Part 2 - Overview of the Office
Part 2 Overview of the Office - Commonwealth Ombudsman Annual Report 2018–1 Part 2—Overview of the Office
Roles and function
The Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman is a non-corporate Commonwealth entity established under the Ombudsman Act 1976 (the Act). The Commonwealth Ombudsman has the following major functions:
- complaint management
- oversight of Commonwealth agencies
- oversight of prescribed private sector organisations.
- oversight of the Commonwealth Public Interest Disclosure Scheme
- responding to reports of serious abuse within Defence
- OPACT NPM Coordinator and Commonwealth NPM
- Inspections of certain covert and intrusive powers by law enforcement bodies.
The Commonwealth Ombudsman has jurisdiction over all Commonwealth entities and their contracted service providers, subject to some specific statutory exclusions (i.e. the Australian Taxation Office and intelligence agencies). The Office also oversees the activities of a range of private sector organisations, including:
- private health insurers
- postal operators that elect to register with the Postal Industry Ombudsman scheme
- some providers of education services.
The Commonwealth Ombudsman has the following separate titles that describe specific functions and powers:
- Defence Force Ombudsman (DFO)—to investigate actions arising from the service of a member of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The DFO can investigate complaints from current or former members of the ADF about administrative matters relating to Defence agencies. Since 1 December 2016, the DFO's functions were expanded to provide an independent mechanism to report serious abuse in Defence.
- Immigration Ombudsman—to investigate complaints and undertake own motion investigations about the Department of Home Affairs. The Ombudsman inspects immigration detention facilities and has a specific statutory reporting function to report to the Minister about people who have been detained for more than two years.
- Law Enforcement Ombudsman—to investigate the conduct and practices of the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and its members. Under the Australian Federal Police Act 1979 (AFP Act), the Ombudsman is required to review the administration of the AFP's handling of complaints through inspection of AFP records. The results of these reviews must be provided to Parliament on an annual basis.
- Postal Industry Ombudsman (PIO)—to investigate complaints about Australia Post and private postal operators that elect to register with the Postal Industry Ombudsman Scheme.
- Overseas Students Ombudsman (OSO)—to investigate complaints from overseas students about private education providers in Australia. The OSO also gives private registered providers advice and training on best practice for handling complaints from overseas students.
- Private Health Insurance Ombudsman (PHIO)—to protect the interests of private health insurance consumers. This is done in a number of ways, including dispute resolution, identifying systemic issues within the practices of private health funds and providing advice and recommendations to government and industry. The PHIO can deal with complaints from health fund members, health funds, private hospitals or medical practitioners. However, complaints must be about a health insurance arrangement.
- VET Student Loans Ombudsman (VSLO)—to investigate complaints from students studying a diploma, advanced diploma, graduate certificate or graduate diploma course and who have accessed the VET FEE-HELP or the VET Student Loans programs to cover the cost of their studies in full or in part. The VSLO also provides vocational education and training providers with advice and training on best practice complaint-handling.
The Commonwealth Ombudsman is also the ACT Ombudsman. The ACT Ombudsman's role is delivered by the Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman under an agreement between the ACT Government and the Commonwealth Ombudsman. The Ombudsman can deal with most complaints involving the administrative actions of the ACT Government agencies and police. The legislation governing the Ombudsman authorises us to investigate complaints about or issues related to:
- ACT Government agencies
- Reportable Conduct Scheme
- ACT Police
- Freedom of Information
- Public Interest Disclosures
Additional information is available in the ACT Ombudsman Annual Report 2018–19.
Accountable authority
| Period as the accountable authority or member | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Position Title/ Position held | Date of Commencement | Date of cessation |
| Michael Manthorpe PSM | Commonwealth Ombudsman | 8 May 2017 | - |
Organisational structure
The Office is located in Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney.
The Ombudsman and Deputy Ombudsman are statutory officers appointed under the Ombudsman Act 1976. Employees are engaged pursuant to the Public Service Act 1999. The Senior Assistant Ombudsman and Chief Operating Officer are Senior Executive Service Band 1 employees. The Executive and Senior Management structure is provided at Figure 1.
Figure 1—Executive and Senior Management structure at 30 June 2019
Senior Leadership Group
Senior Leadership Group (L to R): Paul Pfitzner, Louise Macleod, Jaala Hinchcliffe, Michael Manthorpe, Dermot Walsh, Fiona Sawyers, Rodney Lee Walsh and Autumn O'Keeffe. Photo taken in May 2019.
Michael Manthorpe–Commonwealth Ombudsman
Michael Manthorpe PSM was appointed by the Australian Government to the role of Commonwealth Ombudsman for a five year term commencing on 8 May 2017. He is the 10th Commonwealth Ombudsman since the Office's inception in 1977.
