Northern Territory Consolidated Acts Northern Territory Consolidated Acts14. Matters for investigation
(1) Subject to this Act, the functions of the Ombudsman are:
(a) to investigate any administrative action taken by, in or on behalf of any department or authority to which this Act applies; and
(b) to investigate any action taken, or refusal or failure to take an action, by a member of the Police Force of the Northern Territory, whether or not that action was an administrative action, where that action was, or was purported to be, for or in connection with or incidental to the exercise or performance of that member's powers, duties or functions as a member of the Police Force.
(2) The Ombudsman shall not investigate a matter in pursuance of subsection (1)(b) unless that matter:
(a) is the subject of a complaint:
(i) not made by a member of the Police Force or by a person who is, within the meaning of the Public Sector Employment and Management Act , an employee under the direct control of the Commissioner of Police;
(ii) made, subject to section 17(3), by the person aggrieved to a member of the Police Force;
(iii) concerning a member of the Police Force other than the member to whom it is made; and
(iv) referred to the Ombudsman by the Commissioner of Police;
(b) is or is alleged to be an action taken by a member of the Police Force in consequence of such a complaint so referred; or
(c) is the subject of a complaint concerning a member of the Police Force made direct to the Ombudsman.
(3) As soon as practicable after a complaint about an action referred to in subsection (1)(b) is made to a member of the Police Force, that member shall refer the complaint to the Commissioner of Police who shall, as soon as practicable, refer it to the Ombudsman.
(3A) Where a complaint concerning a member of the Police Force is made direct to the Ombudsman, the Ombudsman shall, before carrying out an investigation, refer the complaint to the Commissioner.
(3AA) Subject to subsection (4), if the Ombudsman and the Commissioner of Police have agreed on administrative arrangements relating to the manner in which complaints referred to the Ombudsman pursuant to subsection (3) may be dealt with, any complaint referred to the Ombudsman in pursuance of that subsection shall be dealt with in accordance with those arrangements.
(4) Where the Ombudsman investigates a matter in pursuance of this section:
(a) his power to investigate the complaint referred to him by the Commissioner of Police includes a power to investigate any action taken by a member of the Police Force in consequence of that complaint; and
(b) for the purposes of the application of this Act, he shall investigate the matter as though:
(i) it was an administrative action; and
(ii) the complaint referred to him by the Commissioner of Police was a complaint made by the complainant to the Ombudsman under this Act and received by the Ombudsman on the date on which it was received by the member of the Police Force to whom it was made,
but the Ombudsman is not required, in pursuance of section 19(1)(a), to inform the Commissioner of Police of his intention to conduct the investigation.
(5) The power under this Act to investigate the making of any recommendation to the Administrator or to a minister includes a power to investigate any action taken as a consequence of that recommendation, but nothing in this Act authorizes or requires the Ombudsman to investigate the deliberations of the Executive Council or to question the merits of any decision taken by the Administrator or personally by a minister.
(6) Subject to subsection (7), the Ombudsman shall not conduct an investigation under this Act in respect of:
(a) any administrative action in respect of which the complainant has or had a right of appeal, reference, or review to or before a tribunal constituted under any law in force in the Territory; or
(b) any administrative action in respect of which the complainant has or had a remedy by way of proceedings in a court of law.
(7) The Ombudsman may conduct any investigation notwithstanding that the complainant has or had a right or remedy of the nature mentioned in subsection (6) if in the circumstances the Ombudsman considers that:
(a) it would not be reasonable to expect or to have expected the complainant to resort to that right or remedy; or
(b) the matter merits investigation in order to avoid injustice.
(8) The powers of the Ombudsman under this Act in relation to any administrative action taken by a department or authority to which this Act applies may be exercised notwithstanding that that action was in whole or part taken on behalf of, or in the exercise of any functions conferred on, a person or body to which this Act does not apply, but subject to subsection (9), nothing in this Act authorizes or requires the Ombudsman to question the merits of any decision made by the person or body to which this Act does not apply.
(9) Where any administrative action is taken by a person or body to which this Act does not apply under any powers and functions conferred on or instructions given to it by a department or authority to which the Act applies, the administrative action so taken shall, for the purposes of this Act, be deemed to be the administrative action of the department or authority to which this Act applies, and the powers of the Ombudsman with respect to that action may be exercised accordingly.
(10) The powers of the Ombudsman to investigate any administrative action may, if in the circumstances he considers it proper so to do, be exercised in respect of an administrative action by the department or authority to which this Act applies taken or in part taken before the commencement of this Act.
(11) The powers conferred on the Ombudsman by this Act to investigate any administrative action may be exercised notwithstanding any provision in the law now or hereafter in force in the Territory to the effect that any such action shall be final or shall not be appealed against, challenged, reviewed, quashed or called in question.