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PART 2—OVERVIEW OF THE OFFICE
PART 2—OVERVIEW OF THE OFFICE
Roles and functions
The Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman
(the office) is a non-corporate Commonwealth
entity established under the Ombudsman
Act 1976 (the Act). The Act came into effect
on 1 July 1977 and is administered by the
Prime Minister.
The office seeks to ensure that administrative
action by Australian Government agencies is
fair and accountable. It does this by handling
complaints, conducting investigations,
performing audits and inspections, encouraging
good administration, and discharging other
specialist oversight tasks. The office also
influences improvement in public administration
in neighbouring countries through collaboration
with partner agencies.
The Commonwealth Ombudsman is also the:
• Defence Force Ombudsman
• Postal Industry Ombudsman
• Overseas Students Ombudsman
• Private Health Insurance Ombudsman
• Immigration Ombudsman
• Law Enforcement Ombudsman
• Norfolk Island Ombudsman
• ACT Ombudsman.
The office has the following major
statutory functions:
1. Complaint investigations: conducting
investigations into the administrative
actions of Australian Government
officials, agencies and their service
providers upon receipt of complaints
from individuals, groups or organisations.
This includes investigating the actions of
registered private providers of training
for overseas students, registered private
postal operators and private health
insurance providers.
2. Own-motion investigations: on the
Ombudsman’s own initiative,
conducting investigations into the
administrative actions of Australian
Government agencies, registered
private providers of training for
overseas students, registered private
postal operators and private health
insurance brokers. These investigations
often arise from insights gained through
individual complaints and our other
oversight responsibilities.
3. Compliance audits: inspecting the
records of agencies such as the
Australian Federal Police (AFP) and
Australian Crime Commission (ACC)
to ensure they comply with legislative
requirements applying to selected law
enforcement and regulatory agencies.
The Telecommunications (Interception
and Access) Amendment (Data Retention)
Act 2015 created new oversight
responsibilities for the office.
These involve mandatory compliance
audits of relevant entities’ use of
covert and intrusive powers.
4. Immigration detention oversight:
under s 486O of the Migration Act
1958, reporting to the Immigration
Minister on the detention arrangements
for people in immigration detention
for two years or more (and on a sixmonthly
basis thereafter). Our reports,
as well as the Minister’s responses,
are tabled in the Parliament. In addition,
as Immigration Ombudsman, the office
also oversees immigration detention
facilities through a program of regular
announced and unannounced visits to
detention centres.
5. The Commonwealth Public Interest
Disclosure scheme: the Public Interest
Disclosure Act 2013 established a
Commonwealth Government scheme
to encourage public officials to
report suspected wrongdoing in the
Australian public sector. The office is
16 | COMMONWEALTH OMBUDSMAN ANNUAL REPORT | 2015–16