom	7,651	3.5	5,275	3.3	12,926	3.4
Vietnam	4,523	2.1	4,552	2.8	9,075	2.4
New Zealand	4,371	2.0	3,406	2.1	7,777	2.0
China	1,871	0.9	2,742	1.7	4,613	1.2
Other	33,004	15.0	24,496	15.3	57,500	15.1
Duration^(a)
1 to <2 years	89,990	41.0	50,797	31.8	140,787	37.1
2 to <3 years	39,042	17.8	27,158	17.0	66,200	17.4
3 to <4 years	21,668	9.9	17,313	10.8	38,981	10.3
4 to <5 years	14,284	6.5	9,880	6.2	24,164	6.4
5 years or more	54,728	24.9	54,726	34.2	109,454	28.8

Mean (weeks)	213.8		286.3		244.3
Median (weeks)	125.0		161.0		138.0
Income ($ per week)^(b)
Nil	190,182	86.6	121,491	76.0	311,673	82.1
0.01–31.00	994	0.5	1,107	0.7	2,101	0.6
Over 31.00	28,536	13.0	37,276	23.3	65,812	17.3
Activity type
Jobseekers	92,314	42.0	54,805	34.3	147,119	38.8
Incapacitated	8,262	3.8	7,564	4.7	15,826	4.2
Other^(c)	119,136	54.2	97,505	61.0	216,641	57.1

(a) Duration is measured from the income support start date.

(b) Income is defined as earned income.

Note: The figures are not comparable to the Labour Market and Related Payments (LMRP) publication due to different extract rules. The LMRP reports average numbers over the reporting period and this table is reporting point-in-time numbers as at June 2010. Unemployed customers are those who are in receipt of either Youth Allowance with a student status other than full-time student (generally referred to as Youth Allowance (other)) or Newstart Allowance. The table figures exclude 13,859 Newstart Allowance customers who received a nil rate of payment due to their own or partner's income and 3,733 Community Development Employment Project (CDEP) participants who received a nil rate of basic Newstart Allowance but received CDEP Supplement.

Source: Centrelink administrative data (Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Blue Book dataset).

Table 35: Total unemployed customers, characteristics by sex, June 2010
Characteristics	Male		Female		Total
Characteristics	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
Total	385,819	60.1	256,533	39.9	642,352	100.0
Age (years)
Under 18	8,853	2.3	8,522	3.3	17,375	2.7
18–24	92,219	23.9	66,161	25.8	158,380	24.7
25–29	53,133	13.8	22,978	9.0	76,111	11.8
30–34	44,127	11.4	18,221	7.1	62,348	9.7
35–39	42,587	11.0	22,755	8.9	65,342	10.2
40–44	36,187	9.4	25,718	10.0	61,905	9.6
45–49	31,839	8.3	28,302	11.0	60,141	9.4
50–59	50,082	13.0	45,620	17.8	95,702	14.9
60 and over	26,792	6.9	18,256	7.1	45,048	7.0
Marital status
Married/de facto	85,775	22.2	59,178	23.1	144,953	22.6
Single/separated/divorced/widowed	300,044	77.8	197,355	76.9	497,399	77.4
Country of birth (top five countries)
Australia	294,231	76.3	191,886	74.8	486,117	75.7
United Kingdom	13,101	3.4	8,685	3.4	21,786	3.4
New Zealand	8,670	2.2	5,993	2.3	14,663	2.3
Vietnam	6,923	1.8	5,989	2.3	12,912	2.0
China	3,498	0.9	4,494	1.8	7,992	1.2
Other	59,396	15.4	39,486	15.4	98,882	15.4
Duration^(a)
<1 year	166,107	43.1	96,659	37.7	262,766	40.9
1 to <2 years	89,990	23.3	50,797	19.8	140,787	21.9
2 to <3 years	39,042	10.1	27,158	10.6	66,200	10.3
3 to <4 years	21,668	5.6	17,313	6.7	38,981	6.1
4 to <5 years	14,284	3.7	9,880	3.9	24,164	3.8
5 years or more	54,728	14.2	54,726	21.3	109,454	17.0

Mean (weeks)	131.0		186.7		153.2
Median (weeks)	65.0		79.0		69.0
Income ($ per week)^(b)
Nil	335,519	87.0	197,559	77.0	533,078	83.0
0.01–31.00	1,670	0.4	1,803	0.7	3,473	0.5
Over 31.00	48,630	12.6	57,171	22.3	105,801	16.5
Activity type
Jobseekers	188,352	48.8	101,990	39.8	290,342	45.2
Incapacitated	16,435	4.3	13,764	5.4	30,199	4.7
Other^(c)	181,032	46.9	140,779	54.9	321,811	50.1

(a) Duration is measured from the income support start date.

(b) Income is defined as earned income.

Note: The figures are not comparable to the Labour Market and Related Payments (LMRP) publication due to different extract rules. The LMRP reports average numbers over the reporting period and this table is reporting point-in-time numbers as at June 2010. Unemployed customers are those who are in receipt of either Youth Allowance with a student status other than full-time student (generally referred to as Youth Allowance (other)) or Newstart Allowance. The table figures exclude 28,735 Newstart Allowance customers who received a nil rate of payment due to their own or partner's income and 4,911 Community Development Employment Project (CDEP) participants who received a nil rate of basic Newstart Allowance but received CDEP Supplement.

Source: Centrelink administrative data (Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Blue Book dataset).

Table 36: Total unemployed customers by state/territory, June 2010
State/territory	Newstart Allowance		Youth Allowance (other)		Total
State/territory	Short-term	Long-term	Short-term	Long-term	Short-term	Long-term
New South Wales	69,857	114,013	11,663	15,423	81,520	129,436
Victoria	50,807	79,244	6,656	10,265	57,463	89,509
Queensland	54,408	64,864	12,419	11,625	66,827	76,489
Western Australia	20,164	24,985	4,165	3,366	24,329	28,351
South Australia	16,314	28,409	2,930	4,302	19,244	32,711
Tasmania	5,598	11,117	997	1,821	6,595	12,938
Australian Capital Territory	1,798	2,522	312	372	2,110	2,894
Northern Territory	3,372	6,205	1,230	871	4,602	7,076
Other^(a)	59	157	17	25	76	182
Total	222,377	331,516	40,389	48,070	262,766	379,586

(a) Includes unspecified state/territory.

Note: The figures are not comparable to the Labour Market and Related Payments (LMRP) publication due to different extract rules. The LMRP reports average numbers over the reporting period and this table is reporting point-in-time numbers as at June 2010. Unemployed customers are those who are in receipt of either Youth Allowance with a student status other than full-time student (generally referred to as Youth Allowance (other)) or Newstart Allowance. The table figures exclude 28,735 Newstart Allowance customers who received a nil rate of payment due to their own or partner's income and 4,911 Community Development Employment Project (CDEP) participants who received a nil rate of basic Newstart Allowance but received CDEP Supplement.

Source: Centrelink administrative data (Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Blue Book dataset).

3.5 Partner Allowance

Prior to the introduction of Partner Allowance, allowees with a partner received a married rate of allowance, which included an amount for the support of a dependent spouse. In September 1994, this combined married rate of payment was abolished and half the former married rate was paid directly to the dependent partner as Partner Allowance.

Since 1 July 1995, the payment was only granted to persons born on or before 1 July 1955 who had no dependent children under the age of 16 years and no recent workforce experience defined as at least 20 hours a week for a total of 13 weeks or more in the previous 12 months. It was payable to partners of people aged over 21 years and receiving Youth Allowance, Austudy Payment, Sickness Allowance, ABSTUDY, Student Financial Supplement Scheme, Newstart Allowance, Special Benefit, Age Pension, Disability Support Pension, Mature Age Allowance or a Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA) Service Pension.

Partner Allowance is a non–activity tested payment subject to residence requirements, and income and assets tests. Partners who do not qualify for Partner Allowance need to qualify for another income support payment in their own right, such as Parenting Payment or Newstart Allowance.

Partner Allowance recipients aged over 60 years who have been receiving income support continuously for nine months or more may be eligible for a Pensioner Concession Card.

Partner Allowance was closed to new claimants on 20 September 2003. People already receiving Partner Allowance will continue to receive it while they remain eligible.

Table 37: Partner Allowance customers, characteristics by sex, June 2010
Characteristics	Male		Female		Total
Characteristics	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
Total	1,783	7.4	22,271	92.6	24,054	100.0
Age (years)
50–54	n.p.	n.p.	n.p.	n.p.	23	0.1
55–59	n.p.	n.p.	n.p.	n.p.	7,673	31.9
60–64	1,230	69.0	14,850	66.7	16,080	66.8
65 and over	125	7.0	153	0.7	278	1.2
Country of birth (top five countries)
Australia	977	54.8	13,394	60.1	14,371	59.7
United Kingdom	205	11.5	1,564	7.0	1,769	7.4
Italy	20	1.1	761	3.4	781	3.2
Vietnam	51	2.9	637	2.9	688	2.9
Greece	42	2.4	580	2.6	622	2.6
Other	488	27.4	5,335	24.0	5,823	24.2
Duration^(a)
<3 years	n.p.	n.p.	n.p.	n.p.	23	0.1
3 to <4 years	n.p.	n.p.	n.p.	n.p.	n.p.	n.p.
4 to <5 years	0	0.0	n.p.	n.p.	n.p.	n.p.
5 years or more	1,778	99.7	22,237	99.8	24,015	99.8

Mean (weeks)	580.0		590.4		589.6
Median (weeks)	538.0		570.0		568.0
Income ($ per week)^(b)
Nil	1,659	93.0	20,770	93.3	22,429	93.2
0.01–31.00	n.p.	n.p.	n.p.	n.p.	153	0.6
Over 31.00	n.p.	n.p.	n.p.	n.p.	1,472	6.1

(a) Duration is measured from the income support start date.

(b) Income is defined as earned income.

Notes: The table figures exclude 54 customers who received a nil rate of payment due to their own or partner's income.

'n.p.'=not published. See 'Confidentiality' on page 1.

Source: Centrelink administrative data (Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Blue Book dataset).

Table 38: Partner Allowance customers by state/territory and sex, June 2010
State/territory	Male		Female		Total
State/territory	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
New South Wales	602	7.9	7,047	92.1	7,649	31.8
Victoria	393	6.5	5,616	93.5	6,009	25.0
Queensland	320	7.1	4,167	92.9	4,487	18.7
Western Australia	104	5.4	1,831	94.6	1,935	8.0
South Australia	212	8.4	2,313	91.6	2,525	10.5
Tasmania	134	11.5	1,034	88.5	1,168	4.9
Australian Capital Territory	n.p.	n.p.	n.p.	n.p.	91	0.4
Northern Territory	n.p.	n.p.	n.p.	n.p.	76	0.3
Other^(a)	8	7.0	106	93.0	114	0.5
Total	1,783	7.4	22,271	92.6	24,054	100.0

(a) Includes unspecified state/territory.

