Commonwealth Consolidated Acts

OMBUDSMAN ACT 1976 - SECT 10

  (1)   Where:

  (a)   under an enactment, a person has a power to do an act or thing in the exercise of a discretion or otherwise;

  (b)   there is no enactment that prescribes a quantified period within which the person is required to do or refuse to do the act or thing;

  (c)   an enactment provides that application may be made to a prescribed tribunal for the review of decisions made in the exercise of that power; and

  (d)   a complaint has been made to the Ombudsman concerning a failure to do the act or thing in the exercise of that power;

the Ombudsman, after having investigated the complaint, may, if he or she is of the opinion that there has been unreasonable delay in deciding whether to do the act or thing, grant to the complainant a certificate certifying, that, in the opinion of the Ombudsman, there has been unreasonable delay in deciding whether to do the act or thing and, if the Ombudsman does so, the person required or permitted to exercise the power, shall, for the purpose of enabling application to be made under the enactment referred to in paragraph   (c) to the prescribed tribunal concerned, be deemed to have made, on the date on which the certificate is granted, a decision, in the exercise of that power, not to do the act or thing.

  (1A)   Where:

  (a)   under an enactment, a person has a power to do an act or thing in the exercise of a discretion or otherwise;

  (b)   there is no enactment that prescribes a quantified period within which the person is required to do or refuse to do the act or thing;

  (c)   an enactment provides that application may be made to a person other than a prescribed tribunal for the review of decisions made in the exercise of that power and an enactment also provides that application may be made to a prescribed tribunal for the review of decisions made by the last - mentioned person upon an application first referred to in this paragraph; and

  (d)   a complaint has been made to the Ombudsman concerning a failure to do the act or thing in the exercise of that power;

the Ombudsman, after having investigated the complaint, may, if he or she is of the opinion that there has been unreasonable delay in deciding whether to do the act or thing, grant to the complainant a certificate certifying that, in the opinion of the Ombudsman, there has been unreasonable delay in deciding whether to do the act or thing and, if the Ombudsman does so, the person required or permitted to exercise the power, shall, for the purpose of enabling application to be made to the person other than a prescribed tribunal referred to in paragraph   (c) under the enactment first referred to in that paragraph, be deemed to have made, on the date on which the certificate is granted, a decision, in the exercise of that power, not to do the act or thing.

  (2)   Where a board, committee or other unincorporated body constituted by 2 or more persons is empowered by an enactment to make decisions, subsections   (1) and (1A) apply as if the board, committee or other body were a person empowered to make those decisions.

  (3)   In this section, prescribed tribunal means:

  (a)   the Administrative Review Tribunal; or

  (b)   any other tribunal that is declared by the regulations to be a prescribed tribunal for the purposes of this section.