Access to information

If you are a member of one of CSC's superannuation schemes and would like to access your personal information, please contact us using your relevant scheme contact details.

CSC will provide you with a copy of any personal information we hold about you without the need for special requests. For instance, we can provide copies of applications forms and other documents you have submitted to us or copies of letters and member statements already sent to you. Such a request will be treated as a request under the Privacy Act 1988 and release your information to you informally. CSC takes steps to ensure that your personal information is accurate, up to date and complete, including maintaining and updating records when advised that the information has changed. If you would like to correct your personal information on your account please contact us using your relevant scheme contact details.

If you are seeking access to the personal information of someone else who is a member of one of CSC's schemes, and CSC is not otherwise authorised to disclose the information under law, you will need to provide CSC with the authority to disclose that information. Please download and complete the third party authority form before contacting the relevant scheme.

CSC publishes details of its corporate operations through two statutory regimes.

Firstly, as an RSE licensee CSC is bound to disclose certain information under the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993. This disclosure is in compliance with ASIC's enhanced disclosure regime that promotes the transparency of the superannuation industry.

Secondly, as a corporate Commonwealth entity, CSC is subject to the Information Publication Scheme (IPS) under the Freedom of Information Act 1982(FOI Act).

If you are seeking information about CSC's corporate operations please check whether CSC has already published the information on its website in compliance with these statutory regimes. If you are unable to find the information you are looking for on CSC's website, please feel free to contact CSC to informally request access to the information. Otherwise please see the section below for guidance on how to submit a formal FOI request.

If you are seeking information about CSC’s executive remuneration information, information about CSC's governance and information about CSC's schemes, please see the following links:

• Trust deed and rules
• Nomination, appointment and removal of trustee directors (see Board Charter and Board Renewal Policy on our Corporate Governance page)
• Actuarial report (CSS and PSS, MilitarySuper)
• Product Disclosure Statements (CSS, PSS, MilitarySuper, PSSap, CSCri)
• Annual Report to Members (CSS, PSS, MilitarySuper, PSSap and CSCri)
• Financial Services Guides (CSS, PSS, MilitarySuper, PSSap, CSCri)
• Significant Event Notices (CSS, PSS, MilitarySuper, PSSap, CSCri)
• Material business activities and outsourced service providers
• Board of directors
• Executive team
• Executive officer remuneration
• Summary of conflicts management policies
• Register of duties and interests
• Proxy voting policies
• Summary of the exercise of voting rights

Introduction

Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation (CSC) was established by the Governance of Australian Government Superannuation Schemes Act 2011. CSC is responsible for a number of Australian Government superannuation schemes. As a corporate Commonwealth entity, CSC is subject to the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act), including the Information Publication Scheme (IPS) requirements in Part II of the FOI Act.

This Information Publication Plan ('Plan') describes how CSC fulfils its IPS responsibilities, as required by subsection 8(1) of the FOI Act. In designing this Plan, CSC has referred to the IPS provisions in Part II of the FOI Act, as well as Part 13 of the FOI Guidelines.

The structure of this Plan addresses the areas set out in clause 13.14 of Part 13 of the FOI Guidelines.

Information architecture

Webpage specifications

CSC:

• publishes its IPS entry on the Access to Information webpage, which can be easily navigated from the CSC homepage,
• applies appropriate metadata to online content,
• wherever possible, provides online content in a format that can be searched, copied and transformed,
• has a sitemap on its website, to help individuals identify the location of information published, and
• provides a search function on the website.

CSC meets the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (Version 2)(WCAG 2.0), where possible. Documents are not currently available in a format compatible with assistive technology, however assistance can be provided to members via our Customer Information Centre.

The majority of documents listed on the IPS section of the CSC website are published in HTML format to meet accessibility requirements. A small number of exceptions may apply – for example, PDFs may be used for scanned documents.

