The Commonwealth Ombudsman, Professor John McMillan, announced today that the Governor-General has approved the appointment of Mr Ron Brent as Deputy Ombudsman, effective from 2 June.

Mr Brent has been Chief Executive Officer of ScreenSound Australia for the past 10 years.

In welcoming the appointment, Professor McMillan said that Mr Brent has had a distinguished career in public administration. ‘He brings to my office a wide range of skills and experience which will enable him to make a strong contribution to a dynamic leadership team in the Ombudsman’s Office’, Professor McMillan said.

‘Ron Brent will bring to my Office special talents in particular areas’, Professor McMillan added. ‘At ScreenSound he has demonstrated his expertise as the manager of a growing and dynamic national organisation with high client contact. He has shown the ability to develop and promote creative and exciting programs which have caught the imagination of the public. These skills will be of great value to my Office, which is also a national Commonwealth organisation with many thousands of contacts with the public each year.’

Professor McMillan, who took up the role of Commonwealth Ombudsman in March, noted that for the past 26 years, the Ombudsman has been a very effective mechanism for resolving complaints from the public about administrative actions of Commonwealth departments and agencies.

‘We now have a new senior leadership group’, Professor McMillan said, ‘which will respond to fresh challenges in redressing individual grievances and contribute to overall improvements in Commonwealth administration. In particular, I intend to focus on administrative issues across the whole spectrum of Government service delivery, while not losing sight of the important Ombudsman role of assisting individuals in their dealings with the bureaucracy.’

Below is a summary of Mr Brent’s curriculum vitae.

For further information or to arrange interviews with Professor McMillan or Mr Brent, contact:

Media 02 6276 3759
Email – Media@ombudsman.gov.au

CURRICULUM VITAE

RONALD I BRENT

Educational Qualifications

Bachelor of Economics (ANU, 1976)

Bachelor of Laws (ANU, 1979)

Present Position

Director (Chief Executive Officer),ScreenSound Australia, responsible for the National Screen and Sound Archive with a staff of over 200.

Relevant Past Experience

1990-92: Assistant Secretary, Department of the Arts, Sport, the Environment and Territories (DASET) – Film Branch

1988-89: Director, Legal Services, DASET

1986-88: Principal Executive Officer, Bilateral Relations Section, International Relations Branch, Department of Primary Industries and Energy.

Other Current Positions

Deputy Chair, Centre for Australian Cultural Studies

Member, Advisory Board of the ANU Centre for Cross-Cultural Research

Date of release: 16 May 2003