The Commonwealth Ombudsman, Prof. John McMillan, has tabled his office’s twenty-ninth annual report in Parliament. The report highlights the problems encountered in government decision making and how the Ombudsman helped people navigate the complexities of government administration.

In 2005–06, the Ombudsman:

• received 17,384 approaches and complaints about 104 agencies, and finalised 17,508 matters — the bulk of complaints were about five agencies: Australia Post (1,303), the Australian Taxation Office (1,451), Centrelink (7,095), the Child Support Agency (1,891), and the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (1,250)
• handled 10,843 other approaches that largely consisted of matters out of jurisdiction
• published reports on seven own motion and major investigations—four investigations related to the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs; one to the Australian Defence Force; one to the Australian Taxation Office; and the other investigation to the quality of freedom of information processing by Australian Government agencies
• conducted investigations into more than 60 individual immigration cases referred to the Ombudsman by government, and investigated the cases of children in detention, data issues and mental health issues
• interviewed 167 people held in immigration detention for two years or more, and finalised reports on 70 cases
• inspected the records of the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Crime Commission to ensure compliance with legislative requirements applying to telecommunications interceptions and access, controlled (covert) operations and use of surveillance devices
• conducted 104 outreach activities, which together covered each State and Territory.

Themes taken up in the report included:

Complexity

Many complaints to the Ombudsman, across all areas of government, stemmed from the sheer complexity of legislation and administrative schemes, especially when applied to the different circumstances of thousands of government clients.

Delay

Delay in making a decision or resolving a matter is another common cause of complaint to the Ombudsman; the report urges all agencies to develop policies and procedures to avoid administrative drift.

Unhelpful legalism

The Ombudsman’s office has often had cause to criticise unnecessary or unhelpful legalism by agencies. While lawyers and legal considerations have a role in resolving many disputed issues, there is a growing risk that in the complex legal environment of government, legal approaches will overshadow the important role of administrative discretion and judgment in finding a practical resolution to problems.

Immigration oversight

A new Ombudsman function is to prepare a report on each person held in immigration detention for two years or more, and each subsequent six months if the person remains in detention. In 2005–06, Ombudsman staff interviewed 167 people, and provided reports on 70 cases. The Minister for Immigration had tabled responses to 66 of those reports, which contained 106 different recommendations.

Other immigration oversight functions include investigating over 200 individual cases referred to the Ombudsman by government in which Australian citizens or people lawfully in Australia had been either held in detention for some period or removed from Australia; participating in DIMA’s newly established committees to provide advice on training, detention health, and values and standards; and instigating new own motion projects on matters such as complaint handling, notification of review rights, and compliance operations.

New jurisdiction

The Ombudsman can now investigate complaints about government contractors providing goods and services to the public under a contract with a government agency. This confirms the role the office has long played in dealing with complaints that arise within immigration detention centres and the Job Network. It will be specially important to oversight of the new Welfare to Work program, which incorporates a large role for private sector bodies in activities such as job referral, job capacity assessment and financial case management.

Postal Industry

The Ombudsman has a new role that extends to private postal operators registered with the Postal Industry Ombudsman scheme, as well as Australia Post. It is a new step for the office to develop an Ombudsman scheme covering both public and private sector bodies.

Prof. McMillan said, ‘the diversity of the complaint issues illustrates the challenge that faces government agencies in maintaining a high standard of administrative practice and service delivery’.

Individual complaint handling across all areas of government remains the core function of the office. The issues dealt with this year demonstrate the importance of a vibrant Ombudsman’s office to which people can turn with unresolved problems and grievances about government agencies.

‘While complaints to my office are only a fraction of the decisions and actions taken each year by agencies, they illustrate the difficulties that people face in dealing with government,’ Prof. McMillan said.

‘The changing face of government, as programs and structures evolve to deal with new social challenges, also gives rise to unexpected problems.’

‘Sometimes government agencies are slow to adapt to unanticipated issues, do not communicate effectively with clients, or fail to recognise the administrative burden that government requirements can impose on people.’

The Ombudsman’s annual report is available at www.ombudsman.gov.au.

Date of release: 1 November 2006