Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2024L00767:reg:9:p1
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2024L00767
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 9 (pt 1/2)
Character Range: 7976–10695

9  Reasonable excuses for committing qualification failure or conduct failure
 (1) For the purposes of subsection 76(3) of the Act, this section specifies matters the Secretary must take into account in deciding whether a person has a reasonable excuse for committing a qualification failure or a conduct failure.
 (2) The Secretary must only take into account a matter specified in this section if the Secretary is satisfied that the matter had a significant effect on the conduct of the person that resulted in the failure.
 (3) The Secretary must take into account whether the person, at the time of the failure:
 (a) was required to undertake farm work that was:
 (i) unforeseen and critical; and
 (ii) not the kind of farm work the person would normally undertake at that time; or
 (b) was required to take on unforeseen family or caring responsibilities; or
 (c) did not have access to safe, secure and adequate housing; or
 (d) was using emergency accommodation or a refuge; or
 (e) had literacy and language skills that affected the conduct of the person resulting in the failure (including if the person was unable to comprehend a requirement, even if the requirement was delivered in a form that the person was most likely to comprehend); or
 (f) had a disability, illness, mental health condition or physical condition that required the person to undertake treatment (including an illness or condition that is episodic or unpredictable in nature); or
 (g) experienced a drug or alcohol dependency; or
 (h) was subjected to violence (including domestic violence or sexual assault); or
 (i) was adversely affected by the death of an immediate family member or close relative.
Note: This section does not limit the matters that the Secretary may take into account in deciding whether a person has a reasonable excuse—see subsection 76(4) of the Act.
 (4) If the person had been imprisoned for a continuous period of more than 14 days, and was released not more than 28 days before the time of the failure, the Secretary must take into account the circumstances of the person's imprisonment, and release from imprisonment, at the time of the failure.
 (5) Without limiting paragraph (3)(c), a person is taken not to have access to safe, secure and adequate housing if:
 (a) the circumstances relating to the housing, or the housing, to which the person had access:
 (i) did not provide the person a reasonable level of personal amenities or the economic and social support that housing normally affords; or
 (ii) was damaging to, or likely to damage, the person's health; or
 (iii) was threatening to, or likely to threaten, the person's safety; or
 (iv) was not adequate, safe, secure or affordable; or
 (b) the