CHAPTER 7promoting good administration

Cooperation among Australian Ombudsmen

There are a large number of ombudsman offices established in Australia, in the public and private sector. Internationally, Australia has one of the most developed frameworks of ombudsman offices.

There is a close cooperation among Australian ombudsman offices, both informally and formally. At the formal level, there are two groupings in which the Commonwealth Ombudsman is an active participant. One is the APOR of the International Ombudsman Institute. Membership of the APOR comprises the public sector ombudsman offices established in this region. A major project of the members of APOR has been the development of the regional cooperation program described earlier in this chapter.

The other grouping is a new association formed in 2003, the Australian and New Zealand Ombudsman Association (ANZOA). The association was established by industry ombudsman offices in Australia, but membership is open generally to any ombudsman office. The Commonwealth Ombudsman is a member of the Executive of ANZOA. Projects on which ANZOA has been active over the past year include identifying and addressing systemic issues, training and accreditation of staff, benchmarking of complaint workloads and efficiency, the review of ombudsman schemes, and internal review of complaint handling within ombudsman offices.

In June 2005, the first meeting of its kind attended by most public sector and industry Ombudsmen in Australia and New Zealand was held in Canberra, hosted by the Commonwealth Ombudsman. The meeting of seventeen Ombudsmen was attended by Australian State Ombudsmen (from New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia); Australian industry Ombudsmen (Banking and Financial Services Ombudsman; Financial Industry Complaints Service; Energy and Water Ombudsmen from NSW and Victoria; General Insurance Ombudsman, and Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman); and from New Zealand, the Chief Ombudsman, Banking Ombudsman, Electricity Complaints Commissioner, and Insurance and Savings Ombudsman.