Community Services (Complaints, Reviews and Monitoring) Act 1993 (NSW)

Community Services (Complaints, Reviews and Monitoring) Act 1993 No 2

An Act to provide for complaints, reviews and monitoring in relation to the provision of community services; to confer and impose functions on the Ombudsman, to confer and impose functions on the Civil and Administrative Tribunal; and for other purposes.

Part 1 Preliminary

1 Name of Act This Act is the Community Services (Complaints, Reviews and Monitoring) Act 1993.

2 Commencement This Act commences on a day or days to be appointed by proclamation, being a day or days not later than 12 months after the date of assent.

3 Objects and principles (1) The objects of this Act are as follows— (a) to foster, in community services and programs, and in related services and programs, an atmosphere in which complaints and independent monitoring are viewed positively as ways of enhancing the delivery of those services and programs, (b) to provide for the resolution of complaints about community services and programs, especially complaints by persons who are eligible to receive, or receive, those services, by families and by persons advocating on behalf of such persons or families, (c) to encourage, wherever reasonable and practicable, the resolution of complaints at a local level, (d) to encourage, wherever reasonable and practicable, the resolution of complaints through alternative dispute resolution, (e) to provide independent and accessible mechanisms for the resolution of complaints, for the review of administrative decisions and for the monitoring of services, programs and complaint procedures, (f) to encourage compliance with, and facilitate awareness of, the objects, principles and provisions of the community welfare legislation, including by education, (g) to provide for independent monitoring of community services and programs, both generally and in particular cases. (2) The following principles must be observed in exercising functions under this Act— (a) the paramount consideration in providing a service for a person must be the best interests of the person, (b) a person who is eligible to receive, or receives, a community service is also to receive an adequate explanation of the service, is to be heard in relation to the service and may question decisions or actions that affect the person in relation to the service, (c) a service provider is to promote and respect the legal and human rights of a person who receives a community service and must respect any need for privacy or confidentiality, (d) a service provider is, to the best of his or her ability, to provide such information about the service as may enable an appropriate decision to be made by the person for whom the service is, or is to be, provided, (e) a service provider is to enable a complaint about the service to be dealt with fairly, informally and quickly and at a place convenient to the complainant, (f) a complaint about the provision of a service is to be dealt with even if it is made by another person on behalf of the person eligible to receive, or receiving, the service.