CHAPTER 6Promoting good administration

Introduction

A core objective of an ombudsman’s office is to move beyond the individual problems highlighted in individual complaints, and to foster good public administration that is accountable, lawful, fair, transparent and responsive.

An individual complaint may highlight issues that are systemic in nature, such as the provision of inadequate or misleading advice on a particular aspect of government service delivery, or the application of a policy that is inconsistent with an agency’s governing legislation.

An issue that arises in an individual complaint about a specific agency may open a window onto similar issues in other areas of government administration.

Through thirty years of experience in dealing with individual complaints, the Ombudsman’s office has built a broad base of knowledge about government administration and the ways in which good, and poor, administration can have an impact on people. We draw on this experience to promote improvements in public administration through a variety of mechanisms.

‘An issue that arises in an individual complaint about a specific agency may open a window onto similar issues ...’

This chapter discusses some of the ways the Ombudsman’s office has promoted good administration. We made submissions to a number of parliamentary and other government inquiries. We also initiated or participated in projects that aim for systemic reform in areas such as the use of automated decision making and protection of internal whistleblowers. Own motion investigations undertaken by the office are described in other chapters, and briefly noted in this chapter. Cooperation with other oversight agencies, and with Ombudsman offices in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region, enables joint projects to be undertaken, best practice experience to be shared, and a mutual support network to be developed.