CHAPTER 1Ombudsman's review

Public administration

Through our complaint handling and investigative work, we come into contact with most aspects of Australian Government administration. 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’. We mainly do this by making suggestions and recommendations to agencies, conducting own motion investigations to help foster improvements in systemic issues, and making submissions to government and parliamentary inquiries.

Recognising the role and capacity of the office, in 2005 and 2006 the Australian Government requested the office to investigate 247 cases where people had been held in immigration detention, and later released on the basis they were not, or were no longer, unlawful non-citizens. This was in addition to the case of Ms Vivian Alvarez. All these investigations were completed by June 2007 and resulted in nine public Ombudsman reports, including seven being released in 2006–07. While the issues under investigation were specific to immigration administration, and are being addressed through DIAC’s reform program, there were broader lessons emerging from the investigations that are relevant more generally for public administration in Australia.

In 2006–07 we published reports on another six own motion and major investigations. The reports related to the Australian Defence Force, the AFP, the Australian Film Commission, the ATO, the Migration Agents Registration Authority, and complaint handling in Australian airports, involving a number of Australian Government agencies. To the extent possible, Ombudsman reports on own motion investigations are published in full or in an abridged version on our website at www.ombudsman.gov.au.

We also commenced several own motion investigations, which we expect to complete in 2007–08.

The Ombudsman made submissions to parliamentary inquiries and commented on a range of administrative practice matters and legislative proposals during the year. Examples include submissions to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee regarding proposed new search and seizure powers for Centrelink officers, and to the Committee’s inquiry into the Crimes Legislation Amendment (National Investigative Powers and Witness Protection) Bill 2006. The Ombudsman also appeared before the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee regarding its inquiry into reform of the military justice system.

By fostering improved government administration, we can strengthen the community’s confidence in the integrity and professionalism of government and we can support fairer and more accountable government.

Jack Richardson prize

In 2002 the Ombudsman’s office established the Australian National University (ANU) 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. The annual prize is for the best essay by an undergraduate student in administrative law. This year’s Jack Richardson prize was awarded to Jane Woodward.