CHAPTER 2 | about us

History and establishment

The office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman was established by the Ombudsman Act 1976 (Ombudsman Act), and is administered by the Prime Minister. In 1971, the Commonwealth Administrative Review Committee issued a report recommending that an Ombudsman office be established. The Committee proposed a new and distinctive system of administrative law in Australia. It envisioned that the Ombudsman would play a part, along with courts and administrative tribunals, in examining government administrative action.

The office commenced operation on 1 July 1977. Since then, seven Commonwealth Ombudsman have been in office. Over time, the responsibilities of the Ombudsman have expanded to cover:

• complaints about Australian Federal Police (AFP)—1981
• complaints about Freedom of Information—1982
• Defence Force Ombudsman role—1983
• responsibility for compliance auditing of AFP and National Crime Authority (now Australian Crime Commission) telecommunication intercept records—1988, with added responsibilities for monitoring controlled operations in 2001
• Australian Capital Territory Ombudsman—1989
• Special Tax Adviser function created—1995
• Postal Industry Ombudsman responsibilities to be added in 2004–05.