Notes: The table figures exclude 54 customers who received a nil rate of payment due to their own or partner's income.

'n.p.'=not published. See 'Confidentiality' on page 1.

Source: Centrelink administrative data (Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Blue Book dataset).

3.6 Widow Allowance

Widow Allowance is a non–activity tested income support payment. It recognises the labour market difficulties faced by single older women who may have depended on the support of their partner.

Widow Allowance was closed to new claimants from 1 July 2006 unless the woman was born on or before 1 July 1955.

Widow Allowance is available to women over 50 years of age who were widowed, divorced or separated (including separated de facto) after the age of 40 years. To qualify for Widow Allowance, women must:

have no recent workforce experience (defined as at least 20 hours a week for a total of 13 weeks or more in the previous 12 months)
currently be in Australia and not be subject to an assurance of support
and either:
- have been an Australian resident for a continuous period of at least 26 weeks immediately before claiming, or
- have at any time been an Australian resident for a continuous period of at least two years, or
- have a qualifying residence exemption, or
- along with her former partner, have been an Australian resident at the time when she became widowed, divorced or separated.

Widow Allowance is subject to residence requirement and income and assets tests.

Widow Allowance recipients are eligible to receive a Health Care Card. Recipients aged over 60 years who have been receiving income support continuously for nine months or more may be eligible to receive a Pension Concession Card.

Table 39: Widow Allowance customers, characteristics, June 2010
Characteristics	Female
Characteristics	No.	%
Total	33,886	100.0
Age (years)
50–54	34	0.1
55–59	12,263	36.2
60–64	19,335	57.1
65 and over	2,254	6.7
Country of birth (top five countries)
Australia	18,603	54.9
United Kingdom	2,376	7.0
China	1,286	3.8
Vietnam	1,160	3.4
Philippines	945	2.8
Other	9,516	28.1
Duration^(a)
<1 year—total	2,361	7.0
<7 weeks	214	0.6
7 weeks to <3 months	284	0.8
3 to <6 months	654	1.9
6 to <9 months	566	1.7
9 months to <1 year	643	1.9
1 year and longer—total	31,525	93.0
1 to <2 years	2,678	7.9
2 to <3 years	2,256	6.7
3 to <4 years	2,152	6.4
4 to <5 years	2,033	6.0
5 years or more	22,406	66.1

Mean (weeks)	461.3
Median (weeks)	405.0
Income ($ per week)^(b)
Nil	30,439	89.8
0.01–31.00	295	0.9
Over 31.00	3,152	9.3

(a) Duration is measured from the income support start date.

(b) Income is defined as earned income.

Note: Figures in this table exclude 342 customers who received a nil rate of payment due to their own or partner's income and one Community Development Employment Project (CDEP) participant who received a nil rate of basic Widow Allowance but received CDEP Supplement.

Source: Centrelink administrative data (Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Blue Book dataset).

Table 40: Widow Allowance customers by state/territory, June 2010
State/territory	Female
State/territory	No.	%
New South Wales	11,556	34.1
Victoria	8,726	25.8
Queensland	6,855	20.2
Western Australia	2,673	7.9
South Australia	2,407	7.1
Tasmania	1,070	3.2
Australian Capital Territory	215	0.6
Northern Territory	176	0.5
Other^(a)	208	0.6
Total	33,886	100.0

(a) Includes unspecified state/territory.

Source: Centrelink administrative data (Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Blue Book dataset).

3.7 Parenting Payment

Parenting Payment was introduced to help people with children, particularly low-income families, by providing an independent income.

Parenting Payment is available to the primary carer of children and is paid to both single and partnered parents—although to only one member of a couple.

Parenting Payment is subject to residence requirements and income and assets tests.

Parenting Payment (Single)

Until 30 June 2006, Parenting Payment (Single) was contingent upon the parent having a qualifying child aged under 16 years and, when the youngest qualifying child was aged 13 years or over, the parent was required to enter into a participation agreement.

From 1 July 2006, Parenting Payment (Single) is an income support payment to a single parent who is the principal carer of a child or children under the age of 8 years. When the youngest qualifying child is aged 6 years or over, the parent must enter into an Activity Agreement. Parents on Parenting Payment (Single) before 1 July 2006 will continue to receive this payment until their youngest child turns 16 years old, as long as they remain eligible, and will have participation requirements from 1 July 2007, or when their youngest child turns 7 years old, whichever is the later.

Table 41: Parenting Payment (Single) customers by sex, June 1990 to June 2010
As at June	Male		Female		Total
As at June	No.	%	No.	%	No.
1990	11,305	4.5	237,581	95.5	248,886

1991	13,616	5.1	252,104	94.9	265,720
1992	16,444	5.7	270,784	94.3	287,228
1993	17,529	5.9	280,915	94.1	298,444
1994	18,897	6.0	294,540	94.0	313,437
1995	19,913	6.1	305,028	93.9	324,941

1996	21,964	6.4	320,326	93.6	342,290
1997	23,920	6.7	334,973	93.3	358,893
1998^(a)	25,546	6.9	346,740	93.1	372,286
1999	26,830	7.0	355,493	93.0	382,323
2000	27,951	7.1	363,442	92.9	391,393

2001	31,661	7.6	385,000	92.4	416,661
2002	32,966	7.7	394,880	92.3	427,846
2003	33,909	7.8	403,049	92.2	436,958
2004	34,866	7.8	414,446	92.2	449,312
2005	34,565	7.7	416,246	92.3	450,811

2006	32,368	7.5	400,590	92.5	432,958
2007	25,677	6.5	369,818	93.5	395,495
2008	20,559	5.7	340,074	94.3	360,633
2009	18,348	5.3	325,748	94.7	344,096
2010	16,793	5.0	316,719	95.0	333,512

(a) In March 1998, Parenting Payment was introduced. It replaced Sole Parent Pension and Parenting Allowance.

Source: Centrelink administrative data (Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Blue Book dataset).

Figure description

Figure 8: Parenting Payment (Single) customers by sex, June 1990 to June 2010

Figure 8: Parenting Payment (Single) customers by sex, June 1990 to June 2010

Note: In March 1998, Parenting Payment was introduced. It replaced Sole Parent Pension and Parenting Allowance.

Source: Centrelink administrative data (Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Blue Book dataset).

Table 42: Parenting Payment (Single) customers, characteristics by sex, June 2010
Characteristics	Male		Female		Total
Characteristics	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
Total	16,793	5.0	316,719	95.0	333,512	100.0
Age (years)
Under 20	60	0.4	8,454	2.7	8,514	2.6
20–29	3,561	21.2	101,112	31.9	104,673	31.4
30–39	6,383	38.0	122,251	38.6	128,634	38.6
40–49	5,006	29.8	73,069	23.1	78,075	23.4
50–59	1,597	9.5	11,248	3.6	12,845	3.9
60 and over	186	1.1	585	0.2	771	0.2
Country of birth (top five countries)
Australia	13,778	82.0	256,612	81.0	270,390	81.1
New Zealand	516	3.1	9,373	3.0	9,889	3.0
United Kingdom	551	3.3	8,087	2.6	8,638	2.6
Vietnam	349	2.1	8,276	2.6	8,625	2.6
Philippines	59	0.4	2,636	0.8	2,695	0.8
Other	1,540	9.2	31,735	10.0	33,275	10.0
Home ownership
Home owner	2,407	14.3	53,034	16.7	55,441	16.6
Non-home owner	14,386	85.7	263,685	83.3	278,071	83.4
Rate
Full	12,010	71.5	208,124	65.7	220,134	66.0
Part	4,445	26.5	103,167	32.6	107,612	32.3
Zero	304	1.8	4,993	1.6	5,297	1.6
Undetermined	26	0.2	324	0.1	350	0.1
Manual	8	0.0	111	0.0	119	0.0
Duration^(a)
<6 months	1,210	7.2	17,382	5.5	18,592	5.6
6 months to <1 year	1,266	7.5	17,345	5.5	18,611	5.6
1 to <2 years	2,321	13.8	32,980	10.4	35,301	10.6
2 to <3 years	1,500	8.9	26,336	8.3	27,836	8.3
3 to <4 years	1,126	6.7	22,256	7.0	23,382	7.0
4 to <5 years	1,443	8.6	24,427	7.7	25,870	7.8
5 years and over	7,927	47.2	175,993	55.6	183,920	55.1

Mean (weeks)	295.1		359.1		355.9
Median (weeks)	242.0		302.0		298.0

(a) Duration is measured from the income support start date.

Note: Figures in this table exclude 4,875 suspended clients.

Source: Centrelink administrative data (Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Blue Book dataset).

Table 43: Parenting Payment (Single) customers by state/territory and sex, June 2010
State/territory	Male		Female		Total
State/territory	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
New South Wales	5,625	5.2	103,080	94.8	108,705	32.6
Victoria	3,251	4.3	72,025	95.7	75,276	22.6
Queensland	4,107	5.6	69,722	94.4	73,829	22.1
Western Australia	1,374	4.3	30,862	95.7	32,236	9.7
South Australia	1,531	5.8	24,640	94.2	26,171	7.8
Tasmania	566	5.9	9,001	94.1	9,567	2.9
Australian Capital Territory	160	4.8	3,152	95.2	3,312	1.0
Northern Territory	174	4.2	4,014	95.8	4,188	1.3
Other^(a)	5	2.2	223	97.8	228	0.1
Total	16,793	5.0	316,719	95.0	333,512	100.0

(a) Includes unspecified state/territory.

Note: Figures in this table exclude 4,875 suspended clients.

Source: Centrelink administrative data (Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Blue Book dataset).

Parenting Payment (Partnered)

Parenting Payment (Partnered) is payable to only one member of a couple. Until 30 June 2006, Parenting Payment (Partnered) was paid to a parent with a qualifying child aged under 16 years and, when the youngest qualifying child was 13 years or over, the parent was required to enter into a participation agreement.

From 1 July 2006, Parenting Payment (Partnered) is an income support payment to a partnered parent who is the principal carer of a child or children under the age of 6 years. When the youngest qualifying child is aged 6 years or over, the parent must enter into an Activity Agreement. Parents on Parenting Payment (Partnered) before 1 July 2006 will continue to receive this payment until their youngest child turns 16 years old, as long as they remain eligible, and will have participation requirements from 1 July 2007, or when their youngest child turns 7 years old, whichever is the later.

