Appeal rights

Appeal against a decision made by the Trustees or by their delegate or an authorised person

You are entitled to request the Trustees to reconsider a decision they, or their delegates or authorised persons, have made. In the administration of the CSS, the main classes of decisions made are those regarding:

Your request must be in writing and, if you are disputing a decision of the Trustees (as opposed to a decision made by a delegate or an authorised person), you must specify the grounds on which you are appealing and provide new evidence to support your case. Unless you provide evidence or material that the Trustees haven’t earlier considered, your request will not be accepted.

If you are appealing against a delegate’s decision or an authorised person’s decision, you do not have to provide new evidence or pay any fee. It is still necessary, however, to set out in writing the grounds on which you are appealing the decision which you wish to have reconsidered.

A fee of $150 has been set by the Trustees in respect of the reconsideration of Trustees’ decisions. The fee will be refunded if your request is not accepted for investigation or the reconsideration results in the overturning of the Trustees’ decision.

Once an application is accepted, preliminary investigations will normally be carried out by ComSuper. In invalidity retirement cases, such investigations might include seeking additional reports from doctors involved in the case and, where applicable, obtaining a further recommendation from the invalidity assessment panel.

When all information is in hand, details will be referred to a Reconsideration Advisory Committee who will make a recommendation to the Trustees. You will be notified of the Trustee’s decision and the reason for it.

A further appeal can subsequently be accepted by the Trustees if they are satisfied that new evidence has been presented which they have not previously examined. Alternatively, if you are dissatisfied with the Trustee’s decision on reconsideration, an appeal (complaint) under the Superannuation (Resolution of Complaints) Act 1993 can be made to the Superannuation Complaints Tribunal (SCT).

The SCT can be contacted by phone on 1300 780 808 and their mail address is:

Locked Bag 3060
GPO
Melbourne Vic 3001
Fax: 03 8635 5588

Time limits apply in relation to making a complaint to the SCT. Details of these time limits can be obtained by contacting the SCT or by referring to the 'Making a Complaint' section of the SCT website

Appeal against a decision made by the Commissioner or a delegate

Certain decisions under the CSS taken before 1 July 1994 by the Commissioner for Superannuation or a delegate fall outside the jurisdiction of the Trustees.

You should check with ComSuper before lodging a request for reconsideration of such a decision. No fee is payable, but you must set out the reasons for the request in writing.

If you are still unhappy with the outcome on reconsideration of such a decision, you can appeal to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT).

A further avenue for redress of a decision made by the Commissioner for Superannuation and confirmed by the AAT is the Federal Court of Australia, but only on questions of law.