You may get Special Benefit if you’re travelling outside Australia for an approved reason. If granted, you’ll get your payment for the time required to deal with the reason. This will generally be 2-3 weeks. The maximum period is 6 weeks.
The approved reasons are:
- to attend an acute family crisis - for example, to visit a family member who’s critically ill
- for specific humanitarian reasons - for example, to adopt a child or attend custody proceedings
- to get eligible medical treatment that isn’t available in Australia.
Evidence we need
You must provide detailed evidence that supports the reason for travel. The evidence you need to provide depends on the circumstances.
Evidence may include any of the following:
- a death certificate for the family member
- a medical certificate from an overseas hospital
- a statement from police
- a court order
- a letter from your treating doctor
- other documents relating to the reason for travel.
If you don’t give us the evidence before you leave Australia, your payment may stop when you depart. If we’ve stopped your payment, we’ll reassess it once we get your evidence.
Example
Zina is paid Special Benefit. They hear from a relative that their brother is critically ill and has been hospitalised in Canada. Zina calls Centrelink to advise they’re travelling to Canada for 2 weeks to visit their brother. They’re told their circumstances meet the criteria of an acute family crisis, which will allow their Special Benefit to be paid overseas if they provide suitable evidence that confirms the situation.
Zina will need to give evidence confirming the situation before the assessment can be finalised and they can be paid. Zina says they’ll get a letter from the hospital while in Canada and upload it when they return to Australia. This means the assessment will happen after Zina returns to Australia, so Zina’s Special Benefit stops when they depart.
While in Canada, Zina gets a certificate from the hospital that states their brother’s name, date of birth and date of admission and details the critical condition he’s in. Zina returns to Australia as planned. They upload their evidence, which confirms the situation is an acute family crisis. They’re paid Special Benefit for the 2 weeks they were in Canada.
Alternative situations
If Zina’s brother had died while they were there, they could contact Centrelink and request further payment under the acute family crisis provision. They would need to provide a death certificate, as well as the initial medical certificate.
If Zina decided to stay longer in Canada to visit family and travel, they wouldn’t be paid for that time as it wasn’t due to the acute family crisis. Zina’s Special Benefit would suspend at the end of the approved period. If they returned to Australia within 13 weeks of suspension, their payment could be restored. If they returned after 13 weeks, they would need to lodge a new claim.
You can upload your evidence using your Centrelink online account through myGov.