Table 44: Parenting Payment (Partnered) customers by sex, June 2001 to June 2010
As at June	Male		Female		Total
As at June	No.	%	No.	%	No.
2001	20,263	9.9	184,313	90.1	204,576
2002	19,576	10.2	172,000	89.8	191,576
2003	19,196	10.6	162,209	89.4	181,405
2004	18,917	10.7	158,240	89.3	177,157
2005	17,255	10.3	150,017	89.7	167,272

2006	15,353	9.7	143,461	90.3	158,814
2007	12,742	8.8	131,685	91.2	144,427
2008	10,246	8.1	115,676	91.9	125,922
2009	10,735	8.3	118,630	91.7	129,365
2010	10,329	8.3	114,581	91.7	124,910

Note: Parenting Payment (Partnered) replaced Parenting Allowance in March 1998. From July 2000, the basic rate of Parenting Payment (Partnered) became part of Family Tax Benefit.

Source: Centrelink administrative data (Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Blue Book dataset).

Figure description

Figure 9: Parenting Payment (Partnered) customers by sex, June 2001 to June 2010

Figure 9: Parenting Payment (Partnered) customers by sex, June 2001 to June 2010

Note: Parenting Payment (Partnered) replaced Parenting Allowance in March 1998. From July 2000, the basic rate of Parenting Payment (Partnered) became part of Family Tax Benefit.

Source: Centrelink administrative data (Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Blue Book dataset).

Table 45: Parenting Payment (Partnered) customers by payment category of partner, June 2001 to June 2010
As at June	Partner's payment				Total
As at June	Youth Allowance	Low income	Newstart Allowance^(a)	Pension	Total
2001	193	86,329	95,812	22,242	204,576
2002	204	81,078	85,424	24,870	191,576
2003	195	81,792	74,268	25,150	181,405
2004	144	87,945	63,571	25,497	177,157
2005	164	86,184	56,087	24,837	167,272

2006	220	82,292	52,891	23,411	158,814
2007	195	82,251	41,181	20,080	143,707
2008	152	73,904	34,575	17,291	125,922
2009	200	71,457	41,483	16,225	129,365
2010	236	67,867	41,307	15,500	124,910

(a) Includes persons whose partner received Newstart Allowance, Sickness Allowance, Special Benefit or other payments.

Source: Centrelink administrative data (Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Blue Book dataset).

Table 46: Parenting Payment (Partnered) customers, characteristics by sex, June 2010
Characteristics	Male		Female		Total
Characteristics	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
Total	10,329	8.3	114,581	91.7	124,910	100.0
Age (years)
Under 20	39	0.4	3,005	2.6	3,044	2.4
20–29	1,935	18.7	40,234	35.1	42,169	33.8
30–39	4,472	43.3	49,153	42.9	53,625	42.9
40–49	2,881	27.9	19,536	17.0	22,417	17.9
50–59	851	8.2	2,501	2.2	3,352	2.7
60 and over	151	1.5	152	0.1	303	0.2
Country of birth (top five countries)
Australia	6,543	63.3	69,941	61.0	76,484	61.2
Vietnam	498	4.8	4,769	4.2	5,267	4.2
China	369	3.6	4,362	3.8	4,731	3.8
Lebanon	196	1.9	3,656	3.2	3,852	3.1
Iraq	193	1.9	3,487	3.0	3,680	2.9
Other	2,530	24.5	28,366	24.8	30,896	24.7
Home ownership
Home owner	3,397	32.9	38,724	33.8	42,121	33.7
Non-home owner	6,932	67.1	75,857	66.2	82,789	66.3
Rate
Full	5,852	56.7	69,337	60.5	75,189	60.2
Part	3,585	34.7	35,707	31.2	39,292	31.5
Zero	833	8.1	8,912	7.8	9,745	7.8
Undetermined	59	0.6	606	0.5	665	0.5
Manual	0	0.0	19	0.0	19	0.0
Duration^(a)
<6 months	2,060	19.9	12,729	11.1	14,789	11.8
6 months to <1 year	1,478	14.3	11,177	9.8	12,655	10.1
1 to <2 years	2,117	20.5	17,715	15.5	19,832	15.9
2 to <3 years	997	9.7	11,219	9.8	12,216	9.8
3 to <4 years	605	5.9	8,695	7.6	9,300	7.4
4 to <5 years	604	5.8	8,129	7.1	8,733	7.0
5 years and over	2,468	23.9	44,917	39.2	47,385	37.9

Mean (weeks)	177.3		263.5		256.3
Median (weeks)	88.0		181.0		172.0

(a) Duration is measured from the income support start date.

Note: Figures in this table exclude 2,106 suspended customers.

Source: Centrelink administrative data (Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Blue Book dataset).

Table 47: Parenting Payment (Partnered) customers by state/territory and sex, June 2010
State/territory	Male		Female		Total
State/territory	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
New South Wales	3,486	8.0	40,207	92.0	43,693	35.0
Victoria	2,447	8.1	27,847	91.9	30,294	24.3
Queensland	2,353	9.7	21,974	90.3	24,327	19.5
Western Australia	676	7.1	8,803	92.9	9,479	7.6
South Australia	828	9.2	8,194	90.8	9,022	7.2
Tasmania	379	9.6	3,569	90.4	3,948	3.2
Australian Capital Territory	65	8.8	671	91.2	736	0.6
Northern Territory	75	2.4	2,996	97.6	3,071	2.5
Other^(a)	20	5.9	320	94.1	340	0.3
Total	10,329	8.3	114,581	91.7	124,910	100.0

(a) Includes unspecified state/territory.

Note: Figures in this table exclude 2,106 suspended customers.

Source: Centrelink administrative data (Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Blue Book dataset).

3.8 Special Benefit

Special Benefit is an income support payment for people in severe financial hardship due to circumstances beyond their control. Special Benefit is a discretionary payment. The circumstances under which it is granted are determined by the Secretary of the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA).

To qualify for Special Benefit a person must be:

in severe financial hardship
unable to earn a sufficient livelihood for themselves and their dependants by reason of age, physical or mental disability or domestic circumstances or for any other reason over which the person has no control
unable to receive any other income support payment
residing in Australia throughout the period for which payment is sought, except under certain rare circumstances, and
a permanent Australian resident or the holder of an approved visa.

Special Benefit is subject to income and assets tests.

Table 48: Special Benefit customers by sex, June 1990 to June 2010
As at June	Male		Female		Total
As at June	No.	%	No.	%	No.
1990	13,592	48.7	14,321	51.3	27,913

1991	13,830	46.4	15,981	53.6	29,811
1992	16,168	46.5	18,624	53.5	34,792
1993	12,989	45.0	15,865	55.0	28,854
1994	11,957	46.1	13,990	53.9	25,947
1995	10,446	50.0	10,438	50.0	20,884

1996	9,125	48.7	9,602	51.3	18,727
1997	6,811	46.7	7,765	53.3	14,576
1998	4,733	46.2	5,503	53.8	10,236
1999	5,232	44.3	6,576	55.7	11,808
2000	5,313	48.4	5,658	51.6	10,971

2001	7,466	58.7	5,246	41.3	12,712
2002	8,060	61.6	5,031	38.4	13,091
2003	7,585	62.0	4,643	38.0	12,228
2004	6,918	61.7	4,298	38.3	11,216
2005	5,625	59.8	3,783	40.2	9,408

2006	3,665	53.6	3,176	46.4	6,841
2007	3,104	49.7	3,140	50.3	6,244
2008	2,856	47.6	3,147	52.4	6,003
2009	2,571	44.3	3,238	55.7	5,809
2010	2,645	41.9	3,662	58.1	6,307

Note: Until 1997, the figures are an average of the number of weekly payments during June. From 1998, the figures are customer numbers at a point-in-time. The figures exclude customers who received a nil rate of payment.

Source: Centrelink administrative data.

Figure description

Figure 10: Special Benefit customers by sex, June 1990 to June 2010

Figure 10: Special Benefit customers by sex, June 1990 to June 2010

Source: Centrelink administrative data.

Table 49: Special Benefit customers, Special Benefit category by sex, June 2010
Category	Male		Female		Total
Category	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
Assurance of support	24	0.9	47	1.3	71	1.1
Australian citizen child in custody of non-permanent resident	58	2.2	62	1.7	120	1.9
Caring for child	1	0.0	13	0.4	14	0.2
Caring for incapacitated person	0	0.0	1	0.0	1	0.0
Newly arrived refugees in two-year waiting period for Newstart Allowance/Sickness Allowance	95	3.6	89	2.4	184	2.9

Newly arrived migrants (NAM) in waiting period for Special Benefit	27	1.0	23	0.6	50	0.8
NAM in two-year waiting period for:
Widow Allowance/Parenting Payment/Mature Age Allowance/Carer Payment	2	0.1	42	1.1	44	0.7
Not residentially qualified for Age Pension	1,645	62.2	1,565	42.7	3,210	50.9
Not residentially qualified for Disability Support Pension (pre-10 December 2000)	110	4.2	115	3.1	225	3.6

Other cases (long-term)	18	0.7	38	1.0	56	0.9
Other cases (short-term)	1	0.0	1	0.0	2	0.0
Socially marginalised	10	0.4	1	0.0	11	0.2
Spouse provisional visa (previously Special entry visa) (post-10 December 2000)	468	17.7	1,369	37.4	1,837	29.1
Temporary protection visa from 1 January 2003	29	1.1	4	0.1	33	0.5

Temporary protection visa (not of workforce age)	1	0.0	0	0.0	1	0.0
Under 16 years	156	5.9	292	8.0	448	7.1

Total	2,645	41.9	3,662	58.1	6,307	100.0

Note: The table figures exclude customers who received a nil rate of payment.

Source: Centrelink administrative data.

Table 50: Special Benefit customers, characteristics by sex, June 2010
Characteristics	Male		Female		Total
Characteristics	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
Total	2,645	41.9	3,662	58.1	6,307	100.0
Age (years)
Under 16	214	8.1	349	9.5	563	8.9
16–17	22	0.8	32	0.9	54	0.9
18–20	50	1.9	86	2.3	136	2.2
21–24	73	2.8	328	9.0	401	6.4
25–34	289	10.9	683	18.7	972	15.4
35–44	153	5.8	287	7.8	440	7.0
45–54	89	3.4	189	5.2	278	4.4
55–59	29	1.1	48	1.3	77	1.2
60–64	29	1.1	100	2.7	129	2.0
65 and over	1,697	64.2	1,560	42.6	3,257	51.6
Marital status
Married/de facto	1,783	67.4	2,310	63.1	4,093	64.9
Single/separated/divorced/widowed	862	32.6	1,352	36.9	2,214	35.1
Country of birth (top five countries)
China	783	29.6	720	19.7	1,503	23.8
Australia	202	7.6	333	9.1	535	8.5
Philippines	91	3.4	298	8.1	389	6.2
India	151	5.7	195	5.3	346	5.5
Vietnam	119	4.5	207	5.7	326	5.2
Other	1,299	49.1	1,909	52.1	3,208	50.9
Duration^(a)
Less than one year—total	995	37.6	1,847	50.4	2,842	45.1
<7 weeks	179	6.8	331	9.0	510	8.1
7 weeks to <3 months	172	6.5	343	9.4	515	8.2
3 to <6 months	253	9.6	540	14.7	793	12.6
6 to <9 months	225	8.5	373	10.2	598	9.5
9 months to <1 year	166	6.3	260	7.1	426	6.8
One year and longer—total	1,650	62.4	1,815	49.6	3,465	54.9
1 to <2 years	458	17.3	656	17.9	1,114	17.7
2 to <3 years	256	9.7	313	8.5	569	9.0
3 to <4 years	266	10.1	264	7.2	530	8.4
4 to <5 years	199	7.5	217	5.9	416	6.6
5 years or more	471	17.8	365	10.0	836	13.3

Mean (weeks)	133.0		96.0		111.5
Median (weeks)	84.0		50.9		64.0
Income ($ per week)^(b)
Nil	2,604	98.4	3,599	98.3	6,203	98.4
0.01 and over	41	1.6	63	1.7	104	1.6

(a) Duration is measured from the income support start date.

