About us

Our purpose is to:

• provide assurance that the Australian Government entities and prescribed private sector organisations the Commonwealth Ombudsman oversights, act with integrity and treat people fairly
• influence enduring systemic improvement in public administration in Australia and the region.

Our work is supported by the following four key concepts:

• Assurance—we provide  a fair complaint-handling and investigation service and we do not take sides.
• Integrity—we look at how some Government agencies use  their covert or coercive powers.  We manage the Commonwealth Public Interest Disclosure Scheme (whistleblowing).  We look at how the Government handles immigration and detention. We also look at how the private sector manages private health.
• Influence—we build and maintain trusted relationships with Australian Government entities and industry sectors the Commonwealth Ombudsman oversights, the community and international partners. These relationships help us to influence change through investigations of complaints, other investigations and recommendations to government.
• Improvement— we encourage  improvement in public administration.