CHAPTER 1year in review

Complaint Workload

During 2004–05, the Ombudsman received a total of 17,310 complaints, compared to 17,496 in the previous year. The pattern of complaints was similar to the pattern in the previous year, with a decrease in complaints about the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and Centrelink, and an increase in the number of complaints about Australia Post, the Child Support Agency and the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations.

The decrease in total complaints received in both 2004–05 and 2003–04 is against the trend of the previous few years, during which the number of complaints to the Ombudsman was fairly stable. There has, however, been a steady increase in the number of more complex matters brought to the office and in complaints that alleged systemic problems in public administration (see agency-specific sections on pages 25 to 65). There was an increase of 33% in the number of other approaches to the office, such as out of jurisdiction matters and requests for information (see page 17 in 'Performance' section of report).

This year, the Ombudsman investigated 33% (6,198 issues) of all complaint issues finalised, compared to 30% last year. Of those complaint issues investigated by the office, agency error or deficiency was identified in 14% (compared to 20% last year), while there was no error or deficiency identified in 43% (the same as last year). In the remaining 43% of cases the matter was resolved without need to determine whether there was a deficiency.