CHAPTER 2about us

Organisation and structure

The national office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman and the office of the ACT Ombudsman are co-located in Canberra. The Commonwealth Ombudsman also has offices in Adelaide, Brisbane, Darwin, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney.

The Ombudsman and Deputy Ombudsman are statutory officers appointed under the Ombudsman Act 1976. Staff are employed under the Public Service Act 1999. The office comprises a range of functional elements:

• Central office functions and responsibilities (including human resources, information technology, financial services, records management and public relations) and the principal specialist teams are based in the national office in Canberra.
  
  
• Offices throughout Australia handle complaints and undertake some specialist work. A Senior Assistant Ombudsman supervises the Adelaide, Brisbane, Darwin, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney offices, as well as complaint handling relating to the ACT Ombudsman function.

Five Senior Assistant Ombudsmen manage the specialist teams located in the national office, one of whom also provides general oversight for our State offices. The specialist teams are:

• ACT Regional Team—dual role in complaint handling relating to Australian Government and ACT Government departments and agencies
  
  
• Defence Team—specialised advice and complaint handling relating to the Australian Defence Force, the Defence Housing Authority and the Department of Veterans' Affairs
  
  
• Immigration Team—specialised advice and complaint handling relating to the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs
  
  
• Law Enforcement and Inspections Team—complaint handling, monitoring and investigation of law enforcement activities relating to Australian Government law enforcement agencies
  
  
• Social Support Team—specialised advice and complaint handling relating to the Department of Human Services (including Centrelink and the Child Support Agency) and relevant policy departments
  
  
• Taxation Team—specialised advice and complaint handling relating to the Australian Taxation Office, under the supervision of the Ombudsman's Special Tax Adviser.

Figure 2.1 illustrates the organisational structure of the Ombudsman's office.