Operational Structure

The Role of the Ombudsman

The Parliamentary Commissioner for Administrative Investigations – more commonly known as the Ombudsman – is an independent and impartial 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.

Functions of the Ombudsman

The Office has four principal functions derived from its governing legislation, the Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1971, and other legislation, codes or service delivery arrangements.

Principal Functions

Investigating and resolving complaints

Receiving, investigating and resolving complaints about State Government agencies, local governments and universities.

Reviewing certain deaths

Reviewing certain child deaths and family and domestic violence fatalities.

Undertaking own motion investigations and  promoting improvements 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.


Other Functions of the Ombudsman

Complaints and appeals
by overseas students

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 about public authorities in the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction that provide services in the Indian Ocean Territories (Christmas and Cocos (Keeling) Islands).

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.

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.


Our Vision, Mission and Values

Our Vision

Lawful, fair and accountable decision making and practices by public authorities.
 

Our Mission

To serve Parliament and Western Australians by:

  • Receiving, investigating and resolving complaints about State Government agencies, local governments and universities;
  • Reviewing certain child deaths and family and domestic violence fatalities;
  • Improving public administration for the benefit of all Western Australians through own motion investigations and education and liaison programs with public authorities; and
  • Undertaking a range of additional functions, including statutory inspection and monitoring functions.
 

Our Values

  • Fair: We observe the requirements of our legislation at all times, use a ‘no surprises’ approach in all of our work and provide our services equitably to all Western Australians.
  • Independent: The Ombudsman is an officer of the Parliament, independent of the government of the day and impartial in all of our work.
  • Accountable: We should be, and are, accountable for our performance and proper expenditure of taxpayers’ money. Being accountable means being:
    • Rigorous: We undertake work that is important to the community and our decisions are supported by appropriate evidence.
    • Responsible: All recommendations for change to public administration are practical and proportionate to the problem identified and have a net public benefit.
    • Efficient: We undertake our work in a timely way at least cost. We value working with other agencies that further good public administration but we never duplicate their work

 

Our Strategic Focus

  • Complaint resolution that is high quality, independent, fair and timely, with an emphasis on early resolution, practical remedies for members of the public and improvements to public administration.
 
  • Improved public administration through own motion investigations, making practical recommendations for improvement and monitoring their implementation.
 
  • Review of certain child deaths and family and domestic violence fatalities, identifying patterns and trends and making recommendations to public authorities about ways to prevent or reduce these deaths.
 
  • Inspection of certain records and reports to ensure statutory compliance by the Western Australia Police and the Corruption and Crime Commission and monitoring and reporting on the exercise of certain powers by Western Australia Police under defined legislation.
 
  • Collaboration with other Ombudsman and accountability agencies, raising community awareness, making our services accessible and promoting good decision making practices and complaint handling in public authorities.
 
  • Strong and effective governance and attracting, developing and retaining a skilled and valued workforce with a culture that supports high quality, responsive and efficient service.

Management

Management of the Office is undertaken by the Executive Management Group comprised of the Ombudsman, Deputy Ombudsman, Principal Assistant Ombudsman Executive Services and Assistant Ombudsman Strategic Policy and Projects, National and International Relations, and the Office’s Corporate Executive which includes each member of the Executive Management Group and the leaders of the teams in the Office.
The role of the Corporate Executive is to:

  • Provide leadership to staff and model the Office’s values;
  • Set and monitor the strategic direction of the Office and monitor and discuss emerging issues of relevance to the work of the Ombudsman;
  • Monitor performance, set priorities and targets for future performance; and
  • Ensure compliance with relevant legislation and corporate policies.

For more information, see the Disclosures and Legal Compliance section.

Executive Management Group

Chris Field, Ombudsman

Chris Field is the Western Australian Ombudsman. He concurrently holds the roles of Energy and Water Ombudsman and Chair, State Records Commission.

Chris was elected Second Vice President of the International Ombudsman Institute (IOI) in 2016, having served as Treasurer of the IOI between 2014-2016 and President of the Australasian and Pacific Ombudsman Region of the IOI between 2012-2014. He is also a member of the Australian and New Zealand Ombudsman Association.

 Chris Field

Chris is an Adjunct Professor in the School of Law at the University of Western Australia and founder and co-coordinator of the unit 'Government Accountability – Law and Practice'. Chris is also the author of a range of publications on law, economics and public policy.

