Editors --- "The Commonwealth Ombudsman" [2006] AdminRw 7; (2006) 57 Admin Review 68

• The Commonwealth Ombudsman
• Keeping pace with public sector change
• Improving work practices
• Fostering good public administration
• Monitoring and inspection
• International cooperation and regional support
• Outreach

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The Commonwealth Ombudsman

In March 2003 Prof. John McMillan was appointed seventh Commonwealth Ombudsman, returning to an office where, in 1979–80, he worked as Principal Investigation Officer for the first Commonwealth Ombudsman, Professor Jack Richardson. This article, prepared by the Ombudsman’s office, summarises some of the more important developments in the office since 2003.

Keeping pace with public sector change

The Commonwealth Ombudsman’s office, although well established, is a part of a system of government that is undergoing constant change. The primary role of the Ombudsman has been unchanged for nearly 30 years: it is to receive and investigate complaints from members of the public about government administrative action occurring in any Australian government agency anywhere in Australia.

That stability and tradition have been matched by adaptation and evolution in the structure and procedures of the office. One illustration of change is that the office now hosts a range of specialist functions that sit alongside its generalist role and jurisdiction. The Commonwealth Ombudsman also holds the separately titled roles of Australian Capital Territory Ombudsman, Defence Force Ombudsman, Taxation Ombudsman and, since December 2005, Immigration Ombudsman. The Commonwealth Parliament is expected to pass legislation in 2006 to add the role of Postal Industry Ombudsman.

In June 2005 Parliament enacted amendments to the Migration Act 1958 (Cth). These changes give the Ombudsman a statutory role in reviewing the cases of detainees who have been held in immigration detention for more than two years (cumulative), with follow-up reviews every six months if the person remains in detention. This monitoring role substantially augments the Ombudsman’s capacity to oversee the administration of important and sensitive legislation that can have a major impact on people’s lives.

Changes to the Ombudsman Act 1976 (Cth) in December 2005 also give the Ombudsman jurisdiction in relation to many Commonwealth contractors and make it easier for agencies to provide information to the Ombudsman.

The creation of the specialist Ombudsman roles is a response to a growing trend in government and society to call for specialist review mechanisms in designated areas of government. The Ombudsman’s office has followed through on that development by creating specialist teams within the office.

The way complaints are handled and investigations are carried out in the office has also undergone great change. Monitoring complaint handling by Australian government departments and agencies is now an important activity. The office has learnt that complaints against government are often best resolved informally, quickly and knowledgeably in the area in which a complaint arises. Direct agency handling of complaints also promotes greater accountability and responsiveness in service delivery.

A related development is that the Ombudsman’s office now gives comparatively more emphasis to finding a practical solution to and remedy for a problem than to passing judgment on whether the complaint arose from the fault of the agency or the misapprehension of the complainant.

Improving work practices

Accompanying this change in focus is the implementation of new work practices and a new complaints-management system to better manage complaint data and statistical recording in the office.

The office has established a single national point of initial contact for telephone complaints and inquiries. This is a far-reaching change to the way in which the office handles complaints. Among the benefits expected from this change are the following:

• efficient dispatch of simpler inquiries

• greater consistency in public contact activities

• better allocation of cases to the most suitable investigation officer

• early detection of emerging problem areas in government administration

• greater uniformity in data entry

• better supervision by senior officers of the work of the office.

Another objective motivating this change is to strengthen the role of the state and territory branches of the national office. Among the advantages of a national office structure are personal contact with complainants, local knowledge of government service delivery, and interaction with community gatekeepers. Staff in state and territory offices can spend more time on developing that side of their work and on investigating difficult cases if they are able to spend less time on routine public contact work and preliminary complaint analysis.

Fostering good public administration

An important role of the Ombudsman is to foster good public administration. One main way of doing this to make suggestions and recommendations to agencies, to conduct own-motion investigations in order to encourage resolution of systemic problems, and to make submissions to government and parliamentary inquiries.

Since 2002–03 the Ombudsman has publicly released reports on 15 own-motion and major investigations. Several of these have achieved a high profile because of the public interest concerns they have dealt with:

• complaint handling in the Job Network—the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (August 2003)

• the administration of ‘change of assessment decisions’ made on the basis of parents’ income, earning capacity, property and financial resources—the Child Support Agency (May 2004)

• the Review of Australian Defence Force Redress of Grievance System 2004—a joint report by the Department of Defence and the office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman (April 2005)

• the Inquiry into the Circumstances of the Vivian Alvarez Matter—the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (October 2005)

• Australian Defence Force: Management of Service Personnel under the Age of 18 Years—the Australian Defence Force (October 2005)

• administration of s 501 of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) as it applies to long-term permanent residents—the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (February 2006).

It is a measure of the working relationship between the Ombudsman’s office and the agencies concerned that almost all of the Ombudsman’s recommendations have been accepted and have been or are being implemented.

Monitoring and inspection

In addition to its complaint investigation function, the Ombudsman’s office performs a variety of monitoring functions to ensure compliance with legislation applying to selected law enforcement and regulatory activities.

Under the Telecommunications (Interception) Act 1981 (Cth) and the Crimes Act 1914 (Cth) the Ombudsman is responsible for monitoring the integrity of the records of telecommunications interceptions and controlled (covert) operations conducted by the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Crime Commission. This function was expanded during 2004–05 with the passage of the Surveillance Devices Act 2004 (Cth), which gives the Ombudsman a similar role in relation to AFP and Crime Commission use of listening devices and similar technology.

International cooperation and regional support

The Ombudsman’s office is playing an active role in Australia’s region and in the global network of ombudsman institutions, promoting principles of administrative justice and good governance.

The office’s international program has expanded considerably in the last three years, particularly during 2004–05, with the support of funding from AusAID (the Australian Agency for International Development). The office has worked closely with other Australian ombudsman offices to establish a program of mutual cooperation and assistance with ombudsman offices in Asia and the Pacific.

Funding from various AusAID programs supported the Commonwealth Ombudsman’s international activities in facilitating the exchange of specialist advice, training, technical assistance and support to ombudsman’s institutions in Indonesia, Thailand and Papua New Guinea. The office has also taken a coordinating role in working to strengthen regional sharing of skills and knowledge among ombudsmen in the Cook Islands, Fiji, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu.

In addition, the office has hosted study tours by senior-level delegations from China, Korea, Indonesia, Japan, Mauritius, the Republic of Maldives, Thailand and the United Kingdom. Representatives of other countries have also visited the office.

Outreach

Although the office has always conducted outreach activities to raise awareness of the role and function of the Commonwealth Ombudsman, the Australian Government recognised the importance of the outreach function by making a commitment in the 2004–05 Budget to support a four-year program of regional outreach. This funding has allowed the office to embark on a program of visits to rural and regional centres around Australia, supported by a range of information activities. Where possible, the office is also working on collaborative outreach activities with other complaint organisations and ombudsman offices, as well as organisations such as chambers of commerce.

In 2004–05 the Ombudsman’s office achieved its aim of conducting, or participating in, an average of at least one focused outreach activity each week. Staff visited 40 regional and rural communities and made presentations to a wide variety of gatherings. It is estimated that around 1.2 million Australians were directly exposed to information about the Commonwealth Ombudsman during the year.