OFFICE OF THE COMMONWEALTH OMBUDSMAN
Level 5, Childers Square, 14 Childers Street, Canberra, ACT 2600 ombudsman.gov.au h u m a n . re s o u rc e s @ ombudsman.gov .au
What is the main focus of the organisation?
What kind of work do employees at the Office The purpose of the Office of the Commonwealth do? Ombudsman (the Office) is to: The Office ensures administrative action by • provide assurance that Australian Government Australian Government agencies is fair and entities and prescribed private sector accountable by handling complaints, conducting organisations that the Office oversees act with investigations, performing audits and inspections, encouraging good administration and undertaking integrity and treat people fairly; and other specialist functions. The Office influences • influence systemic improvement in public improvement in public administration in the region administration in Australia by promoting best through collaboration with partner agencies. practice in complaint handling and acting as an The Commonwealth Ombudsman performs the industry leader. following specialist roles: What is an interesting piece of work that the Office has recently engaged in?
• Defence Force Ombudsman; • Postal Industry Ombudsman;
In January 2022, the Office released the report The • Overseas Students Ombudsman; Department of Veterans’ Affairs’ communication • Private Health Insurance Ombudsman; with veterans making claims for compensation. • Immigration Ombudsman; The investigation examined the appropriateness of the Department of Veterans’ Affairs’ (DVA) • Law Enforcement Ombudsman; and administrative framework to support its • VET Students Loans Ombudsman. communication with veterans making claims for • The Commonwealth Ombudsman is also the compensation for injuries or conditions related ACT Ombudsman. to their service, including DVA’s approach to communicating with and assisting at-risk veterans. Staff are exposed to a wide range of legislation, policy, and procedures from a range of different While this investigation did not identify any agencies, including those with responsibilities for significant concerns about DVA’s policy and policy development and those charged with service procedural framework for managing communication delivery. with veterans during the claim process, eight opportunities for improvement were recommended. For more information about what we do, visit All eight recommendations were accepted by DVA. ombudsman.gov.au/what-we-do. The full report can be found on our website.
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