Griffiths v The Trustees of the Parliamentary Contributory Superannuation Fund

The appellant, Ms. Griffiths, appealed to the Court of Appeal of New South Wales against a decision concerning her entitlement to a pension under the *Parliamentary Contributory Superannuation Act 1971* (NSW). The respondent was the Trustees of the Parliamentary Contributory Superannuation Fund. Ms. Griffiths was married to a former member of the Legislative Assembly for the duration of his parliamentary service. They divorced and remarried shortly before his death. The dispute centred on whether Ms. Griffiths qualified as a 'widow' for the purposes of receiving a pension under section 23(1) of the Act.

The primary legal issue before the Court of Appeal was the proper construction of section 23(1) of the *Parliamentary Contributory Superannuation Act 1971* (NSW) and, in particular, whether the appellant, having divorced and remarried the former member prior to his death, could be considered his 'widow' at the time of his death for the purposes of entitlement to a pension. A secondary issue concerned the admissibility and relevance of extrinsic materials in interpreting the statutory provision.

The Court of Appeal held that the plain and unambiguous words of section 23(1) of the Act defined a 'widow' as a woman who was married to the deceased member at the time of his death. The Court found that Ms. Griffiths was not married to the former member at the time of his death, as they had divorced and had not remarried at that point. The Court affirmed the principle that clear statutory language should be given its ordinary meaning and that extrinsic materials could not be relied upon to displace such clear words. Consequently, the appeal was dismissed.