The Parliamentary Commissioner for Administrative Investigations – more commonly known as the Ombudsman – is an independent officer of the Western Australian Parliament. The Ombudsman is responsible to the Parliament rather than to the government of the day or a particular Minister. This allows the Ombudsman to be completely independent in undertaking the Ombudsman’s functions.
The Office has four principal functions derived from its governing legislation, the Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1971, and other legislation, codes or service delivery arrangements.
Investigating and resolving complaints |
Receiving, investigating and resolving complaints about State Government agencies, local government and universities. |
Reviewing certain deaths |
Reviewing certain child deaths and family and domestic violence fatalities. |
Undertaking own motion investigations to public administration |
Improving public administration for the benefit of all Western Australians through own motion investigations, and education and liaison programs with public authorities. |
Other functions |
Undertaking a range of additional functions, including statutory inspection and monitoring functions. |
Complaints and appeals |
Under the relevant national code, the Ombudsman can receive complaints or appeals by overseas students. |
Public Interest Disclosures |
The Ombudsman can receive disclosures of public interest information relating to matters of administration, and public officers. |
Complaints from residents of the Indian Ocean Territories |
Under a service delivery arrangement between the Ombudsman and the Australian Government, the Ombudsman can investigate complaints from residents of the Indian Ocean Territories (Christmas and Cocos (Keeling) Islands) about public authorities in the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction. |
Complaints from persons detained under terrorism legislation |
Persons detained under relevant terrorism legislation can make a complaint to the Ombudsman. |
Inspection of Telecommunications Interception records |
The Ombudsman inspects the records of the Western Australia Police and the Corruption and Crime Commission to ascertain the extent of compliance with relevant telecommunications interception legislation. |
Monitoring functions under the Criminal Organisations Control Act 2012 |
Under the Criminal Organisations Control Act 2012, the Ombudsman monitors and reports on the exercise of powers conferred on the Commissioner of Police and police officers under the legislation for a five year period. |
Monitoring the Infringement Notices provisions of The Criminal Code |
The Ombudsman monitors the Infringement Notices provisions of The Criminal Code and reports on the first 12 months of operation. |
Energy and Water Ombudsman |
The Energy and Water Ombudsman Western Australia resolves complaints about electricity, gas and water services providers. The Ombudsman undertakes the role of the Energy and Water Ombudsman. The costs of the Energy and Water Ombudsman are met by industry members. |
A full list of legislation governing these functions can be found in the Appendices Section in Appendix 2.
Executive management of the Office is undertaken by the Executive Management Group comprised of the Ombudsman, Deputy Ombudsman, and Principal Assistant Ombudsman Investigations and Legal Services, and the Office’s Corporate Executive which includes each member of the Executive Management Group and the leaders of the Complaint Resolution and Administrative Improvement teams.
The role of executive management is to:
For more information, see the Disclosures and Legal Compliance section.
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