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Special report tabled in Parliament
On 9 March 2026, the NSW Ombudsman tabled a report that provides a high-level snapshot of the maturity and effectiveness of complaint handling systems across NSW public authorities.
The NSW public sector complaint handling in 2025 – self-assessment and survey results was tabled in the Parliament of NSW on 9 March 2026.
This was the first review conducted under section 25A of the Ombudsman Act 1974. The review used a self-assessment survey and complaint handling staff survey to measure how closely organisations align with the 6 principles of effective complaint management.
The 6 principles (set out in the NSW Ombudsman’s Effective Complaint Management Guidelines) were developed by the Ombudsman in collaboration with NSW government organisations. The 6 principles are:
- Respectful treatment
- Information and accessibility
- Communication
- Taking ownership
- Timeliness
- Transparency
The review identified three specific principles − information and accessibility, taking ownership, and transparency − as the primary areas where agencies can improve.
- Information and accessibility: There appear to be fewer ways organisations provide information about their complaint systems than there were in 2018, despite an increase in the number of people in Australia speaking a language other than English at home or identifying as living with a disability.
- Taking ownership: A relatively low number of organisations report providing complaint handling training to staff.
- Transparency: Although 85% of organisations report that they collect data on complaints, only 61% of organisations analyse the data and report it to their executive.
Kindly click here to read the full article.
The special report can be found here.
Source: The Ombudsman New South Wales, Australia
