💵 How Do Centrelink Payments Work While Travelling Australia?

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You may be wondering how Centrelink payments while travelling Australia actually work. Some of the payment types will just keep rolling on with no change as you travel, while other benefits can be greatly affected.

Just to be clear, we’re not talking about catching a free ride while you’re on the road. The purpose of this article is to help with your travel planning by looking at how some of the different benefits, pensions and allowances work while you’re travelling Australia.

While there are a huge range of Centrelink benefits available, here we will just cover some of the common payments that travellers may be dealing with.

Remember, to receive any Centrelink payments you must be an Australian citizen or hold a permanent visa, plus be living in Australia.

You may also need a permanent address for Centrelink’s records, although in some cases they will accept ‘No Fixed Address.’ Many people who sell or rent out their house to travel use the address of a friend or family member for the duration of their trip – work it as you will.

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Centrelink & Living in a Caravan

Centrelink couldn’t care less whether you’re living in a caravan or a shoe box. Their main requests are around providing a residential address (if you have one) and declaring your income and assets.

If you live in caravan and pay rent, you may still be eligible for Rent Assistance, which is income tested.

Age Pension and Living in a Caravan

For those who are in the Age Pension category, there is a cap to how much your assets can be worth before your Age Pension begins to be affected.

Your primary residence is not included in the Assets Test, which is where the distinction between living in a caravan or a house comes into play.

Centrelink Payments

Here’s a quick break-down on whether or not the various Centrelink payments are affected by travel within Australia.

As you keep scrolling further below, you’ll find more information for each payment type, their eligibility requirements, plus how that payment is/ isn’t affected by travel in Australia.

Age Pension

The Australian Age Pension is an income support payment for people who have reached Age Pension age and are eligible.

As the Age Pension is income and asset based, travelling around Australia won’t affect your Age Pension payments. However, be aware that travelling outside of Australia for more than 6 weeks may affect your payment.

Getting started with the Age Pension can be a lengthy process of submitting income and asset information. It is recommended that you begin the process 13 weeks before hitting the retirement age so that you start receiving your payments on time.

Read more on Age Pension.

Austudy

The Austudy benefit provides help for adults who are over 25 years of age and are studying or an Australian apprentice. It is possible to be receiving Austudy while travelling Australia and completing a correspondence course at the same time.

If you’re studying an approved course full-time by Distance Education (with an approved education provider), your payments won’t be affected while travelling Australia.

As most distance education courses are self-paced, you will have to show Centrelink that you’re progressing through your course in a timely manner to keep your payments. They may check assignment submissions with your education provider.

Read more on Austudy.

Carer Allowances

There are a few different Carer Allowances, but generally they offer income support for people who give constant or additional care to someone who has a disability, illness or of a frail age.

If you continue to be a carer for someone and you both go travelling around Australia (if possible), your payments will not be affected.

Read more on Carer Allowances.

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Disability Support Pension

The Disability Support Pension offers financial help to those with a permanent physical, intellectual or psychiatric condition that stops you from being able to work.

Depending on the outcome of your Disability Pension claim, there may be some participation requirements to help you find and keep suitable work. The requirements are flexible and set case-by-case. Some of the participation tasks may include attending interviews, work experience or training.

There are some cases where people are exempt from having to participate in the extra requirements. The exemption period is generally for up to 13 weeks.

The case of being able to travel Australia on a Disability Support Pension will depend entirely on your situation. It’s all determined by whether or not you’re fit to travel and if you have any location-specific requirements that bind you to one place.

Read more on Disability Support Pension.

Family Tax Benefit

Family Tax Benefit (A and B) is a two-part payment designed to help with the cost of raising children.

As Family Assistance is entirely based on income, travelling Australia won’t affect your Family Tax Benefit payments.

Remember to update your annual estimated income with Centrelink if you stop for work along the way. Come tax time, if you’ve earned more than what has been recored with Centrelink, they would have overpaid you throughout the year and you’ll need to pay them back.

