Service charter

Foreword

My office's Service Charter sets out the standards of service you can expect from us, explains how you can assist us to help you and provides an opportunity for you to comment on our performance.

This feedback enables us to improve our service and to see ourselves from your perspective.

Since 1989, the Ombudsman has continued to play a vital role in improving ACT Government administration, and in ensuring that citizens are treated fairly and in accordance with the law. We are committed to providing the best service possible.

We will regularly monitor and report on our performance against the Charter standards, and use them to promote further improvement.

Commonwealth Ombudsman
May 2010

Contents

Download the Service Charter

Our role

The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Ombudsman's services are available to anyone who has a complaint about an ACT Government department or agency which they have been unable to resolve. The Ombudsman can also investigate complaints about the Australian Federal Police.

This Charter is for people who need the assistance of the Ombudsman to help resolve those complaints.

We will:

  • Investigate complaints where appropriate
  • Deal with complaints in an impartial and effective way and achieve fair outcomes
  • Seek appropriate remedies
  • Promote improved administration by ACT Government departments and agencies.

Our services are free of charge. However, if you pursue a matter with a tribunal or through the courts you may incur some costs.

The ACT Ombudsman is also the Commonwealth Ombudsman, Defence Force Ombudsman and the Taxation Ombudsman.

The service you can expect from us

We will give careful attention to your complaint. If it is something we can and should investigate, we will:

  • Do this as quickly as possible, acting fairly, independently, objectively and impartially.
  • If appropriate, and where possible, we will recommend changes to fix the problem.
  • If we don't or can't investigate your complaint we will explain why, and advise you of any other avenues for you to pursue your complaint.
  • Acknowledge written complaints within seven working days, and resolve all complaints as soon as practicable. The time taken to resolve complaints varies because of their complexity and other factors.
  • Provide you with the name of a contact person in our office, and keep you informed of the progress of our inquiries at regular intervals. You may contact us to check on the progress of your complaint at any time.
  • Respond to telephone messages within 24 hours, except where weekends and public holidays intervene.
  • Treat information with privacy and respect.
  • Tell you the reasons for any decisions we make.
  • Communicate with you clearly and courteously.

Our values

We strive to maintain the highest standards of professionalism in our work, and in particular we are committed to:

  • Independence
  • Impartiality
  • Integrity
  • Accessibility
  • Professionalism
  • Team work

Your rights

When you make a complaint to the Ombudsman you have the following rights:

  • You can make the complaint in the way most convenient to you, for example, in person, by letter, fax, email, by telephone, or via the online complaint form. At times it may be necessary to ask you to set out your complaint or provide information in writing.
  • Someone else can make a complaint on your behalf, but it may still be necessary to contact you.
  • You can make an anonymous complaint, but this may limit our capacity to investigate the issue fully.

You can ask for an internal review of a decision we have made about your complaint, in which case the matter will be looked at by a more senior officer who has had no prior involvement with your complaint.

External review

If you disagree with our decisions, you have the following external review rights:

  • Under the Administrative Decisions (Judicial Review) Act 1989 you can ask us for a statement of reasons for a decision we have made about your complaint.
  • You can ask the Supreme Court for a review of a decision we have made about your complaint.

You can ask the Administrative Appeals Tribunal to review a decision by our office about your Freedom of Information request for documents in our possession.

Complaints and feedback about our services

We want to improve our services, and your views and feedback are very important to us.

You can visit, telephone, fax, email or write to us to tell us what you think about our service and our Charter. If you want to make a complaint, it would be helpful if you first raise the matter with the staff member you have been dealing with. If you are not satisfied, you can raise the matter with more senior staff.

We will monitor our performance against the Service Charter standards, and in our Annual Report we will publish details about the complaints we have received about our service and decisions, and how they were dealt with.

Services available to assist you in making a complaint

If you don't speak English very well, we can help through the Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS) on 131 450.

National Relay Service (NRS): if you are deaf, or have a hearing, sight or speech impairment, TTY users phone 133 677 then ask for 1300 362 072; Speak and Listen users phone 1300 555 727 then ask for 1300 362 072; Internet Relay users connect to the NRS (www.iprelay.com.au) then ask for 1300 362 072.

Contact us

Our office is open from 9am to 5pm weekdays. For the cost of a local call, you can call us on 1300 362 072

Level 5, Childers Square, 14 Childers Street

Canberra ACT 2601

Fax 02 6276 0123