CHAPTER 6Promoting good administration

Own motion and major investigations

The Ombudsman can conduct an investigation as a result of a complaint to the office or on his own motion. During 2006–07 we publicly released 13 reports on own motion or major investigations.

Seven of the reports covered cases referred to the office by the Australian Government concerning the immigration detention of 247 people by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC). Other reports dealt with:

• the ATO’s administration of garnishee action
• Strand I funding decisions by the Australian Film Commission
• the Migration Agents Registration Authority’s complaint-handling process
• the management of complaints about unacceptable behaviour in the Australian Defence Force
• complaint-handling systems in airports
• a review of AFP ACT Policing’s Watchhouse operations.

Further details on most of these reports are provided in Chapter 5—Challenges in complaint handling and Chapter 7—Looking at the agencies, and all are available on our website at www.ombudsman.gov.au.

In 2007–08 we expect to finalise a number of other own motion investigations and commence some new ones, as detailed in Chapter 7.