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‘The opening of a Commonwealth Ombudsman office in Alice Springs will greatly assist members of the public by providing easier access to our services’, said Prof. McMillan.
‘It signals a continuing commitment by this office to be active in the community in dealing with problems that people encounter with Australian Government departments and agencies.’

‘The visibility of the office is vital to public accessibility—having an office in Alice Springs, as well as in Darwin, is an important step in servicing the wide-spread communities of the Northern Territory’, Prof. McMillan said.

While most complaints to the Ombudsman are received by telephone, in writing or by email, this is not always people’s preferred method of contact, particularly for people living in remote Indigenous communities.

‘My office has an active outreach program aimed at raising the awareness of all Australians about how the Commonwealth Ombudsman can help them to resolve problems and difficulties with the Australian government’, Prof. McMillan said.

During the past five months, members of the office’s Indigenous Unit have visited remote communities and town camps in the Alice Springs, Darwin and Katherine regions. Prof. McMillan said the primary objective of the visits was to increase awareness of the role of the office and to provide Indigenous communities with culturally appropriate access to complaint mechanisms.

The office aims to handle complaints in an unbiased and even-handed manner. The Ombudsman also undertakes initiatives to foster good public administration generally. An example is the office’s work in improving agency internal complaint-handling procedures, assisting the agencies to resolve a high proportion of the initial complaints they receive.

The Commonwealth Ombudsman’s offices in Alice Springs and Darwin are co-located with those of the Northern Territory Ombudsman, providing members of the public with access to both federal and state Ombudsmen in the one location.

Representatives from Indigenous and community organisations and Australian Government agencies in Alice Springs will join Prof. McMillan in celebrating the opening of the office.

For further information or to arrange an interview with Prof. John McMillan:

Alice Springs: Maureen Abbott on 08 8912 0037 or 0418 652 389
Ground Floor, Centrepoint Building, Hartley Street, Alice Springs NT 0870
Canberra: Elizabeth Courtney-Frost on 02 6276 0133 or 0408 861 803

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