Revised complaints policy reflects a customer-first approach

IT is nice to reflect on the past, and in particular our past achievements.

This often serves as a reminder of where we have come from and in turn can provide motivation for where we are going.

It is more than 20 years since I served at the Shire of Corio, where an independent Internal Ombudsman function was established to provide for non-partisan, independent and fair treatment and investigation of complaints and assessment of infringement appeals.

The council is keen to ensure that it has internal processes that can address residents’ concerns and complaints, and the city is regularly reinvigorating the procedures and review processes to which the Internal Ombudsman works, in order to constantly enhance its customer-first approach.

The Victorian Ombudsman has for some time been pushing for public sector organisations to view complaints as a gift and as a form of free feedback on how to improve their service, as adopting a defensive attitude towards complainants has the potential to lead to a loss of faith from the public.

Council has certainly embraced that line of thinking because constructive complaints provide invaluable insight into how the community views the level of service that it is being provided.

But there are still a lot of people who are unaware that there is a system in place which is available for them to access when it comes to raising concerns or registering complaints.

The role of the Internal Ombudsman is to be non-partisan, independent and fair in the treatment and investigation of complaints and assessment of infringement appeals and respond to the complainant accordingly.

It is also really important to remember that you may appeal or contest any infringement notice that you receive from the City of Greater Geelong.

The council has a recently adopted revised Complaints Policy which is compliant with the new Local Government Act 2020.

This sets out how complaints are dealt with and, if necessary, escalated internally, to ensure more transparent decision making and avenues for review.

If a resident is not satisfied with a decision made by the city, or certain actions or services, the resident can seek a review by the Internal Ombudsman, who can then make recommendations about suggested improvements or whether processes and policies have been applied appropriately.

The Complaints Policy reflects council’s determination to focus its energies on a customer-first approach and not only shows that we take complaints from residents extremely seriously but that we are looking to ensure we are always striving to get better and provide the highest level of service we can.

Of course, mistakes do get made and things are not always perfect, but within the city there is an ever-developing culture of continuous improvement in the interests of the community.

To help with that, your feedback is not only welcomed but encouraged.

Cr Anthony Aitken