Copy of a File Note

Phillip Sweeney made this Freedom of Information request to Superannuation Complaints Tribunal

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Phillip Sweeney

Dear Superannuation Complaints Tribunal,

In late 2007 I lodged a complaint with the SCT and at the time I was unsure of the jurisdiction of the SCT, APRA and ASIC.

In early 2007 I had requested access to the Deeds of this superannuation fund and I had received no response from the purported trustee for early a year.

I, therefore, suspected that there may have been invalid amendments {changes} to the deeds of this Defined Benefit fund that disadvantaged the membership.

Note: In 2007 I did not know that it was a criminal offence to conceal the deeds of a regulated superannuation fund from fund members and beneficiaries.

If my complaint had been that I was concerned that a "mistake" has been made in the determination on my Final Average Salary {FAS} then the SCT had jurisdiction to deal with a complaint that affected only one fund member.

Section 14(6) of the SRC Act states:

"(6) The Tribunal cannot deal with a complaint under this section that relates to the management of a fund as a whole."

If there had been invalid amending Deeds executed then this would have affected all fund members and therefore would relate to "the management of the fund as a whole".

I was advised in a phone call from Phil McGrath on 7 February 2008 that APRA was the appropriate body to deal with changes to Deeds that disadvantage the membership.

The SCT then withdrew my complaint on 6 May 2008 under Section 22(4) because of lack of jurisdiction.

The SCT made no ruling on my Final Average Salary {FAS}.

The document I seek is a copy of the file note on this phone call from Phil McGrath

Yours faithfully,

Phillip Sweeney

Evangelia Karakostas, Superannuation Complaints Tribunal

Dear Mr Sweeney

I refer to your below email to the Superannuation Complaints Tribunal.

I acknowledge receipt of your email as a request for access to documents under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act).

Your request is for a copy of a file note of a telephone conversation between Phil McGrath (SCT) and yourself that occurred on 7 February 2008 in relation to complaint file SCT ref 07-02222.
The requested file note should record a conversation relating to APRA as the appropriate body to deal with Deed changes affecting fund membership.

The Tribunal received your request on 31 July 2020 and the 30 day statutory period for processing your request commences from the following day. You should therefore expect a decision from us by Monday 31 August 2020.

No processing charge will apply to this request.

We will contact you using the email address you provided.

If you have any questions please contact me by reply email.

Yours sincerely

Eva Karakostas
FOI Officer
Superannuation Complaints Tribunal
-----Original Message-----
From: Phillip Sweeney <[FOI #6553 email]>
Sent: Friday, 31 July 2020 8:08 AM
To: FOIrequest SCT <[email address]>
Subject: Freedom of Information request - Copy of a File Note

EXTERNAL EMAIL: Do not click any links or open any attachments unless you trust the sender and know the content is safe.

Dear Superannuation Complaints Tribunal,

In late 2007 I lodged a complaint with the SCT and at the time I was unsure of the jurisdiction of the SCT, APRA and ASIC.

In early 2007 I had requested access to the Deeds of this superannuation fund and I had received no response from the purported trustee for early a year.

I, therefore, suspected that there may have been invalid amendments {changes} to the deeds of this Defined Benefit fund that disadvantaged the membership.

Note: In 2007 I did not know that it was a criminal offence to conceal the deeds of a regulated superannuation fund from fund members and beneficiaries.

If my complaint had been that I was concerned that a "mistake" has been made in the determination on my Final Average Salary {FAS} then the SCT had jurisdiction to deal with a complaint that affected only one fund member.

Section 14(6) of the SRC Act states:

"(6) The Tribunal cannot deal with a complaint under this section that relates to the management of a fund as a whole."

If there had been invalid amending Deeds executed then this would have affected all fund members and therefore would relate to "the management of the fund as a whole".

I was advised in a phone call from Phil McGrath on 7 February 2008 that APRA was the appropriate body to deal with changes to Deeds that disadvantage the membership.

The SCT then withdrew my complaint on 6 May 2008 under Section 22(4) because of lack of jurisdiction.

The SCT made no ruling on my Final Average Salary {FAS}.

The document I seek is a copy of the file note on this phone call from Phil McGrath

Yours faithfully,

Phillip Sweeney

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Phillip Sweeney

Dear Evangelia Karakostas,

Thank you for the update.

Yours sincerely,

Phillip Sweeney