Crisis Payment

Eligibility

There are different types of Crisis Payments to cover different situations.

To get any of these payments, you must meet all of the following:

• be in severe financial hardship
• get, or, be eligible for an income support payment or ABSTUDY Living Allowance
• be experiencing an extreme circumstance.

You’ll also need to meet other eligibility criteria based on the type of Crisis Payment you claim.

If you’re not getting an income support payment or ABSTUDY Living Allowance, use Payment and Service finder to check if you can get one.

How we define extreme circumstances

To be eligible, you must be experiencing one of the following:

• you’ve experienced an incident of family and domestic violence
• you’ve had to leave your home because of a natural or other disaster not covered by a disaster relief payment
• you’ve arrived in Australia as a Humanitarian Entrant for the first time
• you were released from prison or psychiatric confinement.

When to claim

In most cases you must contact us within 7 days of your extreme circumstance occurring.

When you get assistance from agencies and charities

If you’re getting new electrical goods or food from other agencies or charities, you can still claim a Crisis Payment.

Help in an emergency

Each disaster is different so the timing and type of financial help varies. You can’t get a Crisis Payment if you already get a disaster relief payment.

Read more about how we help in an emergency.

Types of Crisis Payment

Read about the Crisis Payment for your situation.