How to prove your identity for natural disaster support

When we need to prove your identity for a disaster support payment

You need to prove your identity with us by providing certain documents before you can claim a payment or service.

If you have proven your identity with us before, you don’t need to prove it again to claim a natural disaster payment.

If you want to claim a payment or concession, you need a Centrelink Customer Reference Number (CRN). You can get a CRN by proving who you are with us in one of the following ways:

• online
• over the phone
• in person at a service centre.

We also need to confirm we’re speaking to the right person and the owner or authorised representative of the record we’re accessing. We do this each time you contact us by either:

• asking questions only you or your authorised representative should know the answer to
• checking photo identification in person at a service centre.

We call your authorised representative a correspondence nominee.

We cannot discuss any business with you until we’ve confirmed who you are. We call this authentication.

Authentication is an important step in preventing fraud and protecting your privacy. It ensures we’re accessing the right customer record. It also stops other people from accessing your information or pretending to be you.

If you have a password on your record, we’ll also ask you to confirm that each time before doing any business with you.

How to prove who you are

To prove who you are for a natural disaster support payment, we need a certain document from you. We need both sides of the document to prove your identity.

You or your Centrelink correspondence nominee need to give us one of the following:

• your Australian birth certificate
• Australian citizenship certificate
• Australian citizenship by descent certificate
• Australian driver licence
• Australian marriage certificate
• Australian passport
• Australian visa
• Certificate of identity
• Document of identity
• ImmiCard.

Read more about how you can have someone to act for you.

You or your Centrelink correspondence nominee need to provide the document in one of the following ways:

• online using your Centrelink online account through myGov or your Express Plus Centrelink mobile app
• over the phone
• in person at a service centre or agent.

We check the document details with the issuing authority to confirm they match.

You can also prove your identity online using your Digital ID. If you use a strong Digital ID to prove who you are, you won’t need to contact us about your identity. Find out how to prove your identity using your Digital ID.

You or your Centrelink correspondence nominee can call us to prove your identity. If we can verify your Centrelink correspondence nominee over the phone, we’ll accept your identity details and tell them if we need anything else.

If you’ve lost your identification

If you’ve lost your identification in the disaster, let us know. We can still help you.

How to protect yourself against scams

It’s important to protect yourself against scams. We may need to contact you for more information, but there are some things we don’t do. Read how to protect against scams.