Investigations

If you have a complaint about a state government department, local council, or public authority, we may be able to investigate and help fix the issue. Sometimes, agencies use non-government entities to deliver services to the community. We can also investigate those entities.

Find out what to expect if you make a complaint to us.

The Ombudsman Act 2001 provides special powers to support our investigations, including powers to:

• make preliminary inquiries to decide whether a complaint should be investigated
• investigate informally
• investigate formally, using coercive powers.

Most investigations are completed informally and cooperatively. However, we have formal powers to obtain answers and access documents. We also have the power to enter and inspect premises. 

We can make recommendations to rectify unlawful, unfair or unreasonable decisions and improve administrative practices.

While most of our investigations are based on complaints, the Ombudsman can initiateinvestigations into serious systemic issues. These investigations are often released publicly to bring these issues to the attention of parliament, the public sector and the general public.

If we are investigating your organisation and have asked you to respond to an inquiry, you may be interested to learn more about how we handle our investigation.