FEATURES

Public contact—consistency in approach

We established the Public Contact Team (PCT) in February 2006 to provide a responsive service to telephone complaints to the office. The PCT is located in our Canberra office and handles the majority of telephone contacts the office receives from across Australia.

Close to one third of the calls to the office are outside the Commonwealth Ombudsman's jurisdiction; PCT members advise callers on where to take up those complaints. PCT members advise many other callers on how to make a complaint in the first instance to the agency they are complaining about, and make a preliminary assessment of other calls to gauge if an Ombudsman investigation is warranted. When complaints require more expert analysis or sustained investigation, they refer them to the most appropriate investigation officer in a specialist team or in one of our state or territory offices.

Since its establishment, PCT members have dealt with over 24,000 telephone calls. Many benefits have flowed from centralising the management of approaches to the office through the PCT. Less complex enquiries are handled more efficiently; there is more consistency in responding to calls and in entering data into the office's complaints management system; emerging problem areas in government administration are easier to detect; and investigation officers have more time for specialised investigation.

Recently the PCT began dealing with email enquiries and complaints submitted using our on-line complaint form. Over the coming year, the team will take over the initial handling of all written approaches to the office.

cooperation among Australian and New Zealand Ombudsmen

The Australian and New Zealand Ombudsman Association (ANZOA) provides a forum for ombudsmen from both countries to consult about issues of common interest and to develop joint research projects.

Industry-based ombudsmen in Australia and New Zealand, in the banking, finance, insurance, telecommunications and energy sectors, formed ANZOA. Membership later expanded to include the Commonwealth and some State Ombudsmen. The Commonwealth Ombudsman is a member of the Executive Committee of ANZOA.

During 2005–06, ANZOA members collaborated on a number of projects, including identifying and addressing systemic issues; external review of ombudsman schemes; internal review of complaint handling by ombudsmen; benchmarking of workloads and efficiency measures; statistical significance of scheme data; public awareness campaigns; and the use of the term 'ombudsman'.

Our office participated in a joint ANZOA campaign by eleven ombudsman offices to provide targeted information to young people about ombudsman services. A postcard promoting the fact that everyone has a right to complain was distributed in education venues, galleries and museums, and cafes and restaurants across Australia.

Planning is underway for an ANZOA conference on complaint handling and investigation in late 2007.

ANZOA released a website in 2005, providing information on the association's activities, alternative dispute resolution, and links to members' websites—see www.anzoa.com.au.

International program—Indonesia and Thailand regional cooperation

Ombudsman offices are now established in over 100 countries, having crossed political, cultural and language barriers. There is close international cooperation between those offices to promote good governance principles. In that spirit, the Commonwealth Ombudsman worked closely with the Ombudsmen of Indonesia and Thailand on several activities and visited both offices in 2005–06.

One activity was a 10-day information technology (IT) workshop in Canberra for Indonesian and Thai officers. Our IT staff provided specialist sessions, and a facilitator helped participants to convert the information into a format adapted to the language, culture, enabling legislation and operating systems of their individual offices.

With the NSW Ombudsman's office, we conducted a 10-day 'Train the Trainer' course for Thai Ombudsman staff. By the end of the course, Thai staff had produced documents in the Thai language that were culturally appropriate and consistent with the Thai Ombudsman legislation for their own in-house investigation training.

Thai Ombudsman staff also completed the Commonwealth Ombudsman Advanced Investigation Course, and participated in a number of outreach activities to familiarise themselves with different outreach approaches for community and business groups and politicians.

Activities conducted with the National Ombudsman Commission of Indonesia focused on decentralising complaint services in Indonesia to promote community awareness of the ombudsman role. During 2005–06, in collaboration with the Western Australian and New South Wales State Ombudsmen, we planned a multi-year program to further support decentralised ombudsman services and to strengthen core ombudsman functions in Jakarta.

International program—Pacific islands regional strengthening

The Commonwealth Ombudsman's office is part of a global network of bodies with the similar objective of promoting principles of administrative justice and good governance. Our office is well placed to provide practical assistance and peer support to Ombudsman offices in neighbouring countries to achieve this objective.

