Commonwealth Ombudsman Annual Report 2015-16

HIGHLIGHTS

• In 2015–16 we received a total of 37 753 approaches — 34 per cent more than last year.
• 82% complaints were finalised within 90 days (whole of office, including Private Health Insurance Ombudsman).
• During 2015–16 the office convened its first Disability Complaint-Handling Forum to discuss how best to encourage, receive and handle complaints from people with disability.
• In 2015–16 the Immigration Ombudsman made 490 recommendations, compared with 172 the previous year.
• In 2015–16 the Overseas Students Ombudsman started 315 complaint investigations and completed 291, compared to 238 investigations started and 239 completed last year.
• The office of the Private Health Insurance Ombudsman merged successfully with the Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman on 1 July 2015.
• Overall, 85% of people who complained to the Private Health Insurance Ombudsman were satisfied or very satisfied with the handling of their complaints.
• In 2015–16 the Law Enforcement Ombudsman received 286 complaints about the Australian Federal Police, compared to 288 in 2014–15.
• In 2015–16 the Defence Force Ombudsman received 491 complaints about Defence agencies, compared to 545 in 2014–15.
• A total of 612 Public Interest Disclosures were made in 2015–16, with 69 of 175 agencies receiving one or more.
• In 2015–16 the Commonwealth Ombudsman continued its international engagement with
  19 countries across the Pacific and Asia to develop and share best practice in complaint-handling and to strengthen integrity functions.

CONTENTS

• TRANSMITTAL CERTIFICATE
• GUIDE TO THE REPORT
• PART 1—REVIEW BY THE OMBUDSMAN
• PART 2—OVERVIEW OF THE OFFICE
  • Roles and functions
  • Organisational structure
  • Outcome and program structure
  • Purpose of the office
• PART 3—REPORT ON PERFORMANCE
  • Complaints overview
  • Annual Performance Statement
  • Purpose Statement
• PART 4— WHAT WE DO
  • Social Services agencies and programs
  • Postal Industry Ombudsman
  • Immigration Ombudsman
  • Overseas Students Ombudsman
  • Private Health Insurance Ombudsman
  • Inspections of covert, intrusive or coercive powers
  • Law Enforcement Ombudsman
  • Defence Force Ombudsman
  • Public Interest Disclosure scheme
  • International Program
• PART 5—MANAGEMENT AND ACCOUNTABILITY
  • Corporate governance
  • External scrutiny
  • Management of Human Resources
  • Purchasing
  • Consultants
  • Advertising campaigns
  • Exempt contracts
  • Compliance reporting
  • Asset management
• PART 6—APPENDICES
  • Appendix 1—Financial Statements
  • Appendix 2—Statistics
  • Appendix 3—Information Publication Scheme
  • Appendix 4—Entity Resource Statement
  • Appendix 5—Ecologically Sustainable Development and Environmental Performance
• PART 7—REFERENCES
  • Glossary
  • List of figures and tables
  • List of requirements

CREDITS

Date of publication: September 2016

Publisher: Commonwealth Ombudsman, Canberra Australia

© Commonwealth of Australia 2016

ISSN 2206-8619 (Online)

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