Opposition Spokesman for Financial Services, Mathias Cormann, has called for Assistant Treasurer Bill Shorten to take action over the increasing timeframes for complaints to be resolved at the Superannuation Complaints Tribunal (SCT).
The average time for complaints to be resolved at the SCT has risen to 302 days in the current financial year, undermining confidence in the nation’s superannuation system, Cormann said.
This was up from the 256 days it took to resolve complaints in 2009-2010 and 235 days in 2008-2009, despite the total number of complaints decreasing, according to information provided by Assistant Treasurer Bill Shorten in response to a question on notice in the Senate.
Cormann called on Shorten to fix the delays, as well as the issue with Australians being overtaxed for unintentionally breaching contributions caps.
“Superannuation is the cornerstone of Australia’s retirement income policy. Australians must have timely access to any process to resolve their complaints when problems arise. Otherwise they will lose faith in the system,” he said.
“These delays in getting a decision are impacting on people’s capacity to plan for their retirement. It is time Bill Shorten started to focus on doing the job he’s got, rather than spending all his time chasing the job he wants,” Cormann said.
