Access to information

Information available to the public

Under the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (GIPA Act), we must make certain information easily available to the public.

This is known as ‘open access information’. It includes information about:

• Who we are
• What we do

This information and other information required by the GIPA Act about us and our work is collected in our Agency Information Guide. Our Agency Information Guide can be found here.

We also aim to make other information about us easily available, including:

• the work we do (in our News section).
• our reports and other publications (in our Find a publication section).

Information about our contracts with the private sector valued over $150,000 can be found on the NSW Government eTendering website.

To learn more about the GIPA Act and information access, visit the Information and Privacy Commission NSW.

Information not available to the public

Our office handles personal and sensitive information. Ombudsman complaints and investigations are conducted in the absence of the public.

The Ombudsman Act 1974 restricts the circumstances in which we are permitted to disclose information about what we do. The GIPA Act classifies information relating to our investigative, complaint handling and reporting functions as 'excluded information'.

This means there is no right to access this information under the GIPA Act.

Request access to information

If you cannot find the information you're looking for on our website, contact our office on 1800 451 524  or at info@ombo.nsw.gov.au.

We encourage you to contact us before submitting a formal access application under the GIPA Act. We will let you know if the information you are looking for is already publicly available and help you find it. If it is not publicly available, we can let you know if it is 'excluded information', which means it cannot be accessed under  the GIPA Act, or if you may be able to access it from another source or by other means.

Make a formal access application

A formal access application must:

• be in writing (sent either to legal@ombo.nsw.gov.au or posted to the Ombudsman's office at Level 24, 580 George Street, Sydney NSW 2000
• state that you are requesting information under the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009
• include your name and postal or email address for correspondence
• include as much information as possible to help us identify the information you're looking for.

Our office does not charge a GIPA application fee.

We will let you know within 5 working days if your application is valid. The GIPA Act does not entitle anyone to access ‘excluded information’, which is information relating to our investigative, complaint handling and reporting functions. To the extent that an application is made to access ‘excluded information’, it will not be valid and will not be processed. If your application is not valid, we will let you know.

If your application, or any part of it, is valid, we will let you know within 20 days if you are able to access the information you have asked for.

If you're not satisfied with the outcome, you can request an internal review. You can also request a review by the Information and Privacy Commission NSW or the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

If you need help with a GIPA application, contact our office on 1800 451 524 or at info@ombo.nsw.gov.au

Disclosure log

If we give someone information in response to a formal access application and we think the information might also be of interest to others, we include it in our disclosure log: