CHAPTER 5 | looking at the agencies

Introduction

The majority of complaints received by the Ombudsman (78% of those received in 2003–04) concern five Australian Government departments and agencies—Centrelink, the Child Support Agency, the Australian Taxation Office, Australia Post and the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs. This chapter focuses on particular issues that arose during the year in investigating complaints about these agencies. As well, the chapter looks at three other special areas of complaint work: complaints about the Australian Defence Force, handled by the Ombudsman discharging the role of Defence Force Ombudsman; complaints about the Australian Federal Police, handled under the Complaints (Australian Federal Police) Act 1981; and complaints about the handling by agencies of Freedom of Information requests.

While the discussion and analysis of complaints arising in specific areas of government illustrates the work of the Ombudsman, it does not fully portray the work of the office. The issues raised in complaints to the Ombudsman are mostly about difficulties that arise between people and government generally rather than about specific problem areas. Some of these general themes are taken up in other chapters of this report (such as 'How the Ombudsman helped people' and 'Problem areas in government decision making'). Examples of difficulties that commonly arise are inadequate explanation of adverse decisions, deficient record keeping, delay in decision making, and discourtesy by agency officers.

The focus of this chapter on complaints against specific agencies does not by itself accurately portray the standard of administration in those agencies. Issues have been selected in part to show the aspects of government about which people complain to the Ombudsman. Not surprisingly, those complaints are more likely to target the agencies that deal more frequently with the public. While complaints to the Ombudsman are only a minor fraction of the decisions and actions taken each year by government agencies, they illustrate the difficulties that people face in dealing with government and to that extent provide valuable insight into the operation of government in Australia.

Figure 5.1 shows the proportion of complaints received by the Ombudsman from particular agencies.