Legislation may have changed, but when the co-conts were first introduced I am pretty sure you ahd to be in gainful employment to be elligible

What you can look into is a spouse contribution, where he can offset his contributions to your fund
This is what always confused me too, that I had to be in some sort of paid work, even just a few hours a week, to access the co-contributions?? I always forget to ask the accountant at tax time too..Will try to remember it this year!