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Professor John McMillan was appointed Commonwealth Ombudsman in March 2003, and was reappointed in 2008 for a further five year term.

John is a member of the Administrative Review Council, which advises the Attorney-General on administrative law matters. In 2007 he was appointed on an acting basis for six months to be the first Integrity Commissioner to establish the new Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity. John was also appointed to the Security Legislation Review Committee, to review Australian counter terrorism laws (2005-6); and to a committee to review the Legislative Instruments Act (2008).

Prior to his appointment as Ombudsman John was the Alumni Professor of Administrative Law at the Australian National University, from which he is on leave during his term as Ombudsman. He has had a varied career in law, government and community affairs. He has taught law at the University of NSW, the Australian Graduate School of Management, and (since 1983) at the Australian National University. Posts he has held in the public sector include Associate to Justice Mason of the High Court of Australia (1973), Principal Investigation Officer in the Commonwealth Ombudsman's office (1979-80) and consultant to many parliamentary and governmental inquiries. He is admitted to legal practice as a barrister and solicitor, having practised in Canberra as a solicitor (1977-1978) and as a legal consultant to the Government Services Group of Clayton Utz (1997-2003).

He has been an active member of many non-government organisations, in areas such as administrative law, public administration, consumer advocacy and resident action. He was a founding member of the Freedom of Information Campaign Committee, which led the public campaign for enactment of the Freedom of Information Act 1982. More recently, he was a founding member and later President (2000-02) of the Australian Institute of Administrative Law; he is an Executive Member of the Australian and New Zealand Ombudsman Association; and is a National Fellow of the Institute of Public Administration Australia.

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