(b) Income is defined as earned income.

Note: The table figures exclude customers who received a nil rate of payment.

Source: Centrelink administrative data.

Table 51: Special Benefit customers by state/territory and sex, June 2010
State/territory	Male		Female		Total
State/territory	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
New South Wales	1,406	46.5	1,620	53.5	3,026	48.0
Victoria	757	42.4	1,030	57.6	1,787	28.3
Queensland	191	32.1	404	67.9	595	9.4
Western Australia	112	33.6	221	66.4	333	5.3
South Australia	129	32.1	273	67.9	402	6.4
Tasmania	23	31.1	51	68.9	74	1.2
Australian Capital Territory	22	31.0	49	69.0	71	1.1
Northern Territory	5	26.3	14	73.7	19	0.3
Total	2,645	41.9	3,662	58.1	6,307	100.0

Note: The table figures exclude customers who received a nil rate of payment.

Source: Centrelink administrative data.

4 Family assistance

The Australian Government offers a range of payments through the Family Assistance Office to support families with their work and family responsibilities.

Each payment is different, depending on the needs of each family.

The main payments are:

Family Tax Benefit Part A
Family Tax Benefit Part B
Child Care Benefit
Child Care Rebate
Baby Bonus
Maternity Immunisation Allowance
Double Orphan Pension.

4.1 Family Tax Benefit

Family Tax Benefit (FTB) was introduced to help with the cost of raising children.

Residence requirements apply.

Part A

This is the most common payment to help with the cost of raising children and is paid per child. It includes a supplement per child that becomes payable after the end of the financial year.

Part A is income tested on family income.

Part B

This payment gives extra assistance to single-parent families and to couple families where one income is low. It is paid on a per family basis and includes a supplement that becomes payable after the end of the financial year.

Part B is income tested for single parents, and is income tested on both the lower income earner and the main income earner for two-parent families.

Reconciliation

After the end of each financial year, when an FTB customer and their partner (if applicable) have lodged their tax returns (if required), a reconciliation process occurs that compares the customer's FTB entitlement calculated on their actual income, with the amount they were paid during the year based on their estimated income.

The following table shows 'entitled' customers who, after reconciliation processes, have been found to have at least one day of entitlement to FTB. Note that, for a range of reasons, FTB may be claimed during an entitlement year but there may be no entitlement following reconciliation.

Table 52: Family Tax Benefit, customers by category, 2003–04 to 2008–09 entitlement year, as at June 2010
	2003–04	2004–05	2005–06	2006–07	2007–08	2008–09^(a)
Lump sums
Entitled	203,813	200,462	210,256	222,628	246,097	129,019
Not entitled (post)	1,578	1,357	1,416	1,648	2,171	3,787
All lump sums	205,391	201,819	211,672	224,276	248,268	132,806
Instalments
Entitled	1,912,091	1,926,745	1,918,874	1,899,852	1,872,433	1,774,071
Not entitled (post)	64,725	72,300	90,088	100,162	97,144	81,988
All instalments	1,976,816	1,999,045	2,008,962	2,000,014	1,969,577	1,856,059
Not yet reconciled	14,526	18,253	21,947	26,464	28,142	163,035
All customers	2,196,733	2,219,117	2,242,581	2,250,754	2,245,987	2,151,900
All entitled	2,115,904	2,127,207	2,129,130	2,122,480	2,118,530	1,903,090

(a) Preliminary figures. The number of lump-sum customers is not yet final because the claim period for 2008–09 lump-sum payments extends until June 2011; the number of 'not yet reconciled' customers will decrease by the end of June 2011 and the number of customers in the 'all entitled' category will increase.

Note: On 1 March 2011, the major repository of management information relating to FTB Reconciliation and Lump Sum Claim formally moved to a new reporting product. As a part of this change, the quality and breadth of information was improved, with a number of corrections being made to historical data.

Source: Centrelink administrative data.

Instalments

The following tables relate to fortnightly payments of Family Tax Benefit as at June 2010.

Table 53: Family Tax Benefit, customers and children, June 2010
	Customer	Children
	No.	No.
Family Tax Benefit, both Part A and B	1,309,167	2,538,527
Family Tax Benefit, Part A only	428,353	826,325
Total Part A	1,737,520	3,364,852
Family Tax Benefit, Part B only	72,083	130,624^(a)
Total Part B	1,381,250	2,669,151^(a)
Total^(b)	1,809,603	3,495,476

(a) The number of children shown for Family Tax Benefit (FTB) Part B is the number of children in the families of FTB Part B customers.

(b) The FTB total of customers and children is the total number who received FTB Part A and/or FTB Part B. It is not the arithmetic total of FTB Part A and FTB Part B customers and children as most customers receive both FTB Part A and FTB Part B.

Source: Centrelink administrative data.

Table 54: Family Tax Benefit Part A, customers and children by rate type, June 2010
Family Tax Benefit rate type	Customers		Children
Family Tax Benefit rate type	No.	%	No.	%
Maximum FTB (A) rate with ISP^(a)	415,357	23.9	784,852	23.3
Maximum FTB (A) rate without ISP^(a)	196,491	11.3	344,404	10.2
Part rate^(b)	544,924	31.4	1,186,209	35.3
Base rate	460,916	26.5	791,495	23.5
Tapered base rate	118,177	6.8	251,470	7.5
Invalid code	1,655	0.1	6,422	0.2
Total	1,737,520	100.0	3,364,852	100.0

(a) ISP=Income Support Payment (for example, Newstart Allowance, Disability Support Pension).

(b) Customers receiving less than maximum rate but more than base rate.

Source: Centrelink administrative data.

Table 55: Family Tax Benefit Part A, customers and dependent children by age of child, June 2010
Age of child (years)	Customers^(a)		Children
Age of child (years)	No.	%	No.	%
Under 13	1,413,472	81.3	2,522,512	75.0
13–15	481,425	27.7	549,009	16.3
16–17	160,838	9.3	167,888	5.0
18–20	104,356	6.0	112,614	3.3
21–24	12,077	0.7	12,824	0.4
Total^(b)	1,737,520	100.0	3,364,852	100.0

(a) The customer count is the number of customers with at least one dependent child in the age group—hence a particular customer may be counted in more than one category. The total, however, counts each customer once only and is therefore less than the sum of the categories.

(b) Includes 'Invalid code'.

Source: Centrelink administrative data.

Table 56: Family Tax Benefit Part B, customers by rate type and age of youngest child, June 2010
Rate type and age of child (years)	Customers
Rate type and age of child (years)	No.	%
Maximum Rate Family Tax Benefit Part B
Child under 5 years	409,428	29.6
Child 5 years and over	516,414	37.4
Total	925,842	67.0
Part Rate Family Tax Benefit Part B
Child under 5 years	275,857	20.0
Child 5 years and over	179,551	13.0
Total	455,408	33.0
Total Family Tax Benefit Part B
Child under 5 years	685,285	49.6
Child 5 years and over	695,965	50.4
Total	1,381,250	100.0

Note: 'Child 5 years and over' includes any counts where customer records have an 'Invalid' code.

Source: Centrelink administrative data.

Table 57: Family Tax Benefit customers, characteristics by payment type, June 2010
Characteristics	Family Tax Benefit Part A		Family Tax Benefit Part B		Family Tax Benefit
Characteristics	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
Total	1,737,520	100.0	1,381,250	100.0	1,809,603	100.0
Age of customer (years)
Under 18	2,575	0.1	2,565	0.2	2,576	0.1
18–20	21,824	1.3	21,470	1.6	21,896	1.2
21–24	80,463	4.6	76,191	5.5	81,622	4.5
25–34	502,236	28.9	437,944	31.7	525,136	29.0
35–44	741,138	42.7	576,623	41.7	777,017	42.9
45–54	344,071	19.8	234,108	16.9	355,290	19.6
55–59	30,008	1.7	19,926	1.4	30,716	1.7
60–64	9,200	0.5	7,149	0.5	9,310	0.5
65 and over	5,905	0.3	5,274	0.4	5,940	0.3
Invalid code	100	0.0	0	0.0	100	0.0
Family type
Partnered	1,127,551	64.9	781,570	56.6	1,194,928	66.0
Single parents—total	609,177	35.1	599,029	43.4	613,859	33.9
Female	536,127	30.9	527,064	38.2	539,251	29.8
Male	73,050	4.2	71,965	5.2	74,608	4.1
Not specified	792	0.0	651	0.0	816	0.0
Number of children in the family
One	675,494	38.9	552,627	40.0	701,979	38.8
Two	662,791	38.1	510,657	37.0	696,770	38.5
Three	281,734	16.2	219,774	15.9	292,071	16.1
Four	84,653	4.9	69,273	5.0	85,895	4.7
Five or more	32,848	1.9	28,919	2.1	32,888	1.8
Country of birth (top five countries)
Australia	1,255,243	72.2	997,366	72.2	1,309,961	72.4
United Kingdom	67,556	3.9	51,505	3.7	71,696	4.0
New Zealand	57,852	3.3	46,799	3.4	59,923	3.3
Vietnam	36,494	2.1	30,657	2.2	36,940	2.0
China	33,933	2.0	26,077	1.9	34,545	1.9
Other	286,442	16.5	228,846	16.6	296,538	16.4

Source: Centrelink administrative data.

