About us.
The Queensland Ombudsman is an independent complaints investigation body that has been operating since 1974.
Our core business is complaints management and we exist to ensure that Queensland’s public sector agencies act lawfully and fairly in their dealings with the community and are accountable for their actions.
In accordance with the Ombudsman Act 2001, we have a dual role to:
- provide a fair and impartial investigative service for people who believe they have been adversely affected by a decision or action of a public sector agency
- assist public sector agencies to improve their decision-making and administrative practice.
What we investigate
We can investigate the actions of State and local government agencies and universities to see if they are:
- unlawful
- unreasonable
- unjust
- wrong
- actions for which reasons should have been given but were not.
Based on our investigations, we often make recommendations to agencies that they take action to:
- rectify the effect of a wrong decision, or
- improve their administrative practice.
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Our jurisdiction
Some complaints that come to us are not within our power to investigate, such as complaints about the decisions of:
- Ministers and Cabinet, courts and judges, and the Auditor-General
- private individuals or businesses (e.g. insurance or telecommunications providers)
- the operational actions of police
- Commonwealth or interstate government departments.
Except in special circumstances, we do not investigate complaints where a complainant has:
- known about the problem for more than 12 months before complaining, or
- some other right of review that has not been used.
Frequently, we will not investigate a complaint if the complainant has not attempted to resolve the problem with the agency concerned. This is because agencies should be given the opportunity to address the problem and take responsibility for their actions.
Delivering our services
When dealing with us, people can expect:
- fair and independent advice
- investigations to be conducted
- in a timely manner
- confidentiality
- clear explanations about what we can and cannot do
- regular updates on the status of our consideration of complaints
- clear explanations of our decisions and any recommendations we make
- reasonable accessibility regardless of people’s background and circumstances.
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