Thank you, Mr. Chair. It would really be a matter of interpretation in each jurisdiction. You would have to look at what the Interpretation Act in each jurisdiction says in terms of whether there is any general prohibitions or restrictions on when legislation comes into force.
Generally, when you are looking at placing a temporal jurisdiction and, for example, restriction saying you can't go back before a certain date, it is because it would be unfair to subject someone to a law that was not necessarily in effect at the time. For example, if you look at criminal law, it is the law that applied at the time because there are consequences to the action.
In something like this where there is not a punitive aspect to it, it could just be interpreted that if this was silent on temporal jurisdiction, there would be no restriction. Or someone may interpret it as, if it is silent, it is from the commencement date. It depends on how you interpret the Ombud's powers because the Ombud's powers only come into effect on the commencement of the act.
Everything they are doing is post the commencement of the act, so it is within their jurisdiction. The question would be whether someone would take issue with the fact of whether or not they could go beforehand.