Table 58: Family Tax Benefit, customers and children by state/territory, June 2010
State/territory	Family Tax Benefit Part A				Family Tax Benefit Part B				Total Family Tax Benefit
	Customers		Children		Customers		Children		Customers		Children
	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
New South Wales	550,226	31.7	1,066,705	31.7	441,008	31.9	852,545	31.9	571,912	31.6	1,105,600	31.6
Victoria	430,301	24.8	825,154	24.5	335,754	24.3	641,787	24.0	447,131	24.7	855,598	24.5
Queensland	370,779	21.3	729,657	21.7	293,780	21.3	578,649	21.7	385,851	21.3	757,495	21.7
Western Australia	162,433	9.3	317,610	9.4	138,277	10.0	269,425	10.1	174,383	9.6	339,345	9.7
South Australia	135,964	7.8	255,818	7.6	102,545	7.4	192,305	7.2	139,685	7.7	262,494	7.5
Tasmania	47,667	2.7	91,368	2.7	36,378	2.6	70,022	2.6	48,562	2.7	92,958	2.7
Australian Capital Territory	19,432	1.1	37,151	1.1	15,976	1.2	30,070	1.1	20,751	1.1	39,478	1.1
Northern Territory	20,329	1.2	40,297	1.2	17,501	1.3	34,299	1.3	20,936	1.2	41,411	1.2
Other^(a)	389	0.0	1,092	0.0	31	0.0	49	0.0	392	0.0	1,097	0.0
Total	1,737,520	100.0	3,364,852	100.0	1,381,250	100.0	2,669,151	100.0	1,809,603	100.0	3,495,476	100.0

(a) Includes invalid state/territory codes.

Note: The Family Tax Benefit (FTB) total of customers is the total number who received FTB Part A and/or FTB Part B. It is not the arithmetic total of FTB Part A and FTB Part B as most customers receive both FTB Part A and FTB Part B.

Source: Centrelink administrative data.

4.2 Baby Bonus and Maternity Immunisation Allowance

Baby Bonus (previously Maternity Payment) was introduced on 1 July 2007 to replace the previous Maternity Allowance and the Baby Bonus Tax Offset. Baby Bonus assists families with the extra costs associated with newborn or adopted children and is available to eligible families who apply within 52 weeks of the baby's birth (including stillbirths) or the date an adopted child came into care.

Baby Bonus is income tested against the families' estimated adjusted taxable income for the six months following the birth of the child. Baby Bonus may also be paid to foster carers or adoptive parents who take on the care of a child shortly after the child's birth, if payment has not already been made to another person for the baby. Baby Bonus payments are available only as 13 fortnightly instalments.

Prior to 1 January 2009, Baby Bonus was available to families who applied within 26 weeks of the birth or adoption, there was no income test and a proportion of payments were made as a lump sum.

Maternity Immunisation Allowance (MIA) is designed to increase immunisation levels in children and to improve the timeliness of immunisation. From 1 January 2009, MIA is paid in two payments. The first payment is paid if a child is fully immunised between 18 and 24 months of age. The second amount is paid if a child is fully immunised between 4 and 5 years of age. Before 2009, MIA was paid in a single payment when the child was between 18 and 24 months of age. Eligibility is subject to the child being immunised in accordance with the National Health and Medical Research Council's Standard Vaccination Schedule, or having a valid exemption. There is no means test for MIA.

Table 59: Baby Bonus and Maternity Immunisation Allowance customers, 2009–10 financial year
	Families	Children
Baby Bonus	267,793	272,558
Maternity Immunisation Allowance	270,282	276,284

Source: Centrelink administrative data.

Baby Bonus

Table notes

The following Baby Bonus tables provide information by age of customer at date of payment.

Customers may be granted more than one payment during a 12-month period (for two different births at two different ages); however, each customer will be counted once only in the total.

Table 60: Baby Bonus customers and children by age and sex of customer, 2009–10 financial year
Age of customer at date of payment (years)	Customers						Children
	Male		Female		Total
	No.	% of age group	No.	% of age group	No.	%	No.	%
Under 18	6	0.2	2,892	99.8	2,898	1.1	2,918	1.1
18–19	82	1.1	7,516	98.9	7,598	2.8	7,681	2.8
20–24	1,234	3.3	35,883	96.7	37,117	13.9	37,600	13.8
25–29	7,220	10.2	63,640	89.8	70,860	26.5	71,920	26.4
30–34	13,332	16.2	69,194	83.8	82,526	30.8	84,053	30.8
35–39	9,752	19.2	40,958	80.8	50,710	18.9	51,850	19.0
40–44	3,895	30.3	8,974	69.7	12,869	4.8	13,168	4.8
45 and over	2,312	71.1	942	28.9	3,254	1.2	3,368	1.2
Total	37,827	14.1	229,966	85.9	267,793	100.0	272,558	100.0

Note: The total figure may not equal the sum of the column—for explanation, please refer to the notes prior to Baby Bonus tables.

Source: Centrelink administrative data.

Table 61: Baby Bonus customers and children by family type, 2009–10 financial year
Age of customer at date of payment (years)	Customers			Children
Age of customer at date of payment (years)	Partnered	Single parent	Total	Partnered	Single parent	Total
Under 18	884	2,011	2,895	889	2,026	2,915
18–19	3,455	4,140	7,595	3,495	4,183	7,678
20–24	24,113	12,986	37,099	24,440	13,142	37,582
25–29	60,388	10,460	70,848	61,268	10,640	71,908
30–34	75,397	7,121	82,518	76,786	7,258	84,044
35–39	46,166	4,538	50,704	47,191	4,653	51,844
40–44	11,350	1,513	12,863	11,624	1,538	13,162
45 and over	2,858	393	3,251	2,953	412	3,365
Total^(a)	224,585	43,149	267,734	228,646	43,852	272,498

(a) The total figure may not equal the sum of the column—for explanation, please refer to the notes prior to Baby Bonus tables.

Note: The table figures exclude 59 customers and 60 children whose family type was not specified.

Source: Centrelink administrative data.

Table 62: Baby Bonus customers by payment type, 2009–10 financial year
Age of customer at date of payment (years)	Payment type		Total
Age of customer at date of payment (years)	Instalment	Lump-sum	Total
Under 18	2,848	52	2,898
18–19	7,475	129	7,598
20–24	36,667	478	37,117
25–29	70,248	656	70,860
30 and over	147,891	1,552	149,344
Total	265,110	2,866	267,793

Note: The total figure may not equal the sum of the column—for explanation, please refer to the notes prior to Baby Bonus tables.

Source: Centrelink administrative data.

Table 63: Baby Bonus customers by state/territory, 2009–10 financial year
State/territory	Customers
State/territory	No.	%
New South Wales	86,138	32.2
Victoria	64,648	24.1
Queensland	57,017	21.3
Western Australia	27,050	10.1
South Australia	18,532	6.9
Tasmania	6,153	2.3
Australian Capital Territory	4,266	1.6
Northern Territory	3,626	1.4
Other^(a)	363	0.1
Total	267,793	100.0

(a) Includes unspecified state/territory.

Source: Centrelink administrative data.

4.3 Child care support

Child care support policies have been developed to help families participate in the economic and social life of the community through providing support for child care.

Child Care Benefit (CCB) helps families with the cost of approved child care, with financial assistance proportionally higher for lower-income families. Eligible families can have the benefit paid directly to the child care service to reduce their ongoing fees. Alternatively, they can receive the benefit as a lump sum after the end of the financial year. In addition to CCB, families may also receive the Child Care Rebate (CCR) (formerly known as the Child Care Tax Rebate) that pays up to 50 per cent (up from 30 per cent previously) of out-of-pocket costs. CCR is available quarterly to better align with when child care costs are incurred. Final CCR assessments are subject to CCB reconciliation based on taxable income as assessed by the Australian Taxation Office. Families using registered care (that is, informal care provided by a friend or neighbour registered with the Family Assistance Office), rather than care in an approved service, are eligible for the registered care rate of CCB. This is paid for up to 50 hours per week of work-related child care.

Table 64: Customers using approved Child Care Benefit services by state/territory, 2009–10 financial year
State/territory	No.
New South Wales	266,270
Victoria	181,080
Queensland	201,790
Western Australia	63,530
South Australia	60,370
Tasmania	19,230
Australian Capital Territory	15,480
Northern Territory	7,140
Total^(b)	806,550

(a) Based on location of child care service.

(b) Total count does not represent an aggregation of state and territory data as some customers may have used services in more than one state/territory during the period.

Note: Figures are rounded to the nearest 10.

Source: Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) administrative data.

Table 65: Customers using approved Child Care Benefit services by service type, 2009–10 financial year
Service type	No.
Long day care	569,180
Family day care^(a)	101,820
Occasional care	10,540
Outside school hours care^(b)	215,770
Vacation care	150,930
Total^(c)	806,550

(a) Family day care includes in-home care.

(b) Includes before and after school hours care.

(c) Total count does not represent an aggregation of different service types as some customers may have used more than one type of service during the period.

Note: Figures are rounded to the nearest 10.

Source: Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) administrative data.

Table 66: Customers using approved Child Care Benefit services by rate type, 2009–10 financial year
Rate type^(a)	No.	%
Maximum rate	230,190	28.5
Partial rate^(b)	394,980	49.0
Minimum rate	181,380	22.5
Total	806,550	100.0

(a) Customers can be on more than one rate type within a single year. Where a customer received some CCB during the year, the rate type here represents the last recorded rate type in the year.

(b) Customers receiving some Child Care Benefit (CCB) but less than maximum rate.

Notes: Figures are rounded to the nearest 10.

In the 2008–09 Budget the minimum rate of CCB was replaced with a rate that tapers down to zero. This change resulted in a reduction in the actual percentage of families who appear as receiving CCB as a fee reduction. However, those families affected by this change (by either electing to or having their CCB payment entitlement reduced to zero) still met the other CCB eligibility requirements apart from the income test and could receive the increased Child Care Rebate (CCR) entitlement in this and future years.

Source: Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) administrative data.

4.4 Double Orphan Pension

Double Orphan Pension was first introduced in September 1973. It is a non–means tested payment paid for children under 16 years of age in the care of a guardian, and for full-time dependent students aged between 16 and 21 years who do not receive Youth Allowance.

A double orphan is a child whose parents or adoptive parents have both died, or a child who has one deceased parent and:

the whereabouts of the other parent are unknown
the other parent is imprisoned for at least 10 years or is being held in custody on a charge for an offence punishable by imprisonment for at least 10 years, or
the other parent is residing indefinitely in a mental hospital, nursing home or similar institution.

Refugee children may qualify as double orphans in some circumstances.

To qualify for the Double Orphan Pension a person must have care of a double orphan and be eligible for Family Tax Benefit (FTB) for the child, or would be eligible for FTB but for the income test. There are also residence and citizenship or visa requirements.

