36.4.2 Deeming provisions - dependency

Section 4 of the SRCA includes two qualifications (in death cases only) to the general requirement to take only economic issues into account when assessing dependency:

• S4(4) deems a person to be wholly or partly dependent on a client if the person would have been so dependent but for an incapacity of the client that resulted from a compensable injury
• S4(5) deems a spouse, or a child of a client (being also a prescribed child), to be wholly dependent on the client if they lived with the client at the time of their death.

The definition of spouse includes:

• a person who is, or immediately before the client's death was, a de facto partner of the client, whether they are of the same sex or a different sex; and
• a person who is in a prescribed registered relationship with the client, and living together with the client; and
• a person who is recognised as a spouse of the client by the Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander custom prevailing in the tribe or group to which the client belongs.

As a matter of policy and consistency of approach, these deeming provisions are also extended to incapacity cases under S19.

'Child' of a client – S4(5)(b)

A 'child of a client' includes a natural or an adopted child of the client, but does not include a step-child, i.e. a spouse's child by another parent. Accordingly, a step-child cannot be deemed as fully dependent on the client. A step-child may, however, be either a prescribed child or a prescribed person and be dependent on the client on the facts of the case.

As a matter of consistency with the definition of 'spouse' in the SRCA, 'child of a client' should include a person who is recognised as a child of the client by the Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander custom prevailing in the tribe or group to which the client belongs.