Our day-to-day work involves:
- inquiring into complaints and seeking to resolve them informally, where possible
- investigating when needed and making remedial recommendations for change
- examining systemic problems in public administration and recommending improvements to practices and procedures.
We provide information to complainants about how to navigate complaints systems, and can resolve most complaints by quickly clarifying things with the authority in question. A few matters may proceed to more formal investigation, which often lead to recommendations to improve government processes and decision making.
For more information see What we do and how we do it.
What the Ombudsman can’t do
It is important to note that there are things the Ombudsman doesn’t have power to do. For example:
- we can’t provide legal advice
- we can’t overturn infringements or have credit listings removed
- we can’t deal with issues relating to the actions of politicians, private individuals or businesses
- we can’t force organisations to implement our recommendations.
If we don’t have the power to assist you, we will often provide advice about who else may be able to help.