Editors --- "Assets test: meaning of 'principal home" [2005] SocSecRpr 9; (2005) 7 Social Security Reporter, Article 9

• SECRETARY TO THE DFaCS and GLEDICH
• Background
• The law
• Formal decision

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Assets test: meaning of 'principal home

SECRETARY TO THE DFaCS and GLEDICH

(2005/598)

Assets test: meaning of ‘principal home’

SECRETARY TO THE DFaCS and GLEDICH

(No. 2005/598 )

Decided: 23July 2005 by L. Savage Davis.

Background

Gledich maintained a house in the city at a three hectare property in Grove Road. However, she spent three out of every four weeks in a campervan prospecting at various mining leases. Part of the Grove Road address was rented out for the grazing of horses. A Post Office box convenient to the mining area was used for communication with Centrelink and “Prospecting License 51-1779 Quinns” was listed as her residential or principal address. That town was also where Gledich attended on a regular basis to gather mail, water and fresh vegetables. Gledich’s child was schooled through distance education at the campervan and the residential address provided on the Assistance for Isolated Children claim form was also one of the mining lease addresses.

Gledich described her lifestyle as being like most people working in mining. There was no running water or electricity, they ‘used the bush for the toilet and saved their laundry for when they returned to Grove Road’ (Reasons, para. 6).

The family also owned valuable vacant land. The Department decided that the campervan was in fact Gledich’s home and that the combined value of assets, including the vacant land and Grove Road, affected Gledich’s entitlement to parenting payment. The SSAT set aside the original decision and sent the matter back for reconsideration in accordance with the direction that Grove Road be regarded as Gledich’s principal home.

The law

The rate of a person’s parenting payment is subject to the value of their assets. However, the value of a person’s principal home is exempted from the calculation of assets. Section 11(5) of the Social Security Act 1991 (the Act) defines principal home to include:

‘(a) ...the private land adjacent to the dwelling house to the extent that the private land together with the area of the ground floor of the dwelling house does not exceed two hectares;’... and

Section 11(7) provides:

A residence of a person is taken to continue to be the person’s principal home during:

‘(a) any period (not exceeding twelve months) during which the person is temporarily absent from the residence;...’

Principal home

In finding the Grove Road address was Gledich’s principle address, the Tribunal followed the principle set out in Re Samek(1998) ALD 295 that a peripatetic lifestyle requires consideration beyond the question of where a person spends most time.

The Tribunal, after careful consideration, cannot equate a campervan with no toilet facilities, very limited cooking or washing facilities without access to water or electricity as Mrs Gledich’s principal home. (Reasons, para. 21).

In Re Samek, the Tribunal commented that a legal interest was required, however, Gledich’s set of prospecting licenses was not considered a sufficient interest to ground a finding that a campervan located on these leases constituted the ‘principal home ‘for the relevant period.

Formal decision

The decision under review was affirmed.

[J.S.]