Local Government Regulation 2012

This section provides, for section 268(4) of the Act, the process for resolving complaints about administrative actions of a local government made by affected persons.

A local government must adopt—

a complaints management process that effectively manages complaints from their receipt to their resolution; and

written policies and procedures supporting the complaints management process.

A complaints management process is a process for resolving complaints about administrative actions of a local government that—

covers all administrative action complaints made to the local government; and

requires the local government to quickly and efficiently respond to complaints in a fair and objective way; and

includes the criteria considered when assessing whether to investigate a complaint; and

requires the local government to inform an affected person of the local government’s decision about the complaint and the reasons for the decision, unless the complaint was made anonymously.

The local government must—

record all administrative action complaints; and

ensure the public may inspect the complaints management process (including the related policies and procedures) at the local government’s public office and on its website; and

ensure internal reports are occasionally provided to senior management about the operation of the complaints management process; and

ensure mechanisms are in place to—

identify, analyse and respond to complaint trends; and

monitor the effectiveness of the complaints management process (by monitoring the time taken to resolve complaints, for example).

To remove any doubt, it is declared that, in deciding if a complaint is an administrative action complaint, it is irrelevant—

how quickly the complaint was resolved; or

to which area of a local government the complaint was made; or

whether the complaint was a written or verbal complaint; or

whether or not the complaint was made anonymously.