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 Ombudsman’s office has four principal functions. The office:

  • Receives, investigates and resolves complaints about the administrative decision making and practices of the public sector, local government and universities. See How to make a complaint;
  • Improves public administration for the benefit of all Western Australians through own motion investigations and education and liaison programs with agencies. See Improving public administration;
  • Reviews certain child deaths and family and domestic violence fatalities. See Reviews of certain deaths; and
  • Undertakes a range of additional functions that fit within the broad category of integrity oversight, including inspections of telecommunications intercepts and investigation of public interest disclosures. See Other Functions for more information.

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.
  • 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 64 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.

The Integrity Coordinating Group

The Ombudsman’s office is a member of the Integrity Coordinating Group (ICG) along with the Office of the Auditor General, the Corruption and Crime Commission, the Public Sector Commission and Office of the Information Commissioner. The ICG promotes and strengthens integrity in Western Australian public bodies by encouraging coordinated research, evaluation and monitoring and fostering operational cooperation and consistency in communication and education.

Find out more about the work of the ICG at icg.wa.gov.au.