CHAPTER 1year in review

Public administration

An important role of the Ombudsman is to foster good public administration. A principal way of doing this is to make suggestions and recommendations to agencies, to initiate and conduct own motion investigations to help foster improvements in systemic issues, and to make submissions to government and parliamentary inquiries.

Through its complaint handling and investigative work, the Ombudsman's office comes into contact over time with most aspects of Australian government. We see it as a distinct role of the Ombudsman—as stated in our Strategic Plan—to 'contribute to public discussion on administrative law and public administration' and to 'foster good public administration that is accountable, lawful, fair, transparent and responsive'.

'An important role of the Ombudsman is to foster good public administration.'

The Ombudsman published reports on seven own motion and major investigations. Two of the investigations (which related to the Tax Agents' Board of NSW and the Australian Taxation Office) were completed and provided to the agency in 2003–04, and were reported in last year's annual report. Of the five own motion and major investigations finalised and released publicly in 2004–05, two related to the Australian Defence Force, two to the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA), and one to the Australian Crime Commission.

Reports are nearing completion on two own motion investigations concluded during 2004–05. One investigation looked at administrative matters relating to the Department of Defence's dealings with young people: a draft report was provided to the Chief of the Defence Force in June 2005 for comment. The other is looking at the quality of freedom of information processing by Australian Government agencies. To the extent possible, the Ombudsman's reports on own motion investigations are published in full or in an abridged version on our website at www.ombudsman.gov.au.

Under powers conferred by the Complaints (Australian Federal Police) Act 1981 (Complaints Act), Ombudsman staff worked on four special investigations relating to the AFP. Two of those investigations are still underway and will be completed in 2005–06.

During the year, the Ombudsman commenced own motion investigations into the policy underpinning the administration of marriage-like relationships under the social security law and into DIMIA's administration of visa cancellations under s 501 of the Migration Act 1958 in relation to long-term Australian residents.

The Ombudsman made submissions to, or commented on, a range of administrative practice matters and legislative proposals during the year. One such submission was to the Department of Finance and Administration review on the Compensation for Detriment Caused by Defective Administration Scheme. As required by the Crimes Act 1914, the Ombudsman also appeared before the Parliamentary Joint Committee on the Australian Crime Commission to report on the Ombudsman's oversight of controlled operations by the commission.

Jack Richardson prize

To mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of the establishment of the Ombudsman's office, in July 2002 the Ombudsman endowed the Australian National University for the provision of an annual prize for the best essay by an undergraduate in Administrative Law. The prize has been established as the Jack Richardson Prize in Administrative Law in recognition of the contributions made by the first Commonwealth Ombudsman, who was also a former Professor of Law at the ANU. This year's Jack Richardson Prize was awarded to Katherine Cook and Joel Phibbs.