Contact the Complaints Officer

The Complaints Officer provides a professional, complaint handling service to the Dubbo Regional Council community. Find out what a Complaints Officer does, find out how to contact them, or submit a complaint.

ROLE OF A COMPLAINTS OFFICER

The Complaints Officer provides a professional, complaint handling service to the Dubbo Regional Council community. The Complaints Officer has a remit to impartially and objectively investigate the conduct and actions of Council and Council officers in the case of possible corruption, misconduct, maladministration or other unethical behaviour.

The Complaints Officer also reviews Council processes to ensure that they have been carried out fairly and in accordance with Council’s procedures, policies and any Acts or Regulations that may apply. It is not the role of the Complaints Officer to change operational decisions made by Council, Councillors or Council officers or to advocate on anyone’s behalf.

Complaints are accepted from members of the community and Council staff. If a complaint relates to the Mayor, Councillors or the Chief Executive Officer, the Complaints Officer manages these through an external reviewer or panel of reviewers who are independent of Council.

The Complaints Officer progressively examines the way that Council operates and makes recommendations to improve accountability, transparency and fairness. The Complaints Officer actively provides operational and strategic advice to staff and management to prevent and mitigate the risk of corruption, maladministration or other forms of impropriety.

MAKING CONTACT

BY ONLINE FORM:

Submission: Council's DRC&ME Portal. Please note that you will need to create an account if you do not already have one. Existing users can simply log in.

BY TELEPHONE:

Telephone: 02 6801 4000 (9.00am to 5.00pm Monday to Friday)
If a complaint is made by telephone, the Complaints Officer may ask for formal submission via Council's DRC&ME Portal.

IN WRITING:

Post: Complaints Officer, C/- Dubbo Regional Council, PO Box 81, NSW 2830
(please mark your letter “Confidential”)

For more information about the role of the Complaints Officer and how any complaint will be assessed, please refer to the Complaints Management Policy available at A-Z Council Policies.

LODGE A COMPLAINT

If you think your complaint concerns a serious issue, for example, corruption, misconduct, maladministration or other unlawful or unethical behaviour by Council administration or Council officers, you may choose to make a complaint directly to the Complaints Officer on the DRC&ME Portal.

Please note that you will need to create an account if you do not already have one. Existing users can simply log in.

Before lodging a complaint with the Complaints Officer, it is useful to ask yourself the following questions:

Is this a complaint regarding a service request that should instead be registered through a specific tile on Council's DRC&ME Portal? This way, we can handle your issue more efficiently.
What has Council or Council staff done wrong in this situation?
Has Council or Council staff breached a law or policy which they have a duty to uphold?
Has a process been applied unfairly or discriminatively?
Has a Council officer done something that is against the law or could be a breach of Council’s Code of Conduct?

Last Edited: 13 Mar 2025