Public administration relates to managing and delivering public services and infrastructure. This means areas like health, education, roads, law and order, and local councils.

If someone is considered a ‘public officer’ this means they work in public administration. This could mean someone working for:

• a South Australian government department (like SA Health, the Department for Education or Environment Protection Authority)
• another smaller agency (like the Courts Administration Authority, SACE Board or TAFE SA)
• a statutory authority
• a South Australian university
• your local council.

If you think a South Australian public officer has broken the law or acted in a way that is seriously inappropriate in their role, you can make a formal complaint.

If their actions are unconnected with their role in public administration, you should make your complaint to another complaint handling authority.

What’s not considered public administration?

The OPI is focused on public administration in South Australia and cannot assess complaints about other states or jurisdictions.

This includes federal government agencies (like Centrelink or the Australian Tax Office) or interstate government departments.

See our list of other complaint handling authorities if you need to make a complaint about these groups.