Not many public institutions survive thirty years with its core functions virtually unchanged. The Commonwealth Ombudsman reached that milestone on 1 July 2007.

Over the past thirty years the Ombudsman has dealt with more than 600,000 complaints and has helped government agencies change the way they go about their business to provide a better public service.

Each year the Ombudsman investigates complaints about more than 100 Australian Government departments and agencies. Around three quarters of those complaints focus on five agencies with high volume public contact—Australia Post, the Australian Taxation Office, Centrelink, the Child Support Agency, and the Department of Immigration and Citizenship.

The Commonwealth Ombudsman was established with cross-party political support during a time of innovation in Australia’s federal justice system. Australia’s first Ombudsman, Prof. Jack Richardson, opened the Canberra office on 1 July 1977. Following Prof. Richardson there have been six Ombudsmen—Geoffrey Kolts, Prof. Dennis Pearce, Alan Cameron, Philippa Smith, Ron McLeod and currently Prof. John McMillan.

As an important independent arbiter in a system of government undergoing constant change, the responsibilities of the Commonwealth Ombudsman have expanded over thirty years to cover areas of specific expertise such as defence, immigration, law enforcement, taxation and the postal industry.

The office has dealt with nearly every kind of complaint made against government. We continue to work with agencies to address and prevent systemic problems and to improve public administration.

Through our past successes, and the demands of the future, the Commonwealth Ombudsman continues to work towards better connecting government and the public.