Table 67: Double Orphan Pension, customers and children, June 1990 to June 2010
As at June	Customers	Children^(a)
	Customers	Under 16 years		16 to 21 years		Total
	No.	No.	%	No.	%	No.
1990	1,873	2,170	93.6	149	6.4	2,319

1991	1,639	1,908	93.9	124	6.1	2,032
1992	1,404	1,666	95.0	87	5.0	1,753
1993	1,356	1,605	95.3	79	4.7	1,684
1994	1,330	1,599	95.2	81	4.8	1,680
1995	1,314	1,616	95.0	85	5.0	1,701

1996	1,319	1,569	92.1	134	7.9	1,703
1997	1,313	1,537	91.2	149	8.8	1,686
1998	1,346	1,567	89.8	178	10.2	1,745
1999	1,243	1,490	92.4	122	7.6	1,612
2000	1,236	1,447	87.9	200	12.1	1,647

2001	1,242	1,503	92.2	127	7.8	1,630
2002	1,207	1,494	94.1	93	5.9	1,587
2003	1,137	1,391	93.9	91	6.1	1,482
2004	1,151	1,411	93.6	97	6.4	1,508
2005	1,286	1,635	94.3	99	5.7	1,734

2006	1,312	1,667	94.2	102	5.8	1,769
2007	1,330	1,728	93.9	112	6.1	1,840
2008	1,382	1,806	93.6	123	6.4	1,929
2009	1,444	1,829	91.4	173	8.6	2,002
2010	1,374	1,739	90.1	192	9.9	1,931

(a) Total number of children attracting a Double Orphan Pension.

Source: Centrelink administrative data.

Figure description

Figure 11: Double Orphan Pension customers, June 1990 to June 2010

Figure 11: Double Orphan Pension customers, June 1990 to June 2010

Source: Centrelink administrative data.

Table 68: Double Orphan Pension, customers and children by state/territory, June 2010
State/territory	Customers		Children^(a)
State/territory	No.	%	No.	%
New South Wales	329	23.9	481	24.9
Victoria	373	27.1	533	27.6
Queensland	256	18.6	349	18.1
Western Australia	176	12.8	257	13.3
South Australia	176	12.8	231	12.0
Tasmania	43	3.1	55	2.8
Australian Capital Territory	9	0.7	11	0.6
Northern Territory	12	0.9	14	0.7
Total	1,374	100.0	1,931	100.0

(a) Total number of children attracting a Double Orphan Pension.

Source: Centrelink administrative data.

5 Other payments and services

5.1 Commonwealth Seniors Health Card

The Commonwealth Seniors Health Card (CSHC) may be issued to people who have reached the qualifying age for Age Pension but who do not qualify for the pension. To qualify for the CSHC, a person must also be an Australian resident, living in Australia and meet the adjusted taxable income test. There is no assets test. The Commonwealth Seniors Health Card provides access to Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme prescription items at a cheaper rate and a lower Extended Medical Safety Net threshold. Cardholders receive the Seniors Supplement and concessional travel on Great Southern Rail services.

Table 69: Commonwealth Seniors Health Card holders by sex, June 2001 to June 2010
As at June	Male		Female		Total
As at June	No.	%	No.	%	No.
2001	97,848	43.3	128,292	56.7	226,140
2002	122,613	44.2	155,068	55.8	277,681
2003	125,261	44.3	157,430	55.7	282,691
2004	129,241	45.0	158,085	55.0	287,326
2005	136,012	45.3	164,153	54.7	300,165

2006	143,476	46.2	167,157	53.8	310,633
2007	148,233	46.6	170,045	53.4	318,278
2008	132,336	47.5	146,042	52.5	278,378
2009	134,774	48.2	144,790	51.8	279,564
2010	134,689	49.0	140,091	51.0	274,780

Source: Centrelink administrative data.

Figure description

Figure 12: Commonwealth Seniors Health Card holders by sex, June 2001 to June 2010

Figure 12: Commonwealth Seniors Health Card holders by sex, June 2001 to June 2010

Source: Centrelink administrative data.

Table 70: Commonwealth Seniors Health Card holders, characteristics by sex, June 2010
Characteristics	Male		Female		Total
Characteristics	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
Total	134,689	49.0	140,091	51.0	274,780	100.0
Age of customer (years)
60–64	0	0.0	7,361	5.3	7,361	2.7
65–69	50,774	37.7	52,343	37.4	103,117	37.5
70–74	38,175	28.3	33,962	24.2	72,137	26.3
75–79	23,602	17.5	20,787	14.8	44,389	16.2
80–84	15,117	11.2	14,409	10.3	29,526	10.7
85–89	5,393	4.0	7,671	5.5	13,064	4.8
90–94	1,330	1.0	2,777	2.0	4,107	1.5
95 and over	298	0.2	781	0.6	1,079	0.4
Status
Partnered	110,117	81.8	90,892	64.9	201,009	73.2
Single	24,557	18.2	49,188	35.1	73,745	26.8
Other^(a)	15	0.0	11	0.0	26	0.0

(a) Includes customers whose marital status was not specified.

Source: Centrelink administrative data.

Table 71: Commonwealth Seniors Health Card holders by state/territory and sex, June 2010
State/territory	Male		Female		Total
State/territory	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
New South Wales	46,831	48.4	49,955	51.6	96,786	35.2
Victoria	34,177	48.9	35,655	51.1	69,832	25.4
Queensland	25,079	49.9	25,130	50.1	50,209	18.3
Western Australia	13,559	49.4	13,872	50.6	27,431	10.0
South Australia	9,406	49.7	9,518	50.3	18,924	6.9
Tasmania	2,649	50.3	2,620	49.7	5,269	1.9
Australian Capital Territory	2,198	46.0	2,577	54.0	4,775	1.7
Northern Territory	460	53.0	408	47.0	868	0.3
Other^(a)	330	48.1	356	51.9	686	0.2
Total	134,689	49.0	140,091	51.0	274,780	100.0

(a) Includes overseas customers.

Source: Centrelink administrative data.

5.2 Rent Assistance

Rent Assistance is a non-taxable income supplement paid to individuals and families who rent in the private rental market. Pensioners, allowees and those receiving more than the base rate of Family Tax Benefit Part A may be eligible for Rent Assistance.

Rent Assistance can be a payment for site fees in caravan parks and residential parks, mooring fees at a marina, board and lodgings, some retirement village fees and fees paid to occupy non–Commonwealth funded beds in an aged care facility such as a hostel or nursing home.

To qualify for Rent Assistance, a person must:

pay or be liable to pay private rent above the applicable minimum rent threshold for their principal home
be an Australian resident in Australia (except for temporary absence of up to 26 weeks)
not be a home owner (except for mobile homes or people in care situations)
not have a partner receiving more than the base rate of Family Tax Benefit Part A
not have a partner who receives Rent Assistance with their pension.

Rent Assistance is not paid to:

people paying rent to a government housing authority, although in some situations sub-tenants may qualify for Rent Assistance
a person who lives in a care facility in an approved Australian Government funded bed
single Disability Support Pension recipients aged under 21 years, without dependants, living with parents
other single people aged under 25 years, living with parents.

Special rules apply to single sharers and people who pay board and lodging.

Table 72: Rent Assistance income units, average rent and Rent Assistance by primary payment type, June 2010
Primary payment type^(a)	Income units	Average rent	Average Rent Assistance
Primary payment type^(a)	No.^(b)	$ per fortnight^(c)	$ per fortnight^(c)
Age Pension	193,164	322	91
Disability Support Pension	219,915	335	101
Newstart Allowance	216,691	359	94
Parenting Payment (Single)	165,773	460	113
Parenting Payment (Partnered)^(d)	28,365	555	127
Youth Allowance	86,109	287	80
Family Tax Benefit, Part Aonly	137,324	592	96
Other payments	57,813	374	97
Total	1,105,154	392	98

(a) Members of an income unit may receive more than one type of social security payment and/or Family Tax Benefit (FTB). The primary payment type is based on a hierarchy of pensions first, allowances, Parenting Payment (Partnered) and then FTB Part A. Most families with children are paid Rent Assistance with FTB, but use of primary payments helps to understand the extent of reliance on social security payments.

(b) Income unit numbers relate to those with an ongoing entitlement to a social security or FTB Part A payment at more than the base rate at 4 June 2010 (Housing dataset June 2010).

(c) Rents refer to the combined rent for a couple. Where a customer pays for both accommodation and meals, and cannot separately identify an accommodation charge, two-thirds of the payment is treated as rent. Average rent and Rent Assistance relate only to customers who were paid a daily rate of Rent Assistance at 4 June 2010 (Housing dataset June 2010).

(d) Where a member of a couple receiving Parenting Payment (Partnered) has a partner receiving a social security income support payment, the partner's income support payment will become the primary payment type. Parenting Payment (Partnered) will be the primary payment type only if the partner does not receive an income support payment.

Note: Income units consist of a single person or a couple, with or without dependent children. Eligibility for Rent Assistance depends upon family circumstances including the combined rent paid by members of a couple. Where both members of a couple living together qualify for Rent Assistance, the maximum payment is halved.

Source: Centrelink administrative data.

Table 73: Rent Assistance income units by primary payment type and sex, June 2010
Primary payment type^(a)	Income units		Both in receipt of Rent Assistance	Female in receipt of Rent Assistance	Male in receipt of Rent Assistance
Primary payment type^(a)	No.^(b)	%	Both in receipt of Rent Assistance	Female in receipt of Rent Assistance	Male in receipt of Rent Assistance
Age Pension	193,164	17.5	38,309	96,495	58,360
Disability Support Pension	219,915	19.9	17,558	96,801	105,556
Newstart Allowance	216,691	19.6	6,967	97,121	112,603
Parenting Payment (Single)	165,773	15.0	–	158,097	7,676
Parenting Payment (Partnered)^(c)	28,365	2.6	189	24,976	3,200
Youth Allowance	86,109	7.8	1,395	49,495	35,219
Family Tax Benefit, Part Aonly	137,324	12.4	504	108,639	28,181
Other payments	57,813	5.2	3,839	38,261	15,713
Total	1,105,154	100.0	68,761	669,885	366,508

(b) Income unit numbers relate to those with an ongoing entitlement to a social security or FTB Part A payment at more than the base rate at 4 June 2010 (Housing dataset June 2010).

(c) Where a member of a couple receiving Parenting Payment (Partnered) has a partner receiving a social security income support payment, the partner's income support payment will become the primary payment type. Parenting Payment (Partnered) will be the primary payment only if the partner does not receive another income support payment.

Notes: Income units consist of a single person or a couple, with or without dependent children. Eligibility for Rent Assistance depends upon family circumstances including the combined rent paid by members of a couple. Where both members of a couple living together qualify for Rent Assistance, the maximum payment is halved.

'–' = not applicable.

Source: Centrelink administrative data.

6 Pensioners paid overseas

6.1 Payment rules

Generally there are two standard portability periods:

unlimited portability period, and
limited 13 weeks portability.

Age pensioners and some Widow B and wife pensioners are entitled to be paid overseas indefinitely if they leave Australia permanently. In special circumstances recipients of Disability Support Pension who have a terminal illness may be granted unlimited portability if they are severely disabled and the purpose of the absence is to be near or with a family member, or to return to their country of origin.

All other payments generally have a maximum portability period of 13 weeks. Ancillary payments such as Rent Assistance and Pharmaceutical Allowance are also generally portable for temporary overseas absences.