It’s always better to slightly overestimate your income with Centrelink, that way they will end up owing you, rather than you owing them.

Health Care Card

Health Care Cards are automatically issued annually to people who are already on specific Centrelink payments.

The main benefit of a Health Care Card is cheaper prescription medicines. You may also be able to make use of Bulk Billing for doctor’s appointments, plus concessions on dental and eye care.

As the Health Care Card is mailed out and valid for one 12-month period at a time, as long as you can receive your mail, travelling Australia won’t affect your Health Care Card.

Read more on Health Care Cards.

Jobseeker Payment

The Jobseeker Payment offers financial help for people between 22 and the Age Pension who are looking for work. If can also be for those who are sick or injured and can’t do their usual work or study for a short period of time.

When you’re on Jobseeker payments, you need to be actively looking for work (unless you’ve been exempt due to personal circumstances). This will include completing jobseeker tasks such as providing fortnightly information for all jobs you’ve applied for and attending Jobseeker appointments.

You’ll also need to report your income each fortnight online (even if it’s $0), so that your Centrelink payment amount can be adjusted accordingly.

Once you are doing a minimum of 30 hours work per fortnight and earning a minimum of $600 (per fortnight), you won’t be require to actively look for work anymore. However, you will still need to continue reporting your income and you’ll still receive a reduced Jobseeker payment up until earning a certain amount. Once you go over that threshold, then you will stop receiving payments.

Jobseeker Payments while travelling Australia won’t be affected if you’re earning enough where you don’t need to look for additional work. If you need to attend regular Jobseeker appointments, you can be listed with ‘No Fixed Address’ and keep updating your local town, with the intention that you’re travelling to find work.

You may also be eligible for Jobseeker Payment if you’re Homeschooling the children full-time, with the exemption of having to look for work.

Read more on Jobseeker Payment.

Parental Leave Pay

Parental Leave Pay is a payment available for up to 18 weeks while you care for your new child.

As Parental Leave Pay is not dependent on staying in one location, travelling Australia won’t affect your payment as long as you meet all of the other requirements.

Read more on Parental Leave Pay.

Parenting Payment

Parenting Payment is an income support payment or job seeker payment for the main carer of young children.

If your youngest child is under the age or 6 or 8 (depending on whether you’re single or partnered), you will still receive payments while travelling Australia.

Once your youngest child turns 6 or 8, you will have some mutual obligation requirements to continue receiving Parenting Payment. This generally means reporting fortnightly income (if applicable) and participating in a Job Seeker Plan.

Travelling Australia while needing to meet a fortnightly Job Plan could be difficult. You would have to be willing to look for work along the way and stop in various towns when you do find work.

Another point to consider is that quite often with Job Plans, you need to attend regular Job Seeker meetings local to where your listed permanent address is, which obviously just isn’t going to be possible. Unless you’re able to undertake the Job Seeker meetings over the phone, you risk having your Parenting Payment cancelled.

Read more on Parenting Payment.

Pension Card

The Pension Card will automatically be mailed out to you if you receive certain Centrelink payments. Having a Pension Card will give you cheaper health care, medicines and some discounts.

Your Pension Card will not be affected by travelling around Australia.

Read more on the Pension Card.

Your Pension or Health Care Card may also entitle you to free Ambulance Cover on the road. Check out the following article to see what the rules are for your home state.

Rent Assistance

Rent Assistance is an extra regular payment you may be eligible for if you already get certain payments from Centrelink.

It is possible to receive Rent Assistance while travelling Australia based on how much you’re paying in Caravan Park fees, but submitting regular information updates/ forms is required.

You will need to get the Manager of each Caravan Park you stay in to sign a Centrelink Rent Form for you. Each fortnight you will need to take your Rent Forms into a nearby Centrelink office.

Alternatively, you may be able to update your rent information over the phone, or via the Centrelink website or App. You may be requested to take photos of the Rent Forms and submit them in the ‘Documents’ section of your myGov account.

