Feature 7

postal industry ombudsman—safeguarding consumer rights in the postal industry

Legislation to establish the office of Postal Industry Ombudsman was introduced into the Commonwealth Parliament in August 2004. Under the proposed legislation, the Commonwealth Ombudsman will undertake the role of Postal Industry Ombudsman.

The creation of a separate office of Postal Industry Ombudsman is an important step in safeguarding consumer rights in the postal industry. Each year in Australia the public and business send and receive hundreds of millions of postal items. With such high volume, problems will occur, and it is important that there is an independent, external, high-profile agency to deal with complaints. Creating an ombudsman is now a recognised way in Australia for ensuring integrity and professionalism in complaint investigation.

The office of the Postal Industry Ombudsman will:

• take over the existing role of the Commonwealth Ombudsman of investigating postal complaints against Australia Post (the Ombudsman receives about one thousand complaints each year)
  
  
• have jurisdiction to investigate complaints against private sector postal operators that register to participate in the scheme
  
  
• develop a costing regime in accordance with Regulations for the scheme to be self-funding and for the cost of investigations to be charged on a proportionate basis to participants in the scheme
  
  
• have available the normal powers of an ombudsman to require information or documents, and to publish findings; and be required to observe procedural fairness in investigations.

The scheme is distinctive, in conferring jurisdiction upon a single ombudsman to investigate complaints in the public and the private sector. This private sector jurisdiction poses a new challenge for the Commonwealth Ombudsman. The commercial focus in the postal operations of Australia Post will also need to be reflected in the Ombudsman's approach to complaint handling.

Pending enactment of the legislation, which is expected to occur in 2005–06, we have been working to establish a framework of operations for the Postal Industry Ombudsman scheme.