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Annual Report
Purpose: For MSD and Centrelink (the Australian Government agency administering social welfare payments) to exchange benefit and pension applications, and changes of client information.
Centrelink disclosure to MSD: When Australian social welfare records are updated for people noted as having New Zealand social welfare records, Centrelink automatically sends an update to MSD including the full name, marital status, address, bank account, benefit status, residency status, income change, MSD client number and Australian Customer Reference Number.
MSD disclosure to Centrelink: MSD automatically sends the same fields of information to Centrelink when New Zealand social welfare records are updated, if the person is noted as having an Australian social welfare record.
Compliance: Compliant.
| Authorising provisions | Social Welfare Act 2018, s 380 and Social Welfare (Reciprocity with Australia) Order 2017[1] |
| Year authorised | 2002 |
| Year commenced | 2002 |
| Programme type | Confirming eligibility Updating data |
| Unique identifiers | Australia and NZ social welfare numbers |
| Online transfers | Yes |
System description
When applying for New Zealand Superannuation, Veteran's Pension or Invalid's Benefit, individuals may also apply for corresponding Australian benefits to which they believe themselves to be entitled. The New Zealand application form advises applicants that testing for entitlement to any overseas pension will be required and that information supplied may be exchanged with another government to verify entitlement. Similarly, an individual applying for Australian equivalents may apply at the same time for New Zealand entitlements.
The agency (MSD or Centrelink) that receives the initial application package processes their part of the application according to their registration requirements, assigning a unique reference number for that client. That first agency then sends the client information, including their unique reference number, to the other agency. The second agency records the first agency's unique reference number on each individual's record, and assigns its own unique reference number to the individual. To complete the circle, the second agency then notifies the first agency of the second unique reference number related to the individual.
Once the linkage is established it is subsequently used for processing global changes (standard superannuation rates, for example) and changes specific to individuals.
MSD notifies New Zealand applicants of the information obtained from Australia, enabling them to correct any mismatch and confirm entitlements. This notice of adverse action (under the Social Security Regulations 2018 sections 243 or 244) is similar to a s.181 notice.
While processing the application, if the applicant is uncertain as to the periods of residence, these can be confirmed using Customs records as described under the Customs/MSD Periods of Residence Programme.
With the match between MSD and Centrelink records established as described subsequent changes in individuals' circumstances are automatically notified by each agency to the other through this programme.
| 2017/18 | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | |
| Changes of information received from Centrelink | 870,865 | 969,126 | 1,150,238 | 789,778 | 922,284 | 961,213 |
| Notices of adverse action | 4,937 | 7,670 | 6,973 | 6,781 | 4,663 | 4,287 |
| Changes of information sent to Centrelink | 619,925 | 630,847 | 681,366 | 629,519 | 644,558 | 643,072 |
No notices of adverse action have been challenged since 2013/14. One notice in 2013/14 was disputed and that challenge was accepted by MSD.
The utility of this provision was assessed in the report Australia and the Netherlands Matches (July 2013) and again in Ministry of Social Development international social welfare reciprocity agreements (July 2019).
[1] Although not information matching provisions listed in Privacy Act, Schedule 3, the Social Security Act 2018 requires reciprocity programmes to comply with somer of the information matching requirements in the Privacy Act.