6.2 Australia's agreements as at June 2010

Australia has social security agreements with 23 countries—Austria, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea (South), Malta, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland and the United States.

Australia's international social security agreements are designed to share social security costs between countries by:

facilitating access to Australian pensions in Australia for people who have had periods of social security coverage in an agreement country
helping Australian residents claim their entitlements to social security from other countries
regulating payment of social security benefits to people moving between agreement countries.

Table 74: Persons paid overseas by Australia by payment type, June 1990 to June 2010
As at June^(a)	Age Pension	Disability Support Pension	Wife Pension	Widow B Pension	Carer Payment	Parenting Payment^(b)	Total
1990	13,996	7,504	4,385	2,385		199	28,469

1991	16,658	7,814	4,755	1,845		167	31,239
1992	19,846	8,148	4,682	1,790		159	34,625
1993	23,948	8,455	3,478	1,683		154	37,718
1994	27,287	8,493	3,594	1,665	5	136	41,180
1995	29,712	8,780	3,807	1,658	9	121	44,087

1996	32,288	9,074	4,045	1,684	9	110	47,210
1997	35,662	9,061	3,867	1,526	13	89	50,218
1998	38,136	8,964	3,572	1,391	16	76	52,155
1999	38,136	8,964	3,718	1,251	19	55	52,143
2000	42,066	8,707	2,943	1,156	17	43	54,932

2001	43,280	8,686	2,689	1,141	18	42	55,856
2002	44,150	8,485	2,098	1,082	16	38	55,869
2003	45,399	8,129	998	1,875	37	23	56,461
2004	47,259	7,867	1,773	859	42	0	57,800
2005	48,871	7,816	1,570	799	54	10	59,120

2006	54,966	9,459	1,602	740	103	178	67,048
2007	56,165	8,849	1,431	658	88	44	67,235
2008	57,811	8,365	1,305	657	78	18	68,234
2009	58,012	8,174	1,136	610	187	111	68,230
2010	62,148	7,572	969	575	93	3	71,360

(a) All payments where person is outside Australia long-term (since 2006 defined as more than 6 months).

(b) Parenting Payment (Single) replaced Sole Parent Pension on 20 March 1998.

Source: Centrelink administrative data.

Figure description

Figure 13: Total persons paid overseas by Australia, June 1990 to June 2010

Figure 13: Total persons paid overseas by Australia, June 1990 to June 2010

Notes: All payments where person is outside Australia long-term (since 2006 defined as more than 6 months).

Parenting Payment (Single) replaced Sole Parent Pension on 20 March 1998.

Source: Centrelink administrative data.

Table 75: Persons paid overseas by Australia, country of residence by payment type, June 2010
Zone	Country of residence	Age Pension	Disability Support Pension	Other^(a)	Total
Europe	Austria	1,013	46	7	1,066
	Belgium	65	9	0	74
	Bosnia and Herzegovina	158	80	4	242
	Bulgaria	28	8	1	37
	Croatia	2,000	487	39	2,526
	Cyprus	715	215	44	974
	Czech Republic	115	28	0	143
	Denmark	127	9	0	136
	Finland	144	10	1	155
	Former Serbia and Montenegro	20	10	1	31
	Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia	635	246	32	913
	France	133	18	2	153
	Germany	1,677	104	9	1,790
	Greece	8,203	1,423	361	9,987
	Hungary	317	42	5	364
	Ireland	425	28	6	459
	Italy	18,051	470	421	18,942
	Latvia	26	1	0	27
	Malta	2,959	948	191	4,098
	Montenegro	34	24	4	62
	Netherlands	4,128	28	10	4,166
	Norway	34	11	0	45
	Poland	286	112	4	402
	Portugal	1,071	228	44	1,343
	Romania	50	21	0	71
	Serbia	680	287	32	999
	Slovakia	22	12	0	34
	Slovenia	259	29	0	288
	Spain	3,826	292	102	4,220
	Sweden	26	7	0	33
	Switzerland	42	14	0	56
	United Kingdom	2,032	179	52	2,263
	Other Europe^(b)	55	6	0	61
	Total Europe	49,356	5,432	1,372	56,160

Americas	Argentina	158	31	7	196
	Brazil	28	11	2	41
	Canada	1,362	62	11	1,435
	Chile	437	101	14	552
	Colombia	27	16	3	46
	Ecuador	22	6	2	30
	El Salvador	28	4	1	33
	Peru	27	7	0	34
	United States of America	1,029	145	11	1,185
	Uruguay	220	35	11	266
	Other Americas^(c)	40	5	1	46
	Total Americas	3,378	423	63	3,864

Asia	China	129	8	0	137
	Hong Kong	68	1	0	69
	India	88	21	0	109
	Indonesia	60	12	1	73
	Japan	25	4	1	30
	Malaysia	52	5	2	59
	Philippines	373	60	3	436
	Singapore	30	0	1	31
	Sri Lanka	34	4	1	39
	Thailand	280	39	1	320
	Vietnam	84	7	0	91
	Other Asia^(d)	75	9	0	84
	Total Asia	1,298	170	10	1,478

Africa/Middle East	Egypt	64	37	6	107
	Israel	107	9	3	119
	Jordan	17	7	0	24
	Lebanon	509	137	32	678
	South Africa	42	2	0	44
	Syria	51	30	4	85
	Turkey	860	487	96	1,443
	Other Africa/Middle East^(e)	79	33	3	115
	Total Africa/Middle East	1,729	742	144	2,615

Oceania	Fiji	23	1	0	24
	New Zealand	5,483	732	37	6,252
	Other Oceania^(f)	75	4	1	80
	Total Oceania	5,581	737	38	6,356

Total^(g)		62,148	7,572	1,640	71,360

(a) Includes Wife Pension, Widow B Pension, Carer Payment and Parenting Payment (Single).

(b) Comprised of Albania, Belarus, Estonia, Iceland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Moldova, Monaco, Russian Federation and Ukraine.

(c) Comprised of Aruba, Barbados, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Grenada, Guatemala, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Puerto Rico, St Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela.

(d) Comprised of Afghanistan, Armenia, Bangladesh, Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia, East Timor, Kazakhstan, Korea (North), Korea (South), Laos, Nepal, Pakistan and Taiwan.

(e) Comprised of Algeria, Bahrain, Burkina Faso, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Iran, Iraq, Kenya, Kuwait, Madagascar, Mauritius, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Seychelles, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia and United Arab Emirates.

(f) Comprised of Cook Islands, French Polynesia, Kiribati, New Caledonia, Norfolk Island, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga and Vanuatu.

(g) Includes additional 887 customers from unknown or unspecified countries.

Source: Centrelink administrative data.

Table 76: Persons paid by Australia under a social security agreement by payment type, June 2010
Agreement country	Age Pension	Disability Support Pension	Other^(a)	Total
Austria	931	42	5	978
Belgium	40	4	0	44
Canada	1,277	53	3	1,333
Chile	191	50	0	241
Croatia	1,061	236	0	1,297
Cyprus	380	107	21	508
Denmark	105	9	0	114
Finland	84	0	0	84
Germany	1,558	97	4	1,659
Greece	3,011	0	0	3,011
Ireland	236	19	3	258
Italy	16,595	230	353	17,178
Japan	8	0	0	8
Korea, South	4	0	0	4
Malta	2,688	746	156	3,590
Netherlands	4,072	18	9	4,099
New Zealand	10,644	1,832	185	12,661
Norway	25	5	0	30
Portugal	718	117	24	859
Slovenia	160	11	0	171
Spain	3,263	180	82	3,525
Switzerland	32	10	0	42
United States of America	777	131	2	910
Total	47,860	3,897	847	52,604

(a) Includes Wife Pension, Widow B Pension, Carer Payment and Parenting Payment (Single).

Note: Includes payments made in Australia, the agreement country and in third countries.

Source: Centrelink administrative data.

6.3 Overseas pensions

Many Centrelink customers have lived and worked overseas and are eligible to receive overseas pensions, known as comparable foreign payments.

Under the comparable foreign payments legislation, customers may be required to claim their overseas pension if they are entitled.

Requiring customers who are likely to be eligible for a foreign payment to claim ensures a fairer social security system. It reinforces the objective of directing income support towards those in need while at the same time avoiding any unnecessary costs to Australian taxpayers. It also recognises that many Australians are part of the new global labour market.

6.4 Total balance of payments

Yearly expenditure as at June 2010 on Australia's pension payments to people living overseas was A$571.3 million. At the same time, pensions from overseas countries being paid to people residing in Australia totalled A$1.2 billion to Centrelink pensioners, representing a significant inflow of funds into Australia, an increase in the disposable income for pensioners, and a saving for Australian taxpayers.

