Work & income / Australia-wide
Crisis Payment
A one-off, tax-free Centrelink payment if a crisis, such as family violence, leaves you in severe hardship.
Opens servicesaustralia.gov.au, the official site.
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What you need to check
It is for people who get, or could get, a Centrelink income support payment or ABSTUDY Living Allowance and are in severe financial hardship. It covers family and domestic violence, if you had to leave home or stayed after the violent person left. It covers leaving home because of fire, flood or other extreme events, when it is unreasonable to go back. It also covers humanitarian entrants on their first arrival with a visa in subclasses 200 to 204, and people released after at least 14 days in prison or psychiatric confinement after being charged with an offence. For family violence and other extreme events, you can get it once for each event, up to 4 times in 12 months in total. Humanitarian entrants can get it only once. You cannot get it for the same event as a disaster recovery payment. You must contact Centrelink within 7 days, then claim within 14 days. After prison or psychiatric confinement, you can contact them up to 21 days before release, or within 7 days after. Claim online through myGov, call your regular payment line, or visit a service centre. For family violence, a social worker will talk with you to assess your claim.
This is a short summary. Other rules may apply, like income or where you live. Check the full rules with the agency that runs it.
About this source
We last reviewed this listing on 5 Nov 2026. We last checked the official page on 5 Nov 2026.
Our automatic check only sees whether the page is there or has changed. It is not a check of the rules.