Here’s one person’s experience (from the Facebook community) who was claiming Rent Assistance while staying in caravan parks.

Something to remember with claiming this one of the Centrelink payments while travelling Australia, is that it’s not going to be a ‘set and forget’ automated payment like some of the other ones. Unless you’re staying in the same Caravan Park for a long period of time, regularly getting Rent Forms filled out and submitting them fortnightly with Centrelink will certainly take a bit more effort on your part.

A note on Income Management Cards:

If you travel to an area that issues Income Management Cards as a portion of the Centrelink payment (example, some parts of the Northern Territory) and update your address for Rent Assistance, you may find yourself placed on the card system. Being reverted back to the cash payments may not be an easy fix.

Whether or not the financial benefit of claiming Rent Assistance while travelling Australia is worth it for you is entirely your decision.

Read more on Rent Assistance.

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Youth Allowance

Youth Allowance offers financial help for those who are 24 or younger and are a student or Australian apprentice. It’s also offered to people who are under the age of 21 and looking for work.

As most distance education courses are self-paced, you will have to show Centrelink that you’re progressing through your course in a timely manner to keep your payments. They may check assignment submissions with your education provider.

If you’re studying full-time via an approved Distance Education provider and are between the ages of 18 to 24, travelling Australia won’t affect your Youth Allowance payments. However, if your study or Apprenticeship is location dependent, then you will not be able to travel Australia while claiming Youth Allowance.

Read more on Youth Allowance.

Words of Experience from the Community

Here are some wise words from the travelling community on Facebook. Hopefully the experiences of those who’ve gone before you will help you better plan your own trip.

Names have been kept anonymous for privacy reasons.

“When you book into a caravan park, record it as a ‘temporary address change’ in the Centrelink app. Rent Assistance is calculated and paid automatically for the temporary address time period. I believe (and from experience), if the temporary address is 2 weeks or less, no forms need to be signed by the caravan park.”

“Just be aware that if travelling in some areas and you update your address for Rent Assistance etc. you could find yourself put on an Income Management Card, especially in Northern Territory where it covers up to pension age. A percentage of income is quarantined that denies cash withdrawals and certain purchases, with spending only allowed at approved establishments. Moving out of the area doesn’t have it removed. Note, visitors are exempt but Centrelink makes it very difficult to get off.”

“Be very careful how you plan your trip, juggling provider appointments in different states and territories isn’t much fun. You will be placed on an Income Management Card in the Northern Territory. It’s doable, but can be a hassle.”

“Nothing changes really. Pension goes into your account and you take it out as needed. I’ve travelled for 4 years and not had a problem anywhere.”

“May I say, be aware that after travelling for a year in our caravan, we received an email saying that our caravan is now classed as our home. Our pension then went from $650 a fortnight down to $358 a fortnight. What a shambles, just as we were in a position to continue and enjoy our travels. 5 years on and it was worth it. This is a beautiful country, enjoy!”

“Just so that you’re aware, if both parents are unemployed, only one gets the Parenting Payment, while the other is on Newstart. Once the youngest turns 8, then both parents are on Newstart. Being on Newstart means they have to attend employment agencies and meet job search requirements or they get cut off. So, even if one parent is on Parenting Payment and the other is on Newstart, it would be extremely difficult to travel as an unemployed couple on Centrelink payments.”

“If a parent is on Newstart Allowance and also homeschooling the children full-time, that can be used as a way to meet the Newstart activity requirements and exempt the parent from having to look for work.”

“We travelled while on Centrelink but picked up jobs along the way. There is plenty of work to be found while travelling Australia.”

“If you’re travelling with no fixed address and always fulfil your job search efforts, you just need to change your no fixed address area to wherever you’re heading to next. Centrelink will change your job network provider to someone in that area. You explain to the job provider that you have a better chance of finding work if you’re able to move around.”

Hopefully this article helps to answer your questions around travelling Australia while managing Centrelink payments. It always pays to ring Centrelink yourself and have the conversation just to ensure that you know where you stand for your own personal situation.

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