APS Code of Conduct and Natural Justice
The ABCC is staffed by Australian Public Service (APS) employees who are accountable to the community for their decisions.
Decisions by APS employees must be impartial, reasonable, fair, timely and transparent.
APS employees must adhere to the APS Code of Conduct and behave in a way which upholds APS Values. Details of the APS Code of Conduct are located on the Australian Public Service Commission website.
‘Natural justice’ is about unbiased decision making. It makes sure people have the chance to be heard where their rights, interests or reasonable expectations are affected by a decision or determination. We apply natural justice in our investigations.
We make sure people involved have the best possible chance to be heard.
To do this, we make sure people understand:
- That a decision is going to or has been made
- Why the decision is going to or was made
- How the decision will be or was made
This way they can respond as effectively as possible to things that affect them.
Requesting a review
If you believe that a decision made relating to an ABCC Investigation that affects you was not correct, then you can request a review for any, some, or all of these reasons:
- The ABCC employee’s behaviour was unprofessional
- The process of investigation was unsatisfactory
- You do not agree with the outcome
You can request a review by speaking in the first instance to the Inspector involved in the matter or their Director, and requesting a review of the decision made.
If you do not agree with the outcome of those discussions, you can also write to us requesting a review of a decision at:
The Office of the Australian Building and Construction Commissioner
Quality Assurance Team
GPO Box 9927
Perth WA 6001
We are committed to ensuring reviews remain impartial, transparent and afford the greatest opportunity for natural justice with our stakeholders. For this to happen, reviews may go through up to 3 separate steps in the review process:
- Conducting a review to check whether the Inspector who dealt with the case followed our formal investigation process.
- Conducting a complete reinvestigation of the matter. This is handled by a specialist team that is not part of the Inspectorate.
- Referring the person who made the complaint to the Commonwealth Ombudsman.
After the review
After any review finishes, you will be contacted by the reviewer or a relevant Director to discuss the findings.