CHAPTER 8 | promoting good administration

International cooperation and regional support

The institution of Ombudsman has spread rapidly throughout the world in the past two decades. Ombudsman offices are now established in over 100 countries, having crossed political, cultural and language barriers.

The office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman is part of a global network of bodies with the similar objective of promoting principles of administrative justice and good governance. By means of their independence in handling complaints against government, ombudsman offices can play a key role in monitoring the human rights performance of governments and providing a check on arbitrary or unfair actions by the state. They can also play a 'lighthouse' role in encouraging the development of standards, ensuring compliance with good governance principles and reforming public administration.

'… development and training of Ombudsman staff in the Asia-Pacific region … advice to neighbouring Ombudsman offices … technical assistance and support.'

Compatible with this ethos, the Commonwealth Ombudsman's office has an established program of providing assistance and mentoring to Ombudsman offices in the Asia-Pacific region. The program is funded in part by AusAID, in support of the Australian Government's efforts to assist institutional capacity-building in neighbouring countries. The Commonwealth Ombudsman is well placed to contribute to the law and justice stream of that program by providing practical assistance and peer support to Ombudsman offices in neighbouring countries. The broader objective is to promote good governance, supported by democratic and accountable governmental institutions.

An established theme in this support program has been the development and training of Ombudsman staff in the Asia-Pacific region. Each year, our office organises workshops and courses in Australia, which are attended by Commonwealth Ombudsman staff, officers from other State, Territory and Australian Government departments, and by overseas Ombudsman officers. We have also enabled some overseas staff to work in our own office to gain practical experience in investigative techniques. On a less structured basis, we also provide advice to neighbouring Ombudsman offices on the development of investigation policies and procedures.

Two countries that have received institutional support are Indonesia and Thailand. We are currently managing two AusAID-funded Government Sector Linkages programs to facilitate the exchange of specialist advice, training, technical assistance and support to the National Ombudsman Commission of Indonesia and the Thailand Ombudsman. These projects are scheduled for a three-year period. To date, we have:

• conducted project scoping visits to Indonesia and Thailand
• entered into major cooperative programs with the Ombudsmen of both countries
• supported the visits of senior officers from both countries to attend investigation training courses and work placements in our office
• supported Indonesian representation at the 21st Australasian and Pacific Ombudsmen's Conference in Madang, Papua New Guinea
• provided in-country training and mentoring in Thailand and Indonesia.

Two visits to the Asia-Pacific region in May and June 2004 were undertaken for training and mentoring purposes. The Ombudsman visited Indonesia to provide the keynote addresses at two regional conferences organised by the National Ombudsman Commission. The Special Tax Adviser and Information Technology Director visited Thailand to conduct training sessions and liaise on complaint handling and mediation methods and information technology issues.

Feedback from Ombudsman organisations in the Asia-Pacific region suggests that our support is highly valued, and is strengthening the capacity of those organisations to play a role in improving government accountability and integrity.

We are in the process of broadening this support program, to provide advice and assistance to other Ombudsman institutions in the South Pacific region (notably Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Cook Islands, Fiji, Tonga and Samoa). We will once again be relying on AusAID funding for this purpose.

Another means of international cooperation has been to host senior-level delegations from several foreign offices, including:

• a six-member delegation from China's Ministry of Supervision
• an 11-member delegation from China's Ministry of Agriculture to discuss issues relating to supervision of corruption in the public service
• a delegation from the Japan National Conference of Tax to discuss the role of the Taxation Ombudsman and the nature of and handling of complaints about taxation matters.

We also provided information and/or advice to delegations and researchers from Fiji, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Thailand, Tonga, the United Kingdom's Department of Constitutional Affairs, the Macau Department of Administration and Justice, and the Commissioner of the Mauritius Independent Commission Against Corruption.