CHAPTER 2The organisation

History and establishment

The office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman was established by the Ombudsman Act 1976, and is administered by the Prime Minister. In 1971, the Commonwealth Administrative Review Committee issued a report recommending the establishment of a Commonwealth Ombudsman. The committee proposed a new and distinctive system of administrative law in Australia. It envisaged that the Ombudsman would play a part, along with courts and administrative tribunals, in examining government administrative action.

The office commenced operation on 1 July 1977. Since then, seven Commonwealth Ombudsmen have been in office. Over time the responsibilities of the Ombudsman have expanded to cover:

• complaints about the Australian Federal Police—1981
• complaints about freedom of information—1982
• Defence Force Ombudsman role—1983
• compliance auditing of AFP and National Crime Authority (now Australian Crime Commission) telecommunications intercept records—1988, with added responsibilities of monitoring controlled operations in 2001 and auditing surveillance device records in 2004
• Australian Capital Territory Ombudsman—1989
• Special Tax Adviser function—1995
• assessing and reporting on the detention of long-term (two years or more) immigration detainees—2005
• Immigration Ombudsman role—2005
• Commonwealth service providers—2005
• Postal Industry Ombudsman role—2006
• Law Enforcement Ombudsman role—2006.