Commonwealth Numbered Acts

HOME AND COMMUNITY CARE (MISCELLANEOUS AMENDMENTS) ACT 1985 No. 185 of 1985 - SECT 25

25. Section 6 of the Principal Act is repealed and the following sections are
substituted: Grant of financial assistance in connection with home care
services

"6. (1) Subject to this Act, where a participating State has, after it has
given the notice by virtue of which it is a participating State, expended, in
a relevant period, an amount for or in connection with an approved home care
service scheme, financial assistance is payable to that State in respect of
the expenditure by that State of that amount.

"(2) Financial assistance is not payable to a participating State under this
Act in respect of an amount expended by that State for or in connection with
an approved home care service scheme -

   (a)  where that State expended that amount on or after the day on which an
        agreement substantially in accordance with the form contained in the
        Schedule to the Home and Community Care Act 1985 was, or is, entered
        into between the Commonwealth and that State; or

   (b)  if, in circumstances to which paragraph (a) does not apply, that
        amount is expended by the State on or after the prescribed
        commencement day and no other amount has been expended by that State
        for or in connection with that scheme before the prescribed
        commencement day.

"(3) The amount of financial assistance payable under this Act to a
participating State in respect of an amount expended by that State in a
relevant period for or in connection with an approved home care service scheme
is -

   (a)  where the State expended an amount for or in connection with the
        scheme in that State during the base year - an amount equal to the
        lesser of -

        (i)    one-half of the amount expended by the participating State for
               or in connection with the approved home care service scheme in
               that relevant period; and

        (ii)   the amount that is -

                (A)  where the relevant period is the first relevant period -
                     the product of the adjustment factor and the amount that
                     bears the same proportion to the base amount for that
                     State for or in connection with that scheme as the first
                     relevant period bears to a period of 52 weeks;

                (B)  where the relevant period is the second relevant period -
                     the product of the adjustment factor and the amount that
                     bears the same proportion to the amount calculated in
                     accordance with sub-sub-paragraph (A) in respect of the
                     expenditure by that State for or in connection with that
                     scheme in the first relevant period as a period of 52
                     weeks bears to the first relevant period; or

                (C)  where the relevant period is neither the first nor the
                     second relevant period - the product of the adjustment
                     factor and the amount calculated in accordance with
                     whichever of sub-sub-paragraph (B) or this
                     sub-subparagraph (in a previous application of this
                     sub-section) applies in respect of the expenditure by
                     that State for or in connection with that scheme in the
                     immediately preceding relevant period; and

   (b)  where that State first expended an amount for or in connection with
        that scheme in that State in the period commencing on 1 July 1985 and
        ending on the day before the prescribed commencement day (in this
        paragraph referred to as the 'prescribed period') - an amount equal to
        the lesser of -

        (i)    one-half of the amount expended by that State for or in
               connection with that scheme in the relevant period; and

        (ii)   the amount -

                (A)  where the relevant period is the first relevant period -
                     that bears the same proportion to the amount of financial
                     assistance paid or payable to that State in respect of
                     expenditure by that State for or in connection with that
                     scheme in the prescribed period, as the first relevant
                     period bears to the prescribed period; or

                (B)  where the relevant period is the second or a subsequent
                     relevant period - that bears the same proportion to the
                     amount ascertained in accordance with sub-subparagraph
                     (A) in respect of the expenditure by that State for or in
                     connection with that scheme in the first relevant period
                     as a period of 52 weeks bears to the first relevant
                     period.

"(4) For the purposes of this section, the base amount, in respect of an
amount expended by a participating State for or in connection with an approved
home care service scheme in the base year is, subject to sub-section (5), an
amount equal to the amount of financial assistance paid or payable to that
State in respect of the base year under section 6 as that section was in force
immediately before the prescribed commencement day in respect of that
expenditure by that State in the base year for or in connection with that
scheme.

"(5) Where -

   (a)  the home care service provided under the approved scheme referred to
        in sub-section (4) was provided for a part only of the base year or
        the level at which the service was provided under the scheme increased
        significantly during the base year; and

   (b)  the Minister is satisfied that, for either or both of the reasons
        specified in paragraph (a), the total expenditure by that State for or
        in connection with that scheme in the base year does not fairly
        indicate the total amount that the State is likely to expend for or in
        connection with that scheme in a succeeding financial year, the
        Minister may, having regard to the matters referred to in paragraphs
        (a) or (b), determine, in writing, a different amount to be the base
        amount in respect of the expenditure by that State for or in
        connection with that scheme.

"(6) Where the Minister makes a determination under sub-section (5), that
determined amount shall, for the purposes of the operation of subparagraph (3)
(a) (ii), be substituted for the base amount ascertained in accordance with
sub-section (4).

"(7) For the purposes of sub-paragraph (3) (a) (ii), the adjustment factor in
respect of a participating State and a relevant period, is a number
                                          0.75A   0.25C
calculated in accordance with the formula _____ + _____, where -
                                            B       D

A and B are the hourly award rates of pay for adult wage earners index numbers
for the community services industry for that State as provided by the
Australian Statistician in relation to the series entitled 'Award Rates of Pay
Indexes, Australia' in respect of the month of March in that relevant period
and in respect of the preceding month of March, respectively; and
C and D are the All Groups Consumer Price Index numbers (excluding hospital
and medical services) for the capital city of that State as provided by the
Australian Statistician in relation to the series entitled 'Consumer Price
Index' in respect of the March quarter of that relevant period and in respect
of the preceding March quarter, respectively.

"(8) Where the adjustment factor in respect of a participating State and a
relevant period, as ascertained in accordance with sub-section (7), would, but
for the operation of this sub-section, be less than one, the factor shall be
taken to be one. Advances

"6A. (1) The Minister may, by writing, at such times as the Minister thinks
fit, authorise the making to a participating State of an advance on account of
an amount of financial assistance that is expected to become payable to that
State under section 6 in respect of expenditure by that State in a relevant
period for or in connection with an approved home care service scheme, and the
terms and conditions that would be applicable to a payment of such an amount
of financial assistance are applicable to any such advance.

"(2) If the total amount of advances paid to a participating State under
sub-section (1) on account of an amount of financial assistance that is
expected to become payable to that State under section 6 in respect of
expenditure by that State in a relevant period for or in connection with an
approved home care service scheme exceeds the total amount of financial
assistance that is so payable, an amount equal to the amount of that excess -

   (a)  may be deducted by the Commonwealth from the amount of financial
        assistance that would, but for this provision, be payable to that
        State under section 6 in respect of the expenditure by that State for
        or in connection with that scheme in a succeeding relevant period; or

   (b)  is recoverable by the Commonwealth from that participating State as a
        debt due to the Commonwealth.".