Everything on this site comes from public records. This page sets out the kinds of material we rely on. The full list for each regulator, with links to every document, is at the end of that regulator’s report.
Annual reports
Annual reports are the main source. They’re tabled in Parliament, and they’re the regulator’s own account of what it did each year. Where we could, we went back 20 years or more so that changes in what gets reported show up.
| Regulator | Annual reports read |
|---|---|
| Commonwealth Ombudsman | 2001-02 to 2024-25 |
| NSW Ombudsman | 2000-01 to 2024-25 |
| Legal Services Commission (Qld) | 2019-20 to 2024-25 |
| Ahpra and the National Boards | 2009-10 to 2024-25 |
| Australian National Audit Office | 2001-02 to 2025-26 |
| Law Enforcement Conduct Commission | 2016-17 to 2024-25 |
| Office of the Gene Technology Regulator | 2017-18 to 2024-25 |
| Office of the Inspector of Custodial Services (WA) | 2015-16 to 2024-25 |
| Cyber Security NSW | No annual report of its own. We used each edition of the NSW Cyber Security Policy from 2019 to 2026-27 instead. |
The regulators’ other publications
- Corporate plans, strategic plans and portfolio budget statements
- Service charters, fact sheets and published policies, including earlier editions where they changed
- Quarterly and statistical reports
- Public registers, such as disciplinary registers and recommendation registers
- Media releases
- Website pages, with the date we read them
Legislation and court decisions
For each body we read the Act it runs under, as in force at the time of the review, along with amending Acts, Bills and explanatory notes where reform is under way. Court decisions are cited where they deal with the regulator’s powers or decisions.
Parliament, auditors and reviews
- Parliamentary committee reports, hearing transcripts and answers to questions on notice, from Senate committees, the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit, NSW parliamentary committees and the Queensland Justice, Integrity and Community Safety Committee
- Government budget papers
- Reports of the Australian National Audit Office and the Audit Office of New South Wales
- Royal commissions and independent reviews, including the Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme and the reviews of health practitioner regulation
- Reports of the bodies that oversee the regulators, such as the Inspector of the LECC and the National Health Practitioner Ombudsman
- Annual reports of comparable bodies in other states, used for comparison
News coverage
We use news reports for events the regulators don’t report themselves, and say so where we haven’t seen the underlying document.
- ABC News: health practitioner regulation, 2025 and 2026
- Lawyers Weekly: Queensland legal discipline, 2026
- National Indigenous Times: youth detention in Western Australia, 2025
- AAP and CBS News: NSW policing matters, 2024 and 2025
Our copies
Regulators sometimes change or remove documents after publication. We keep copies of the documents we rely on, so a figure can be checked against the version we read. If a link in a report no longer works, let us know.