Who can get it

We automatically check if you’re eligible for Remote Area Allowance when you get an eligible payment and you tell us you’ve moved to an eligible remote area either:

• to live permanently
• temporarily for 12 months or more.

Eligible payments

You can get Remote Area Allowance if you live in an eligible remote area and get one of these eligible payments:

• ABSTUDY Living Allowance
• Age Pension
• Austudy
• Carer Payment
• Disability Support Pension
• Farm Household Allowance
• JobSeeker Payment
• Parenting Payment
• Special Benefit
• Youth Allowance
• Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) Age Pension
• DVA Income Support Supplement
• DVA Service Pension
• DVA Veteran Payment.

Find out more about DVA pensions and payments on their website.

If you leave home to study

If you live in an eligible remote area and need to leave home to study, you can get Remote Area Allowance for 8 weeks from the date you leave home if all of these apply:

• you’re a student
• you get Youth Allowance, ABSTUDY Living Allowance or Austudy
• you usually live in an eligible remote area, except while you’re studying.

You can get Remote Area Allowance for more than 8 weeks if you’re a secondary school student getting ABSTUDY Living Allowance.

Eligible remote areas

Eligible remote areas are the same as these Australia Taxation Office’s Australian zones for tax offsets. You live in an eligible remote area if the place you live has one of these ratings:

• zone A
• zone A special area
• zone B special area.

You can check the rating by selecting your state and territory on the Australian tax offset zone list on the Australian Taxation website.

Who can’t get it

You can’t get Remote Area Allowance if you:

• move outside the eligible remote area
• live in zone B
• live in one of these zone A special areas the Australia Antarctic Territory, Heard Island, Macquarie Island, Mcdonald Islands or Toorak Research Station.

How to get it

You don’t need to do anything to get Remote Area Allowance. We’ll automatically check if you can get it when you either:

• get an eligible payment
• move to an eligible remote area to stay for more than 12 months.

If you can get it, we’ll tell you when your payment starts and how much you get.