Figure Description


No.	Text description of diagram
1	Age Pension customers by sex, June 1990 to June 2010 Figure 1 shows the number of people receiving Age Pension by sex (male, female), from June 1990 to June 2010. The horizontal axis shows the year (1990 to 2010). The vertical axis shows the number of customers (from 0 to 2,250,000). 1990 Male = 404,486 Female = 935,982 1991 Male = 418,383 Female = 957,466 1992 Male = 447,888 Female = 998,280 1993 Male = 481,196 Female = 1,034,486 1994 Male = 514,217 Female = 1,067,657 1995 Male = 544,571 Female = 1,034,127 1996 Male = 570,328 Female = 1,032,506 1997 Male = 597,859 Female = 1,082,355 1998 Male = 618,607 Female = 1,072,987 1999 Male = 639,008 Female = 1,085,581 2000 Male = 659,188 Female = 1,079,027 2001 Male = 688,563 Female = 1,104,863 2002 Male = 714,324 Female = 1,103,881 2003 Male = 739,187 Female = 1,121,868 2004 Male = 761,025 Female = 1,115,225 2005 Male = 782,977 Female = 1,132,059 2006 Male = 800,310 Female = 1,121,819 2007 Male = 815,912 Female = 1,136,774 2008 Male = 868,179 Female = 1,171,126 2009 Male = 906,769 Female = 1,210,761 2010 Male = 939,442 Female = 1,218,861
2	Disability Support Pension customers by sex, June 1990 to June 2010 Figure 2 shows the number of people receiving Disability Support Pension by sex (male, female), from June 1990 to June 2010. The horizontal axis shows the year (1990 to 2010). The vertical axis shows the number of customers (from 0 to 800,000). 1990 Male = 233,251 Female = 83,462 1991 Male = 244,699 Female = 89,535 1992 Male = 273,697 Female = 104,861 1993 Male = 291,471 Female = 115,101 1994 Male = 309,123 Female = 127,111 1995 Male = 324,672 Female = 139,758 1996 Male = 340,256 Female = 158,979 1997 Male = 352,607 Female = 174,907 1998 Male = 361,539 Female = 191,797 1999 Male = 373,340 Female = 204,342 2000 Male = 382,351 Female = 219,929 2001 Male = 392,354 Female = 231,572 2002 Male = 406,893 Female = 252,022 2003 Male = 412,777 Female = 260,557 2004 Male = 418,829 Female = 277,913 2005 Male = 420,073 Female = 286,709 2006 Male = 415,618 Female = 296,545 2007 Male = 413,033 Female = 301,123 2008 Male = 413,484 Female = 318,883 2009 Male = 422,290 Female = 334,828 2010 Male = 433,456 Female = 359,125
3	Sickness Allowance customers by sex, June 1990 to June 2010 Figure 3 shows the number of people receiving Sickness Allowance by sex (male, female), from June 1990 to June 2010. The horizontal axis shows the year (1990 to 2010). The vertical axis shows the number of customers (from 0 to 80,000). 1990 Male = 56,674 Female = 22,521 1991 Male = 50,991 Female = 20,408 1992 Male = 30,844 Female = 13,328 1993 Male = 31,802 Female = 14,777 1994 Male = 31,274 Female = 15,858 1995 Male = 31,131 Female = 16,180 1996 Male = 22,254 Female = 10,961 1997 Male = 10,721 Female = 5,038 1998 Male = 11,166 Female = 5,119 1999 Male = 7,799 Female = 3,382 2000 Male = 6,990 Female = 3,053 2001 Male = 7,598 Female = 3,460 2002 Male = 6,414 Female = 3,126 2003 Male = 5,973 Female = 2,782 2004 Male = 5,613 Female = 2,865 2005 Male = 5,671 Female = 2,696 2006 Male = 5,011 Female = 2,562 2007 Male = 4,877 Female = 2,747 2008 Male = 4,523 Female = 2,914 2009 Male = 4,182 Female = 2,786 2010 Male = 3,928 Female = 2,775
4	Mobility Allowance customers by sex, June 1990 to June 2010 Figure 4 shows the number of people receiving Mobility Allowance by sex (male, female), from June 1990 to June 2010. The horizontal axis shows the year (1990 to 2010). The vertical axis shows the number of customers (from 0 to 60,000). 1990 Male = 7,422 Female = 5,785 1991 Male = 7,535 Female = 5,909 1992 Male = 7,826 Female = 6,085 1993 Male = 9,118 Female = 7,042 1994 Male = 11,916 Female = 8,879 1995 Male = 13,106 Female = 9,745 1996 Male = 14,200 Female = 10,785 1997 Male = 15,066 Female = 11,529 1998 Male = 16,346 Female = 12,629 1999 Male = 17,415 Female = 13,586 2000 Male = 19,673 Female = 15,481 2001 Male = 20,887 Female = 16,687 2002 Male = 22,863 Female = 18,593 2003 Male = 24,370 Female = 19,869 2004 Male = 25,763 Female = 21,084 2005 Male = 26,940 Female = 22,275 2006 Male = 28,755 Female = 23,897 2007 Male = 29,995 Female = 24,947 2008 Male = 30,151 Female = 25,148 2009 Male = 30,462 Female = 25,618 2010 Male = 31,199 Female = 26,150
5	Wife Pension customers, June 1990 to June 2010 Figure 5 shows the number of people receiving Wife Pension, from June 1990 to June 2010. The horizontal axis shows the year (1990 to 2010). The vertical axis shows the number of customers (from 0 to 200,000). 1990 = 115,695 1991 = 121,933 1992 = 133,194 1993 = 142,013 1994 = 152,620 1995 = 161,457 1996 = 148,931 1997 = 127,885 1998 = 116,125 1999 = 100,719 2000 = 91,341 2001 = 77,701 2002 = 67,968 2003 = 58,110 2004 = 52,829 2005 = 45,090 2006 = 40,881 2007 = 35,273 2008 = 31,950 2009 = 27,437 2010 = 24,655
6	Carer Payment customers, June 1990 to June 2010 Figure 6 shows the number of people receiving Carer Payment, from June 1990 to June 2010. The horizontal axis shows the year (1990 to 2010). The vertical axis shows the number of customers (from 0 to 175,000). 1990 = 8,796 1991 = 10,161 1992 = 12,631 1993 = 15,045 1994 = 17,699 1995 = 20,098 1996 = 25,037 1997 = 29,558 1998 = 33,979 1999 = 40,070 2000 = 47,550 2001 = 57,190 2002 = 67,260 2003 = 75,937 2004 = 84,082 2005 = 95,446 2006 = 105,058 2007 = 116,614 2008 = 130,657 2009 = 146,870 2010 = 168,913
7	Carer Allowance customers, June 1990 to June 2010 Figure 7 shows the number of people receiving Carer Allowance, from June 1990 to June 2010. The horizontal axis shows the year (1990 to 2010). The vertical axis shows the number of customers (from 0 to 500,000). 1990 = 37,746 1991 = 42,405 1992 = 50,797 1993 = 61,174 1994 = 69,693 1995 = 78,898 1996 = 90,644 1997 = 95,520 1998 = 90,830 1999 = 100,452 2000 = 201,059 2001 = 235,041 2002 = 272,045 2003 = 299,609 2004 = 297,607 2005 = 340,005 2006 = 366,960 2007 = 393,443 2008 = 422,905 2009 = 461,086 2010 = 495,733
8	Parenting Payment (Single) customers by sex, June 1990 to June 2010 Figure 8 shows the number of people receiving Parenting Payment (Single) by sex (male, female), from June 1990 to June 2010. The horizontal axis shows the year (1990 to 2010). The vertical axis shows the number of customers (from 0 to 500,000). 1990 Male = 11,305 Female = 237,581 1991 Male = 13,616 Female = 252,104 1992 Male = 16,444 Female = 270,784 1993 Male = 17,529 Female = 280,915 1994 Male = 18,897 Female = 294,540 1995 Male = 19,913 Female = 305,028 1996 Male = 21,964 Female = 320,326 1997 Male = 23,920 Female = 334,973 1998 Male = 25,546 Female = 346,740 1999 Male = 26,830 Female = 355,493 2000 Male = 27,951 Female = 363,442 2001 Male = 31,661 Female = 385,000 2002 Male = 32,966 Female = 394,880 2003 Male = 33,909 Female = 403,049 2004 Male = 34,866 Female = 414,446 2005 Male = 34,565 Female = 416,246 2006 Male = 32,368 Female = 400,590 2007 Male = 25,677 Female = 369,818 2008 Male = 20,559 Female = 340,074 2009 Male = 18,348 Female = 325,748 2010 Male = 16,793 Female = 316,719
9	Parenting Payment (Partnered) customers by sex, June 2001 to June 2010 Figure 9 shows the number of people receiving Parenting Payment (Partnered) by sex (male, female), from June 2001 to June 2010. The horizontal axis shows the year (2001 to 2010). The vertical axis shows the number of customers (from 0 to 250,000). 2001 Male = 20,263 Female = 184,313 2002 Male = 19,576 Female = 172,000 2003 Male = 19,196 Female = 162,209 2004 Male = 18,917 Female = 158,240 2005 Male = 17,255 Female = 150,017 2006 Male = 15,353 Female = 143,461 2007 Male = 12,742 Female = 131,685 2008 Male = 10,246 Female = 115,676 2009 Male = 10,735 Female = 118,630 2010 Male = 10,329 Female = 114,581
10	Special Benefit customers by sex, June 1990 to June 2010 Figure 10 shows the number of people receiving Special Benefit by sex (male, female), from June 1990 to June 2010. The horizontal axis shows the year (1990 to 2010). The vertical axis shows the number of customers (from 0 to 35,000). 1990 Male = 13,592 Female = 14,321 1991 Male = 13,830 Female = 15,981 1992 Male = 16,168 Female = 18,624 1993 Male = 12,989 Female = 15,865 1994 Male = 11,957 Female = 13,990 1995 Male = 10,446 Female = 10,438 1996 Male = 9,125 Female = 9,602 1997 Male = 6,811 Female = 7,765 1998 Male = 4,733 Female = 5,503 1999 Male = 5,232 Female = 6,576 2000 Male = 5,313 Female = 5,658 2001 Male = 7,466 Female = 5,246 2002 Male = 8,060 Female = 5,031 2003 Male = 7,585 Female = 4,643 2004 Male = 6,918 Female = 4,298 2005 Male = 5,625 Female = 3,783 2006 Male = 3,665 Female = 3,176 2007 Male = 3,104 Female = 3,140 2008 Male = 2,856 Female = 3,147 2009 Male = 2,571 Female = 3,238 2010 Male = 2,645 Female = 3,662
11	Double Orphan Pension customers, June 1990 to June 2010 Figure 11 shows the number of people receiving Double Orphan Pension, from June 1990 to June 2010. The horizontal axis shows the year (1990 to 2010). The vertical axis shows the number of customers (from 0 to 2,500). 1990 = 1,873 1991 = 1,639 1992 = 1,404 1993 = 1,356 1994 = 1,330 1995 = 1,314 1996 = 1,319 1997 = 1,313 1998 = 1,346 1999 = 1,243 2000 = 1,236 2001 = 1,242 2002 = 1,207 2003 = 1,137 2004 = 1,151 2005 = 1,286 2006 = 1,312 2007 = 1,330 2008 = 1,382 2009 = 1,444 2010 = 1,374
12	Commonwealth Seniors Health Card holders by sex, June 2001 to June 2010 Figure 12 shows the number of people holding a Commonwealth Seniors Health Card by sex (male, female), from June 2001 to June 2010. The horizontal axis shows the year (2001 to 2010). The vertical axis shows the number of customers (from 0 to 350,000). 2001 Male = 97,848 Female = 128,292 2002 Male = 122,613 Female = 155,068 2003 Male = 125,261 Female = 157,430 2004 Male = 129,241 Female = 158,085 2005 Male = 136,012 Female = 164,153 2006 Male = 143,476 Female = 167,157 2007 Male = 148,233 Female = 170,045 2008 Male = 132,336 Female = 146,042 2009 Male = 134,774 Female = 144,790 2010 Male = 134,689 Female = 140,091
13	Total persons paid overseas by Australia, June 1990 to June 2010 Figure 13 shows the number of people paid overseas by Australia, from June 1990 to June 2010. The horizontal axis shows the year (1990 to 2010). The vertical axis shows the number of customers (from 0 to 70,000). 1990 = 28,469 1991 = 31,239 1992 = 34,625 1993 = 37,718 1994 = 41,175 1995 = 44,078 1996 = 47,201 1997 = 50,205 1998 = 52,139 1999 = 52,124 2000 = 54,915 2001 = 55,838 2002 = 55,853 2003 = 56,424 2004 = 57,758 2005 = 59,066 2006 = 66,945 2007 = 67,147 2008 = 68,156 2009 = 68,043 2010 = 71,360