Webpage Structure

The IPS entry is published on the CSC website using two categories: 'required information' and 'other information'. There are a number of subcategories that fall under each of the two categories, as follows:

Required information (subsection 8(2) of the FOI Act)

• CSC Information Publication Plan
• Who we are
• What we do
• Our reports and responses to Parliament
• Routinely requested information and disclosure log
• Consultation arrangements
• Contact us

Other information (subsection 8(4) of the FOI Act)

• Our priorities
• Our finances
• Our lists
• Our submissions
• Our policies

Administration of CSC's IPS entry

CSC has designated a senior staff member to be responsible for leading CSC's compliance with the IPS as required.

Charges

CSC does not usually impose a charge for accessing information available on its IPS entry.

Feedback

Please contact us with any feedback or questions regarding CSC's IPS entry.

IPS Review

This Plan and the IPS will be reviewed every 5 years in accordance with the FOI Act or following a trigger event.

If you are seeking information about CSC's corporate affairs and cannot find the information already on CSC's website, you are able to informally request access to the information by contacting CSC. Alternatively, you are able to submit a formal request for information under the FOI Act.

The FOI Act gives any person the right to request:

• Access to documents that CSC holds;
• Amendment of their personal record that CSC maintains if it is incomplete, out of date, incorrect or misleading; and
• Review of CSC's decision not to provide access to a document or not to amend their personal record.

For a request to be a valid FOI request it must:

• Be in writing;
• State that the request is an application for the purposes of the FOI Act;
• Provide sufficient information about the documents to assist us to process your request; and
• Provide an address for reply (i.e. postal or email address).

Please ensure that you have provided CSC with enough information to identify the documents that would fall within the scope of your request.

You can ask someone else to make a request for you. If you nominate another person to act on your behalf you must provide that person with your authority.

You can submit your request by email to FOI@csc.gov.au or alternatively by post to the following postal address:

General Counsel
CSC
GPO Box 2252
Canberra ACT 2601

There is no application fee for an FOI request. There are also no processing charges for requests seeking access to documents containing only personal information about you. For other information, CSC will generally process requests for documents free of charge. However, if processing the request would cause an undue administrative burden, CSC may decide to impose charges in accordance with the provisions of the FOI Act and at the rate prescribed by the Freedom of Information (Charges) Regulations 1982. If we decide to impose a charge, we will give you a written estimate and the basis of our calculation. You can ask for the charge to be waived or reduced for any reason.

CSC also charges a fee for the preparation of a response to requests for superannuation information made in accordance with family law legislation (which is an application for superannuation information or form 6, under section 90MZB of the Family Law Act 1975). This fee covers the cost of the administration work required to respond to these superannuation information requests. Members of the CSS, PSS, MilitarySuper and CSCri are charged a fee of $150. No GST is payable on the family law fees for the members. Non-members of the CSS, PSS, MilitarySuper and CSCri are charged a fee of $165 ($150 plus GST). GST is payable on the family law fee for non-members.

Members of the PSSap are charged a fee of $170 (it will be paid from their account when the request is processed, no GST is payable on the family law fees for the members). Non-members of the PSSap are charged a fee of $187 ($170 plus GST). GST is payable on the family law fee for non-members.

If you submit your request by email to FOI@csc.gov.au you will receive a reply email notifying you that your request has been received by CSC. We will give you our decision within 30 days unless that time has been extended. If your request relates to a document that contains information about a third party, we may need to extend the timeframe for our decision to allow us to consult the third party. If your request is complex, we may seek your agreement to extend the timeframe for our decision by 30 days.

When we have made a decision on your FOI request, you will receive a letter notifying you of CSC's decision, the reasons for the decision and your review rights. You can request that we reconsider our decision through an internal review. Please send requests for internal review to the FOI contact details as listed above. Alternatively, you may seek a review of CSC's original decision by the Australian Information Commissioner within 60 days of the date of the decision or 30 days after you are notified if you are an affected third party. The Commissioner can affirm, vary or substitute a new decision, or in certain circumstances decide not to conduct a review. Read more on the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) website.

If you would like further detail on the information that CSC publishes or on the process for submitting a information request please contact FOI@csc.gov.au. Members who require assistance in accessing their personal files should use the contact page for their relevant scheme, as listed above.