About nominees
A nominee is someone who can act on your behalf, so it is important your nominee is someone who you trust and who respects your privacy. A nominee could be a family member, friend, legal guardian or support service.
A nominee must act in your best interests at all times. It is important that you talk to your nominee about how you would like them to act for you.
Download the nominee form here
You can also access free Redress Support Services and Knowmore Legal Service for support.
Easy Read
We also have an Easy Read Guide that talks about the information on this page. It explains what a nominee is and the different types of support a nominee can give you when you apply for redress.
Types of nominees
There are two types of redress nominees.
- Assistance nominees; and
- Legal nominees.
Assistance nominees
An assistance nominee can:
- help you complete your application for redress
- receive copies of any letters we send you
- ask questions about your application for redress
- receive phone calls about your application for redress
- provide information on your behalf
- withdraw your application
- ask for an offer of redress to be reviewed.
An assistance nominee cannot:
- apply for redress
- accept or decline an offer on your behalf.
This means you will still need to sign the declaration in your application and sign your acceptance document yourself.
Legal nominees
A legal nominee can:
- do anything an assistance nominee can do
- apply for redress on your behalf
- accept or decline an offer of redress on your behalf
- agree to a reassessment of redress on your behalf
- withdraw a request for a reassessment on your behalf.
This also means your legal nominee can sign documents on your behalf.
Legal nominees are generally intended for people who need a lot of support to apply for redress and make decisions about redress. If you have an intellectual disability or a terminal illness, a legal nominee can help you make decisions at times when you cannot by yourself.
A person can only be your legal nominee if they can already make decisions for you under an Australian State, Territory or Commonwealth law. This might mean you are under a guardianship order, or someone has power of attorney for you.
Having a lawyer does not mean they need to be your legal nominee. Lawyers can support you as an assistance nominee, or without being a nominee at all.
Requesting a nominee arrangement
You or your intended nominee can request a nominee arrangement by completing the Redress Nominee Form and returning the form to us.
This form is available as a fillable PDF form and a printable PDF form. You can download the fillable form to your desktop to save it.
Your intended nominee must agree to the arrangement, as outlined in the form.
For a legal nominee arrangement, you or the intended nominee will also have to send us documents showing they can make decisions for you under the law.
Ending a nominee arrangement
You can ask us to end a nominee arrangement at any time.
Before the Scheme can end a nominee arrangement, there are rules we need to follow to keep your application safe.
If you no longer wish to have a nominee, or your circumstances have changed, you or your nominee need to let us know. You can call us or let us know in writing.
- Phone: call us on 1800 737 377, Mon to Fri 8am to 5pm.
- Post: NRS
Reply Paid 7750
Canberra BC ACT 2610
Australia.
There are some additional steps we may need to follow to end a legal nominee arrangement, including to seek the nominee’s views.
Appointing a different nominee
If you want to use a different nominee, you or your intended nominee will need to complete a new Redress Nominee Form. For more information, see Requesting a Nominee arrangement.
Reporting predatory practices
Some people may use predatory practices to try and exploit and profit from your lived experience.
This includes claim farming, which involves an individual or organisation targeting you and pressuring you to make a redress application. They might tell you to make them your nominee, charge you for their time, or say you will need to give them part of a redress offer.
If you are concerned that your nominee may not be acting in your best interests, including by charging high legal fees for their assistance, you can tell us about it.
Report any concerns about predatory practices, claim farming or suspicious activities by:
- Phone: call the DSS Fraud Hotline on 1800 054 312, Mon to Fri 8am to 5pm
- Email: fraud@dss.gov.au
- Phone: call us on 1800 737 377, Mon to Fri 8am to 5pm.
For more information about predatory practices, see:
