With his three-year tenure as chairman of the Superannuation Complaints Tribunal (SCT) almost at an end some, including this year’s panel, may argue that it’s ‘mission accomplished’ for Graham McDonald.
After taking leave from his position as presidential member of the Federal Administrative Appeals Tribunal in March 2000, McDonald inherited an organisation snowed under with cases.
“There was a four-year backlog when I was appointed in March 2000. We’ve now worked through that and are working on the contemporaneous cases, which is terrific,” McDonald says.
“We’ve got a new case management system which allows us to extract better information about cases and what the most common issues of complaint are… We’re going to be paying more attention in future in sorting out that kind of detail and giving feedback to the industry.”
The SCT also encourages plaintiffs and defendants to settle disputes using mediation and conciliation, to reduce the number of cases before the tribunal.
“Our emphasis is still on trying to place the industry and members in a position where they can find their own solution to cases without us having to intervene, and I challenge the industry to reduce the number of cases that come all the way to review by the tribunal,” says McDonald.
Super Review’s panel believed the SCT had a marked influence on super funds over the past year and that McDonald’s impact could be felt through its actions.
“His guidance on how the SCT develops has impacted on every fund I have been involved in,” said one panellist. “He’s causing most funds to question whether they want to still provide disablement insurance.”
When he’s not involved in SCT matters, McDonald tends to his herd of Poll Hereford cattle on his farm in the Macedon Ranges in Victoria. He also enjoys fishing for trout and redfin in a river nearby.
