Is my friend's child eligible for a payment?

[e_p]

Was it always like that?
When I finished yr12 in 1995 (wow im old!) most of my year level igned up for newstart the day after their last exam.
An most of them would have had parents on at least that amount.

not sure Pandora - I haven't been around the traps for that long to know whether the rules have changed - they do change dramatically at various times so it's very likely that they have

[briggsy's girl]

i am pretty sure it was about the same time that i finished high school (1997 ish) that it all changed over to having people deemed dependent on their parents until they were much older - for exactly the reason you said Pandora - EVERYONE finished highschool and went on the DOLE, irrespective of parental income. from memory when my brother finished school (95/96) you either went on Austudy or newstart (depending on whether you were going to uni or not) - my year it was youth allowance either way - and was dependent on what your parental income was.

actually, trying to remember properly, i was on youth allowance - job seeker - between the end of high school and start of uni (a few months) but it was still based on my folks income