About this site
On this page
Available formats
Some information, such as publications and forms, are made available for downloading in other formats. We will always tell you about the file type and size. Where possible we will provide files in both Portable Document Format (PDF) and Rich Text Format (RTF).
Alternative formats for publications
Publications for customers with a disability, illness or injury may be available in alternative formats such as audio cassette/CD, large print, braille and e-text.
For information to help you access and use our website, particularly if you have a vision impairment, other disability or technical limitation, refer to Centrelink website accessibility.
Printing pages
We have changed our printing format. Non-essential images will not be included when you print a page. This will save printing time and the amount of ink you use.
Links to other pages and sites that appear within the text will be displayed in full at the end of the page.
Screen resolution
Our website has been designed to display correctly on screen resolutions with a minimum width of 1024 pixels. If your screen size is less than this you will need to use your browsers zoom controls to zoom the page out to a smaller size.
Portable Document Format (PDF)
These files contain both text and pictures. A PDF file name always ends in .pdf
You need a PDF viewer such as Adobe Acrobat Reader to read and access the information contained within Portable Document Format (PDF) files. You can download Adobe Acrobat Reader at Adobe's website, or alternatives from your favourite download site.
Comprehensive information on how to use Adobe Acrobat Reader is available from the Adobe website.
Problems viewing or printing PDF documents
The following information may help you if you are experiencing problems with viewing or printing PDF documents:
- If a PDF document isn't displaying (ie: all you get is a blank screen) use the Refresh or Reload button located in your web browser's toolbar.
- If it still isn't displaying use the Back button in your web browser's toolbar. Once the page has finished loading, try the link to the PDF again.
- If the text in the PDF is too small to read you can zoom in on the page using the Zoom tool located in the toolbar.
- If you receive the message 'The page cannot be found' or 'Error 404' the document may have been moved or deleted. Please send a secure online message to the Centrelink Website Feedback and let us know.
If you are having problems printing your document, you may need to change your print settings. Select the 'Print as image' option in the print dialogue box, especially if you are printing documents in a language other than English.
Acrobat 6 and 7
- Choose File > Print, and then select Advanced.
- Select Print As Image and any other desired printing options.
- Select OK to close the Advanced Print Setup dialog box, and then select OK.
Acrobat 5
- Choose File > Print.
- Select Print as Image, and then select OK.
For more information, refer to viewing or saving PDF documents.
Rich Text Format (RTF)
These files are a text-only version of a document that can be opened and used by most word processing programs. An RTF file name always ends in .rtf.
Problems viewing RTF files
The following information may help you if you are experiencing problems with viewing RTF documents.
- If the text in the RTF you are viewing is too small to read, use the zoom or font size options in your word processor to increase to a larger size. Please refer to the help file of your word processing software for instructions.
- When trying to view an RTF and you get the message 'The page cannot be found' or 'Error 404' the document may have been moved or deleted. Please send us a secure online message to the Centrelink Website Feedback mailbox to let us know.
For more information, refer to viewing or saving RTF documents.
Videos
All videos are on this website are published as standard MPEG-4. Once a video is clicked it will launch a Flash video player in the page. If you do not have Flash you can either install it, or right click on the video and select to open in a new window. If you select a new window, the video will start to play in your computer's or web browser's video player.
All videos on this website are subject to copyright.
I want to show a video to someone else
You can share the entire page through a number of social networking sites using the share links. This is a great way to share a video and information with your friends.
If you wish to show the video to someone who does not have access to the Internet you can save the video by bringing up the context menu (normally by right clicking) on the video when the page loads and choose the option to save or download. You can then save the video to a phone, portable media player or other device that is capable of playing videos.
If you require the video in an alternative accessible format such as audio only, large print or Braille please contact us.
I can't play a video
Ensure your personal firewall or corporate firewall isn't blocking .mp4 downloads or streaming video.
There are a number of options for playing videos on this website
- clicking or selecting the video on the page will launch the embedded Flash video player, or
- bring up the context menu (normally by right clicking) on the video when the page loads and choose the option to open in a new window or save or download the video to play at a later time.
You may need to update the software on your computer such as web browser, Flash software, video player or codec. Refer site help for more information.
If you cannot hear anything from the video, ensure your speakers are turned up, your computer volume isn't muted and that the volume is set in the Flash video player (using the speaker icon).
Video on this website is similar to many popular video sites. If you can play video on those sites, you should be able to play the videos available here.
You can also read the transcript which is provided with every video.
The video doesn't play smoothly
Videos on the Internet typically require a broadband Internet connection. You should have a connection of at least 256kbit/second but the recommended connection speed is 512kbit/second or higher.
Videos can take some time to download before they play. You may need to pause the video while it downloads (or buffers) enough to play. You should be able to see the progress bar at the bottom of the Flash video player move forward which shows how much it has downloaded.
If you do not have a broadband connection it is recommended that you either pause the video until it has completely buffered or download it using the instructions above and play it once it has finished downloading.
Browsers
Browser types
The Centrelink website has been designed to work well across the majority of popular browsers. You should use the browser that most suits your individual circumstance. We recommend that you upgrade to the current version of your chosen browser to take advantage of the latest security and features.
Background images and page formatting
To view the style and formatting on our site check that the option for "style sheets" is activated in your browser. This can be found under Tools then Internet Options in Microsoft's Internet Explorer or under Options, Preferences or Settings in any other browser.
Check out our downloads section for more information about free updates for your browser.
JavaScript
JavaScript is a web programming language that is used in some places on the site, such as our contact forms, dropdown menus and advanced features. If you want to use these features, your browser preferences should be set to have JavaScript enabled.
Online services
For recommended browsers when using our Online Services refer to online and phone services frequently asked questions.
Cookies
To successfully use our message service, your web browser will need to be configured to allow cookies. Cookies are small pieces of information that are stored by your browser in your computer's memory. Your browser will automatically destroy the cookie after a certain period of time. Cookies can be manually be removed by selecting the delete cookies option within your browser settings. For more information on cookies, please see our privacy and security page.