Prior to his appointment, Michael was a career Australian public servant. He is a generalist, who studied journalism and history at the University of Queensland in the 1980s, and worked for different governments on a variety of public policy and program issues over the years. Most recently, he held Deputy Secretary level positions at the then Department of Immigration and Border Protection, where he was responsible for the global delivery of Australia's visa, citizenship and refugee programs. For 25 years he worked in the Education, Employment and Workplace Relations portfolios. He is fascinated by the way in which large complex administrative systems interact with and serve people, and how this can occur in the best possible way.
He was awarded the Public Service Medal in 2010 for his leadership of the government's handling of the insolvency of ABC Learning childcare centres.
Michael is on the executive of the Australia New Zealand Ombudsman Association (ANZOA), and is a Deputy President and councillor of the ACT Branch of the Institute of Public Administration Australia (IPAA).
Jaala Hinchcliffe–Deputy Ombudsman
Jaala Hinchcliffe was appointed to the position of Deputy Commonwealth Ombudsman on 6 November 2017. Prior to joining the Office, Jaala worked at Parliament House with the Department of Parliamentary Services, where she headed the People and Governance Branch, which was responsible for a range of corporate functions.
Jaala spent a significant portion of her career with the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions where, for 15 years, she worked across a range of legal functions, including as Senior Executive for Law Reform, Policy and Strategic Review and Reform.
Jaala has been engaged in a number of community organisations in the ACT, including as a board member for Palliative Care ACT. She is currently a member of the National Executive for the Australian Institute of Administrative Law. She studied Arts and Law at the Australian National University and was admitted to practice as a Legal Practitioner in the ACT in 2000.
Fiona Sawyers–Senior Assistant Ombudsman, Strategy Branch
Fiona Sawyers joined the Office in July 2017. Prior to joining the Office, Fiona held leadership roles in a variety of Commonwealth agencies and departments, including most recently in Indigenous education at the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.
Fiona has over 20 years' experience in social policy and program management, primarily at the Department of Social Services and its predecessors, where she has worked on welfare and family payments, disability policy and housing support. Fiona's experience spans program management and implementation, research and evaluation and policy development.
Fiona has lived and worked in rural NSW and in Canberra, and studied English literature and politics at the University of New South Wales.
Louise Macleod–Senior Assistant Ombudsman, Program Delivery Branch
Louise joined the Office in July 2016. Her public service career spans over 16 years in various leadership roles, conducting investigations, compliance monitoring and dispute resolution in agencies such as the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, the Energy and Water Ombudsman Victoria, the Queensland Justice and Attorney-General's Dispute Resolution Centres and the Family Court of Australia. Prior to this, Louise spent seven years as an officer in the Australian Army and served on operations in East Timor. Louise is a lawyer and mediator by training.
Paul Pfitzner–Senior Assistant Ombudsman, Complaints Management and Education Branch
Paul Pfitzner joined the Office in September 2016 as part of the expansion of the Defence Force Ombudsman jurisdiction relating to reports of serious abuse within Defence. He established the Office's processes for responding to reports of serious abuse in Defence and has also previously had executive responsibility for the work of the ACT Ombudsman. He has been in his current role since March 2019.
Paul is a lawyer by training and has been in the Commonwealth public service since 2003. Prior to joining the Office, he held senior roles in the Attorney-General's Department in legal policy relating to human rights, legal services, national security and criminal justice.
Autumn O'Keeffe–Senior Assistant Ombudsman, Assurance Branch
Autumn O'Keeffe joined the Office in June 2018 as the Senior Assistant Ombudsman for the Assurance Branch. Autumn is a lawyer by training and commenced her public service career in 2004 at the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission where she worked on a range of issues including petrol price fixing, cartel behaviour and product safety.
Immediately prior to joining the Office Autumn worked at the Attorney-General's Department for 12 years in a wide variety of legal and policy areas including civil law, private international law, royal commissions, criminal justice and family law. In 2017 Autumn was a member of the delegation for Australia's appearances before both the Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and the Human Rights Committee.
Dermot Walsh–Senior Assistant Ombudsman, Industry Branch
Dermot Walsh joined the Office in 2014. He is currently responsible for the Office's industry ombudsman functions, including: private health insurance, postal industry, overseas students and VET student loans.
Before joining the Office, Dermot held leadership roles in both the Commonwealth and ACT Public Service, in a diverse range of organisations including: the ACT Land Development Agency, the ACT Economic Development Directorate, Comcare, the National Gallery of Australia, the Defence Service Homes Insurance Scheme and the Department of Veterans' Affairs.
Dermot has a Bachelor of Commerce, is a Fellow member of CPA Australia and a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Rodney Lee Walsh–Chief Operating Officer, Corporate Branch
Rodney Lee Walsh joined the Office in July 2011. He is currently responsible for the agency's corporate functions and the Public Interest Disclosure Scheme.
Rodney is a lawyer and mediator. He has held a range of SES roles since 2005 including IT applications development, senior executive lawyer (administrative law), organisational strategy, workplace relations and national employment programs.