📋 Parental income test for young people on the unemployment benefit

An 18- or 19-year-old applying for Jobseeker Support (the current official name for what used to be called the unemployment benefit, before a 2013 rename) or the equivalent Emergency Benefit must pass a Parental Assistance Test: either their parents earn at or below an income limit ($65,529 at introduction), or they can show a "parental support gap" - that they can't reasonably be expected to rely on their parents for support. Young people with children of their own, or who are estranged from their parents, are exempt from the test entirely. In force from November 2026.