He commenced his career as a lawyer at Arthur Robinson and Hedderwicks (now Allens Linklaters), prior to holding the roles of Executive Director, Consumer Law Centre Victoria and Chairman, Australian Consumers’ Association (now Choice). Immediately prior to his appointment as Ombudsman, he was an inaugural Member of the Western Australian Economic Regulation Authority. He holds Arts and Law (Honours) degrees.

 

 

Mary White
Deputy Ombudsman

Mary was appointed Deputy Ombudsman in April 2014 and concurrently holds the role of Deputy Energy and Water Ombudsman. Prior to her appointment Mary worked in a number of senior executive roles in the Office, from February 2008. Mary has more than 30 years’ experience in the public sector, including strategic and corporate leadership roles in line and accountability agencies.

Mary White

 

Alan Shaw
Principal Assistant Ombudsman
Executive Services

Alan commenced his role as Principal Assistant Ombudsman Executive Services in June 2017. He has extensive experience in management roles and has been accountable for strategy and financial, and asset management. He has held a number of senior roles in the Western Australian public sector, Government Trading Enterprises and the not-for-profit sector.

 Alan Shaw

 

Rebecca Poole
Assistant Ombudsman
Strategic Policy and Projects,
National and International Relations

Rebecca commenced in her role as Assistant Ombudsman Strategic Policy and Projects, National and International Relations in 2017. She has extensive experience managing strategic research, policy and projects and intergovernmental and international engagement on issues of good governance.

 Rebecca Poole

 

Our Corporate Executive

Michelle Bovill
Assistant Ombudsman
Complaint Resolution

Michelle joined the Office in 2007 and commenced the role of Assistant Ombudsman in December 2015.  She has more than 19 years’ public sector experience in investigations and complaint handling.

 Michelle Bovill

 

Marcus Claridge
Assistant Ombudsman
Energy and Water

Marcus was appointed to the role of Assistant Ombudsman Energy and Water in April 2018. Prior to his appointment Marcus was Director, Energy and Water Ombudsman and has worked in other investigatory roles since 2011. Marcus has over 30 years regulatory and investigations experience, both within Australia and Asia.

Marcus Claridge

 

 

Natarlie De Cinque
Assistant Ombudsman
Reviews

Natarlie joined the office in 2009 and commenced the role of Assistant Ombudsman Reviews in July 2016.  She has worked in the State public sector for over 20 years, and has extensive experience working with the issues of child safety and wellbeing, and family and domestic violence.

Natarlie De Cinque

 

Belinda West
Assistant Ombudsman
Administrative Improvement

Belinda joined the office in 2008 and commenced as an Assistant Ombudsman in August 2014. She has more than 25 years’ experience working in the public sector in financial and performance auditing and leadership roles in both line and accountability agencies.

Belinda West

 

Paula Parentich
Assistant Ombudsman
Investigations

Paula was appointed as an Assistant Ombudsman in April 2017. She has been a legal practitioner for over 20 years, working in the Commonwealth and State public sectors, and in the non-government sector.

Paula Parentich

 

Our Structure and Teams

Organisational Structure as at 30 June 2019

Operational Structure - click to open PDF

Team Responsibilities

  • The Complaint Resolution Team includes the Intake Team and the Early Resolution Team and has responsibility for handling enquiries, receiving and assessing complaints, and undertaking the early resolution of complaints, where appropriate, through informal investigations.
  • The Administrative Improvement Team undertakes own motion investigations and other strategies aimed at improving public administration.
  • The Monitoring Team monitors and reports on the operation of powers conferred on the Western Australia Police Force under legislation, undertakes inspections of telecommunications interception records and undertakes other statutory inspection and monitoring functions.
  • The Reviews Team reviews certain child deaths and family and domestic violence fatalities, identifies patterns and trends arising from these reviews and makes recommendations to relevant public authorities to prevent or reduce these deaths.
  • The Investigations Team handles the investigation of complaints and the Legal Services Team provides legal services across the Office.
  • The Energy and Water Team has responsibility for handling enquiries and receiving, investigating and resolving complaints about electricity, gas and water services providers.
  • The Corporate Governance and Business Services and Information Technology Services Teams support the Office in providing corporate communications, governance, business services, internal audit and integrity of corporate services.
  • The Executive Services and Children and Youth Teams are responsible for strategic research, policy and projects; national and international relations; strategic and corporate communications; executive services and services for children and youth

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