The Law Handbook 2024

1082 NOTE The law in this chapter is current as at 1 September 2023. Commonwealth Ombudsman Functions and roles The Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman ( Commonwealth Ombudsman ) is a non- corporate government entity which was established by the Ombudsman Act 1976 (Cth) (‘ OA (Cth) ’) and began operation in July 1977. The Commonwealth Ombudsman is appointed for a five-year renewable term by the Governor-General and can only be removed from office following a vote of both Houses of Parliament. The purpose of the Commonwealth Ombudsman is to: • provide assurance that the Australian Government and prescribed private sector entities that the Commonwealth Ombudsman oversees act with integrity and treat people fairly; and • influence enduring systemic improvement in public administration in Australia. The Commonwealth Ombudsman delivers on its purpose through complaint handling, conducting investigations, performing visits and inspections, encouraging good public administration practices, and administering specialist redress schemes. The CommonwealthOmbudsman has jurisdiction over all government entities and their contracted service providers, subject to some specific statutory exclusions, such as the Australian Taxation Office and intelligence agencies. Oversight includes considering complaints about the administrative actions of the agencies the Commonwealth Ombudsman oversees, in addition to a range of private sector organisations, including: • private health insurers; • postal operators that elect to register with the Postal Industry Ombudsman ( PIO ) Scheme; and • some providers of education services. The Commonwealth Ombudsman is independent and impartial, and does not charge complainants for their services. It is free. Under the OA (Cth), the Commonwealth Ombudsman is also the: • Defence Force Ombudsman; • Immigration Ombudsman; • Law Enforcement Ombudsman; • Overseas Students Ombudsman; • Postal Industry Ombudsman; • Private Health Insurance Ombudsman; and • Vocational Education and Training ( VET ) Student Loans Ombudsman. All references in this section to ‘the Ombudsman’ are to the Commonwealth Ombudsman, in their various roles, unless stated otherwise. The Victorian Ombudsman is discussed in a later section, below. Defence Force Ombudsman The Defence Force Ombudsman ( DFO ) is a complaint-handlingmechanism, and servingmembers, former members and spouses or dependents of members can make a complaint. The role of the DFO is to investigate actions arising from the service of amember of theAustralian Defence Force ( ADF ). The DFO can investigate complaints from current or former members of the ADF about administrative matters relating to ADF agencies. Since December 2016, the DFO functions include the provision of an independent mechanism to report serious abuse in Defence. As the DFO, the Commonwealth Ombudsman receives and investigates complaints about administrative action taken by Defence agencies, 12.1 Taking a problem to an ombudsman Contributors: Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman and Deborah Glass, Victorian Ombudsman