36.5 'Spouse' - S19(1)(a)

Section 19(12)(a) provides that a 'spouse' of a client is a prescribed person' for the purposes of S19 (and S22).

A definition of 'spouse' in S4(1) does not purport to define the term, it merely extends its meaning to include de facto spouses, whether of the same sex or a different sex, partners in a prescribed registered relationship and living together and spouses by Indigenous custom.

Section 4(5) deems a spouse who was living with a client at the time of the client's death (or injury, as a matter of policy) to be dependent on the client.