With funding assistance from AusAID, we conducted a needs assessment in 2004–05 for the ombudsmen of Fiji, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and the Cook Islands, and the Public Commissioner of the Royal Kingdom of Tonga. The assessment identified areas of common need where we could work with these offices to:

• reduce the sense of isolation of Pacific island offices and foster regional group cohesion
• improve staff skills and knowledge in core ombudsman functions in those offices
• provide access to legal resources
• share management, strategic planning, business planning and budget experience
• improve basic information technology skills.

This year, we addressed some of those needs by supporting the development of a Pacific island ombudsman network, which includes Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Vanuatu and the Cook Islands. The network provided these countries with access to legal advice, assisted in strategic planning in individual offices, shared experienced investigation officers from Australia to work in various offices, and had our most senior officers brief ombudsmen and their staff about management and strategic planning processes. The network has increased morale and skills within the various ombudsman offices.

Reaching rural and regional Australia

Outreach activities in 2005–06 focused on increasing awareness of the Ombudsman's role in communities in rural and regional Australia.

We conducted 104 outreach activities across all states and territories. Places visited included: Albury, Bourke, Brewarrina, Cobar, Dubbo, Lightning Ridge, Nyngan, Wagga Wagga and Walgett (in News South Wales); Bundaberg, Caboolture, Caloundra, Goodna, Gympie, Inala, Ipswich, Maroochydore, Pine Rivers, Redland Bay and Rockhampton (in Queensland); Berri, Mt Gambier and Port Augusta (In South Australia); Ararat, Ballarat, Echuca, Horsham, Kerang, Moe, Sale, Traralgon, Warragul (in Victoria); and Albany, Bunbury, Esperance, and the Kimberley and Pilbara regions (in Western Australia).

Community leaders and community assistance groups and parliamentarians were key targets of the outreach visits.

We commissioned a market research company to conduct a public awareness benchmark survey. The survey explored the level of knowledge of the role of the Ombudsman's office among individuals and community leaders in rural and regional Australia.

The survey confirmed that people know they have a right to complain. When asked what they could do if they had an unresolved complaint with a government agency, close to 60% of respondents from rural and regional Australia said they could complain to their local member of parliament or the Ombudsman. Nearly three-quarters of respondents recognised the Commonwealth Ombudsman as a complaint resolution agency when prompted (a lower number when unprompted). Community leaders demonstrated both an awareness and understanding of the role of the Commonwealth Ombudsman.

Ombudsman staff also made presentations at a wide variety of functions. There was a particular emphasis this year on establishing relationships with multicultural organisations, particularly those representing asylum claimants and refugees, in the light of the Ombudsman's new role as Immigration Ombudsman.

Research project—whistling while they work

All Australian parliaments have enacted legislation to provide protection for whistleblowers and internal witnesses to corruption, misconduct and maladministration. The legislation has different titles—Whistleblowers Protection Act (in Queensland, South Australia and Victoria), Protected Disclosures Act (New South Wales), and Public Interest Disclosure Act (Australian Capital Territory, Tasmania and Western Australia). The Commonwealth Public Service Act 1999 (s 16) also contains a provision on 'protection for whistleblowers'.

The Commonwealth Ombudsman's office is collaborating in a three-year, national research project into the management and protection of internal witnesses and whistleblowers in the Australian public sector. The project—Whistling while they work: internal witness management in the Australian public sector—is being led by Griffith University and is jointly funded by the Australian Research Council, six participating universities and fourteen industry partners, including the Commonwealth Ombudsman.

The project aims to identify best-practice strategies for preventing, reducing and addressing reprisals and other whistleblowing-related conflicts in the workplace, by drawing from the experiences and perceptions of internal witnesses and managers.

Representatives of the Commonwealth Ombudsman are on the project steering committee and research team. In 2005–06, the Ombudsman and the Merit Protection Commissioner sent a joint letter to the heads of approximately 140 Australian Government agencies inviting participation in the project's first survey into agency practices and procedures. A survey of agency employees was commenced, involving 30 selected government agencies and approximately 6,000 employees. The project is expected to generate several major reports and papers, with the first to be finalised in 2007.

For more information visit http://www.griffith.edu.au/centre/slrc/whistleblowing