Access to information
This page is about accessing information that CSC holds.
CSC holds personal information about its members for the purpose of managing the superannuation schemes and member accounts of Australian Government employees and members of the Australian Defence Force. In addition to member information, CSC holds information relating to its corporate operations and how it performs its functions as a superannuation trustee, an AFS licensee, a RSE licensee and a corporate Commonwealth entity.
The following information will guide you to the most appropriate avenue for seeking access to the information CSC holds, depending on whether you are requesting member information or CSC’s corporate information.
How do I access my personal 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.
How do I access documents or information about someone else?
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.
How do I access information about CSC or the schemes that CSC is responsible for?
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.
Information published under section 29QB of the SIS Act
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
Information published under CSC's Information Publication Plan
Details of Information published under the Information Publication Scheme
Australian Government entities subject to the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) are required to publish a range of information on their websites as part of the Information Publication Scheme (IPS). This includes the entity’s structure, functions, appointments, annual reports, consultation arrangements, and details of the entity's freedom of information (FOI) officer. Information routinely released through FOI requests and routinely provided to parliament must also be published online.
The IPS is intended to form the basis for a more open and transparent culture across government, with entities encouraged to take a proactive approach to publishing the information they hold, and to consider publishing information over and above what they are obliged to publish.
CSC's Information Publication Scheme Entry
CSC is committed to taking a proactive approach to publishing information. The CSC IPS Plan outlines our approach to the scheme and what we will include in our IPS entry. Below are headings for each of the categories of information we are publishing in our IPS entry. Under each heading are links to the information or documents. If you have any difficulty accessing any information please contact us.
Information about requesting access to other information CSC holds, not published through the IPS or elsewhere on our website, can be found below on the other tabs on this page, including the 'Access to Information' and 'FOI' tabs. Information released under FOI is available on our FOI disclosure log.
This IPS Entry is designed to be compliant with the FOI Act, as well as the OAIC FOI Guidelines Part 13: Information Publication Scheme.
Required information
CSC Information Publication Plan
CSC is required under paragraph 8(2)(a) of the FOI Act to publish its Information Publication Plan.
The CSC Information Publication Plan can be found below.
Who we are
CSC is required under paragraphs 8(2)(b) and 8(2)(d) of the FOI Act to publish information about the organisation and structure of the entity, the location of offices, governance arrangements, senior management team and statutory appointments. This information is available on the pages set out below:
- About CSC
- Directors and executives
- Service Providers
- Investment Managers
- Corporate governance, including the following key documents:
- Annual report
- Corporate plan
- CSC policies
- Tax transparency report
- Proxy voting reports
- Register of duties and interests
- Record of CSC board director attendance
- Annual Report Archive
- Board performance evaluation policy
- Board renewal policy
- Diversity policy
- Fit and proper policy
- Governance framework
- Conflicts Management Policy Summary
- Whistleblower protection and PID policy
- CSC - Fraud and Corruption Control Plan
- Modern Slavery Policy and Statement
- Board charter
- Audit Committee Terms of Reference
- Risk Committee Terms of Reference
- Remuneration and HR Committee Terms of Reference
- Modern Slavery Statement
- CSC Code of Conduct
- 2021-22 Corporate Plan
- CSC register of duties and interests
- Tax transparency reports
- Senate Order 12 (Murray)
- Senate Order 13 (Harradine)
- Record of CSC Board Director Attendance
- Board Skills Matrix
- Proxy voting reports
- Employment information
- Corporate governance, including:
- Executive officer remuneration disclosure
- Enterprise Agreement
- APS Jobs
- More information about CSC can be found in:
What we do
CSC is required under paragraphs 8(2)(c) and 8(2)(j) of the FOI Act to publish a description of the functions and powers of the entity, and the rules, guidelines, practices and precedents relating to those functions and powers (that is, operational information). This information is available on the pages set out below:
- Our vision and mission
- Our governing legislation
- Member information
- Employer information
- Investment information, including:
- Insurance and cover
- Retirement
- Advice and Resources, including:
- Financial Planning
- Training and awareness:
- Webinars and seminars
- Factsheets and publications
- Tools – including calculators and estimators
- Product Disclosure Statements
Regular reports to Parliament
Corporate governance, including:
- Senate Order 12
- Senate Order 13
Regular FOI disclosure
CSC is required under paragraph 8(2)(g) and section 11C of the FOI Act to publish information to which CSC routinely gives access in response to FOI requests and the disclosure log of information that has been released under the FOI Act. Information that can be published resulting from freedom of information requests and any routinely released information from such requests is found in CSC's disclosure log.
Consultation arrangements
CSC is required under paragraph 8(2)(f) of the FOI Act to publish information about consultation arrangements that enable members of the public to comment on specific policy proposals for which CSC is responsible.
CSC notes that it does not have policy responsibility for any legislation, including in relation the superannuation schemes it administers. It is the Department of Finance, not CSC, that is the portfolio agency responsible for many legislative or policy changes affecting CSC. Accordingly, CSC:
- does not have a specific ‘consultation’ webpage on the CSC website; and
- will only publish information under this part of the IPS entry, as required.
While CSC’s functions do not involve the need for public comment on policy proposals, CSC nevertheless employs a range of external communication mechanisms for engaging with members of the public, including through these social media tools: LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.
Privacy Impact Assessment Register
The Privacy (Australian Government Agencies – Governance) APP Code 2017 (Cth) requires CSC to conduct a Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) for all high risk privacy projects. A PIA is a systematic assessment of a project that identifies the impact that the project might have on the privacy of individuals, and sets out recommendations for managing, minimising or eliminating that impact. Conducting PIAs helps CSC to ensure privacy compliance and identify better practice within the organisation.
CSC is also obligated to maintain an internal register of the PIAs it conducts and publish a version of the register on our website
Contact us
CSC is required under paragraph 8(2)(i) of the FOI Act to publish contact details of an officer (or officers) who can be contacted about access to the agency's information under the FOI Act. Please see the FOI tab below for full details or contact us via email.
Other information
Our priorities
Under subsection 8(4) of the FOI Act, CSC publishes information about its corporate and strategic plans of the agency. The Corporate Plan is fully available, and includes information about CSC's Strategic Plan.
Our finances
Under subsection 8(4) of the FOI Act, CSC publishes information about our finances, including information relating to pay and grading structures in the agency, procurement procedures, tendering and contracts.
- Information about our pay and grading structures is found in our enterprise agreement. The enterprise agreement, along with a number of other key documents, can be found on the Corporate governance webpage.
- Murray motion entity contracts
- The Portfolio Budget Statements are available on the Department of Finance webpage.
- Details of many major contracts are listed on AusTender.
Our lists
Under subsection 8(4) of the FOI Act, CSC publishes information about contracts, grants and appointments, links to datasets published by the CSC, information held in registers required by law, and other lists and registers relating to the CSC's functions. These include:
Our submissions
Under subsection 8(4) of the FOI Act, CSC publishes information about our submissions to parliamentary committees and other inquiries.
- This information will be published here, as required.
- Submissions:
- Submission 50, Parliamentary Inquiry into DFRDB Commutation, 2021
- CSC notes that a number of our submissions can also be found using ParlInfo Search.
Our policies
Under subsection 8(4) of the FOI Act, CSC publishes our corporate policies.
- A selection of policies are available on the Corporate Governance page including:
- Other policies that can be found on our webpage include:
Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation Information Publication Plan
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.
How do I make a formal Freedom of Information request?
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
Charges
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.
Responding to FOI requests
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.
Review of our decision on your FOI request
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.
Contact us
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.