The Minister for Financial Services & Regulation, Joe Hockey, today announced that Mr Graham McDonald would be the new chairman of the Superannuation Complaints Tribunal.
The Minister also announced the appointment of Ms Nicole Arendsen as the tribunal's deputy chair.
These appointments follow the Commonwealth's successful appeal to the High Court, which confirmed the validity of the tribunal's review powers.
"The first task of these excellent new appointees will be to manage the backlog of complaints that had accumulated over the 18 months that the tribunal's operations were curtailed by legal action," the Minister said.
Mr McDonald has extensive experience in dispute resolution as the deputy president of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal and as the inaugural Banking Industry Ombudsman. Ms Arendsen is now manager of the Financial Services Complaints Resolution Scheme.
Mr McDonald and Ms Arendsen have been appointed for three-year terms starting early next year. Mr McDonald replaces Mr Neil Wilkinson who was the tribunal's inaugural chairman. Mr Wilkinson will continue in an acting capacity until Mr McDonald takes up the position.
"I would like to thank Neil Wilkinson for his efforts, particularly for setting up the Tribunal and his decision to stay on until the new chairman comes on board.
"The Government is committed to ensuring superannuation fund members have available to them a simple and effective dispute resolution mechanism as an alternative to the courts."
The appointment of the new chairman and deputy chair will allow the Government to finalise the appointment of three extra part-time members.
Legislative amendments earlier this year provide the chairman with greater flexibility in scheduling review meetings as the tribunal can now review complaints with one, two or three-member panels.