Complaints about an inspector
The Act also has strict accountability mechanisms to safeguard the rights of individuals who may be the subject of enforcement action and to ensure the inspectors exercise their powers fairly and objectively and in a professional manner. In most cases, complaints can be resolved by raising them directly with the inspector involved. By clearly and concisely explaining your concerns and giving the inspector an opportunity to explain, many issues can be resolved.
An inspector, when requested, must produce their identification card when he or she is about to exercise, is exercising, or has exercised, any of the inspector’s powers. Furthermore an inspector exercising, or proposing to exercise, a power under section 47 of the Act must, if asked by a person who is or will be affected by the exercise of the power, explain why the inspector is exercising the power.
What should you include in your complaint?
In all complaints, you should include the following information (listed below):
- your name, address and contact details
- a simple and clear description of your problem with the inspector
- the name of the inspector (if known)
- a realistic explanation of what you would like to happen as a result of your complaint
- any other relevant information.
List of employing agencies
DPIRD
If your complaint relates to the behaviour, actions or decision (other than a reviewable decision) of a general inspector or scientific inspector employed by DPIRD, please complete the Customer Complaints and Feedback form.
RSPCA
Complaints about the behaviour, actions or decision (other than a reviewable decision) of a general inspector employed by the RSPCA should be directed in writing to the Complaints Officer by email (complaints.officer@rspcawa.asn.au) or mailed to PO Box 3147 MALAGA WA 6945. Additional information regarding the RSPCA’s Public Complaints Management Procedure is available from the RSPCA website.
WA Police officers
Complaints about the behaviour, actions or decision (other than a reviewable decision) of a WA Police Officer should be directed to the Police Complaints line (+61 (0)8 9223 1000), made in person at your local police station, online or lodged in writing to Police Complaints, 10th Floor, Septimus Roe Square, 256 Adelaide Terrace PERTH WA 6000.
Additional information regarding the WA Police complaints process is available from the WA Police website.
Local Government inspectors
Complaints about the behaviour, actions or decision (other than a reviewable decision) of a local government general inspector should be directed to the relevant local council offices. Further information on local council localities and contacts can be found on the WA Local Government Association Website.
How to complain
Complaints to DPIRD will fall into two major categories:
- Complaints not related to Reviewable Decisions
- Formal Objections (Reviewable Decisions)
DPIRD endeavors to deal with complaints in a timely and professional manner, ensuring an objective and fair outcome.
In managing your complaint, procedural fairness, natural justice and animal welfare outcomes will all be considered.
Complaints not related to reviewable decisions
All general inspectors, regardless of their employing agency, are public officers and are expected to behave in a professional and objective manner.
If you have any concern relating to the behaviour, action or decision of a general inspector or a scientific inspector (other than a reviewable decision), you should try to resolve the matter by raising it directly with the inspector involved. If you can’t address it in this way, you may wish to lodge a formal complaint.
To lodge a complaint, please follow the complaint procedure for the relevant agency. If you wish to lodge a complaint against a DPIRD inspector, complete DPIRD’s Customer Complaints and Feedback form and tick the appropriate descriptor under ‘area of interest’.
Where possible, these complaints will be assessed and a response provided to you within 30 working days. In circumstances when the response time will exceed 30 days, you will be advised and an updated response time provided.
To ensure procedural fairness, an investigation may be outsourced to an unrelated area within DPIRD and/or other agencies/other investigators. Depending upon the nature of your complaint you may be asked for additional information. Information and/or supporting documentation may also be sought from the inspector and/or other involved persons. At the conclusion of the investigation, a draft recommendation to the DPIRD Director General will be prepared and comments sought from the inspector involved, before a final report to the Director General is made for his consideration and appropriate action.
Objections in relation to reviewable decisions
The Act provides for a person aggrieved by a number of specified decisions of an inspector, or to the manner in which the decision was exercised, to object and to have the decision reviewed either by the Minister for Agriculture and Food or the State Administrative Tribunal (the SAT).
In addition the Act provides for a person aggrieved by the decision of the Minister in relation to their objection to be further reviewed by the SAT. These decisions are termed ‘reviewable decisions’. Only certain decisions of an inspector are reviewable decisions. For further information on reviewable decisions or to determine if your complaint relates to a reviewable decision click here.
In order to make an objection, you must be the person aggrieved by the decision. This means you must be the person to whom the reviewable decision directly applies and not a third party. The objection must be lodged within 28 days after the right to object arose (usually the date the reviewable decision was made) and only if you have not already applied to the SAT in relation to the decision. For more information on the SAT refer to their website.
You must lodge your objection on the prescribed form (Animal Welfare (General) Regulations 2003, Schedule 2, Form 2). This form can be found on the right of this page.
For more information on reviewable decisions refer to our webpage.
Next step: The Ombudsman
If you are not satisfied with the process applied to your complaint or the outcome of the complaints process administered by DPIRD (other than reviewable decisions), you can refer the matter to the Office of the Ombudsman Western Australia.
The Ombudsman Western Australia can investigate complaints about any person appointed as an inspector under the Act.
The website of the Ombudsman WA also provides information on:
- the role of the Ombudsman
- the procedure of making a complaint to the Ombudsman, and
- the complaints that will be dealt with
All appointed general and scientific inspectors are holders of an office, post or position established for a public purpose and are an ‘authority’ under the Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1971 (the Parliamentary Commissioner Act). As a result, the Ombudsman has jurisdiction to investigate all general and scientific inspectors when they make decisions or take actions under the Act and those decisions/actions are related to matters of administration.
Please note that the jurisdiction of the Ombudsman to investigate complaints is subject to certain restrictions. The Ombudsman cannot investigate a complaint in relation to an action of an inspector where (see section 14(4) of the Parliamentary Commissioner Act):
- The person aggrieved has or had a right of appeal, reference or review to or before a tribunal, and
- The person aggrieved has or had a remedy by the way of proceedings in any court of law.
This restriction applies to the matters defined in section 71(1) of the Act as a ‘reviewable decision’ and those matters where a person can seek redress through the courts (for example, for the return of a seized animal section 44(6)).