Not many public institutions survive 30 years with its core functions virtually unchanged. The Commonwealth Ombudsman reached that milestone this month.

Commonwealth Ombudsman, Prof. John McMillan, said ‘It is a privilege to be Ombudsman during the 30th Anniversary of the office. Much has been achieved over the past 30 years, but a lot still needs to be done to ensure the fundamental right of all Australians to good public administration’.

The Commonwealth Ombudsman safeguards the community in its dealings with Australian Government agencies and ensures that the administrative actions of agencies are fair and accountable.

‘The office has made a difference to every single Australian because everyone is affected in some way by government and its actions’, said Prof. McMillan.

Over the past 30 years the Ombudsman has dealt with more than 600,000 complaints and has helped government agencies to 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.

Australians have access to a proven and necessary independent and impartial complaint service through the Commonwealth Ombudsman. The office delivers these services in a fair, ethical and efficient manner, free of charge.

As well as handling individual complaints about government, the Ombudsman investigates problems that may affect the public, including the government administration of freedom of information laws and government agencies’ legislative compliance in the use of intrusive powers such as telecommunications interception and surveillance devices.

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 of a system of government undergoing constant change, the responsibilities of the Commonwealth Ombudsman have expanded over its 30 years to cover areas of specific expertise such as Defence, Immigration, Law Enforcement, Taxation and the Postal Industry.

Prof. McMillan said, ‘In our 30 years we have dealt with nearly every kind of complaint made against government. We will 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.’

As part of the activities to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of his office, the Commonwealth Ombudsman is holding a one-day seminar in Canberra on Thursday 9 August to look at today’s best practice in complaint handling and some of the challenges to improved public administration for tomorrow.

Date of release: 12 July 2007