About Us

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 the investigation and resolution of complaints about public authorities (State Government agencies, statutory authorities and boards, local governments and universities).

The office of the Ombudsman has six principal functions.

  • Receiving, investigating and resolving complaints about State Government agencies, local governments and universities. See How to make a complaint;
  • Improving public administration for the benefit of all Western Australians through own motion investigations and education and liaison programs with public authorities. See Improving public administration; and
  • Monitoring, overseeing and reviewing investigations undertaken by organisations into allegations of, and convictions for, abuse of children involving any of the organisation’s employees. See Reportable Conduct; and
  • The Western Australian Charitable Trusts Commission, constituted by the Ombudsman, can receive and investigate complaints about charitable trusts. See Charitable Trusts; and
  • Undertaking a range of additional functions, including statutory inspection and monitoring functions. See Other Functions.

The Ombudsman also undertakes the role of the Energy and Water Ombudsman.

A key function of the Office is to improve the standard of administration in public authorities. The Office achieves positive outcomes in this area in a number of ways including:

  • Making recommendations and suggestions to improve public administration as a result of:
    - The investigation of complaints; and
    - Reviews of child deaths and family and domestic violence fatalities.
  • Undertaking own motion investigations that are based on the patterns, trends and themes that arise from the resolution of individual complaints and child death or family and domestic violence fatality reviews, referred to as own motion investigations;
  • Providing guidance to public authorities on decision making and complaint handling through continuous liaison, publications, presentations and workshops;
  • Working collaboratively with other integrity and accountability agencies to encourage best practice and leadership in public authorities; and
  • Undertaking inspection and monitoring functions.

The Ombudsman’s office

The Ombudsman has an office of approximately 85 staff committed to providing a high quality, responsive and efficient service, treating people professionally, courteously and with appropriate sensitivity.

Read more about the Ombudsman's role, strategic direction and performance and the team via the links in the navigation bar on the left of the page.