At a glance
| Item | Finding |
|---|---|
| Body | Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman |
| Type | Not a regulator. A complaint-handling and oversight body that can investigate and recommend but cannot order anything |
| Enabling law | Ombudsman Act 1976 (Cth), compilation of 4 June 2026 |
| Report under review | Annual Report 2024-25 (the 2025-26 report had not been published at 11 October 2026) |
| Record examined | 24 annual reports, 2001-02 to 2024-25, plus the external record |
| Money and staff, 2024-25 | Total expenses $51.809m; average staffing level 291 (AR 2024-25 p 112) |
| Proposed overall grade | D |
| Short reason | Its systemic investigations are strong and have changed things. Its service to individual complainants, which the Office itself calls its core business, has missed the Office's own targets in each of the last five reported years, and the Office no longer publishes most of the figures that would show what complainants actually get |
The grade is proposed, not final. The grading criteria for Regulator Review have not been settled; section 9 sets out the criteria used here so they can be accepted or changed.
1. What the body is for
1.1 What the Act says
The Ombudsman Act 1976 has no objects clause for the Ombudsman's main jurisdiction. The only objects clause in the Act is s 20, which is confined to the Private Health Insurance Ombudsman. Purpose has to be taken from the functions.
Section 4(2) says the functions of the Commonwealth Ombudsman are "to investigate complaints made to him or her under this Act" and to perform other functions conferred by law.
Section 5(1) says that, subject to the Act, the Ombudsman:
- "shall investigate action, being action that relates to a matter of administration" taken by a Department or prescribed authority "and in respect of which a complaint has been made to the Ombudsman" (s 5(1)(a)); and
- "may, of his or her own motion, investigate any action" of that kind (s 5(1)(b)).
"Matter of administration" is not defined in the Act.
The duty to investigate is qualified by a wide discretion. Under s 6(1) the Ombudsman may decide not to investigate, or to stop investigating, if the complainant knew of the action more than 12 months earlier, if the complaint is "frivolous or vexatious or was not made in good faith", if the complainant lacks sufficient interest, or if "an investigation, or further investigation, of the action is not warranted having regard to all the circumstances" (s 6(1)(b)(iii)). The Act gives no criteria for that last ground. The Ombudsman may also decline until the person has complained to the agency (s 6(1A)).
1.2 What it can do
- It can require documents and answers (s 9), examine witnesses on oath (s 13) and enter premises (s 14). Since 15 February 2025 it can also access agency records remotely (s 14A), and agency heads and officers must use their "best endeavours to assist" (s 32). No penalty attaches to s 32.
- After an investigation it can form an opinion that action "appears to have been contrary to law", "was unreasonable, unjust, oppressive or improperly discriminatory", "was based either wholly or partly on a mistake of law or of fact", or "was otherwise, in all the circumstances, wrong" (s 15(1)), report to the agency and make "any recommendations he or she thinks fit" (s 15(3)).
- If adequate action is not taken it "may inform the Prime Minister" (s 16) and may then report to Parliament (s 17).
- It cannot make binding orders. The Office says so itself: "We can't override decisions or compel agencies, organisations or providers to comply with our recommendations" (ombudsman.gov.au, Frequently asked questions, read 11 October 2026).
1.3 Who holds it to account
On the text of the Act:
- The Ombudsman is appointed by the Governor-General for up to seven years and may be re-appointed (ss 21, 22). The Act sets no selection criteria and gives Parliament no role in appointment.
- The Act establishes no parliamentary committee to oversee the Office and contains no clause requiring the Act or the Office to be reviewed.
- The Act gives a complainant no right of review or appeal against a decision not to investigate. The only thing owed is to be told the decision and the reasons (s 12(1)).
- The Act prescribes no content for the annual report on the main jurisdiction. By contrast the Postal Industry, Private Health Insurance and National Student Ombudsman parts of the same Act list what must be reported (ss 19X, 20ZG, 21AX).
These are features of the statute, not choices made by the Office. They matter because they mean that almost everything the public can know about how the Office uses its discretion comes from what the Office chooses to publish.
1.4 What the Office says it is for
The Office describes its outcome as "fair and accountable administrative action" and says it provides assurance that the bodies it oversees "act reasonably and treat people fairly" (ombudsman.gov.au, About, read 11 October 2026).
Its Service Charter of April 2025 sets these aims: 50% of complaints resolved within 30 working days, 75% within 90 working days, 85% within 6 months, 99% within 12 months, and an average telephone answer time of 10 minutes or less.
It also tells the public: "we do not investigate every complaint we receive" and "We will not, and in some cases cannot, accept your complaint if you have not made a complaint to the agency first" (ombudsman.gov.au, How to make a complaint, read 11 October 2026).
1.5 The job has grown
The Commonwealth Ombudsman is now also the Defence Force, Postal Industry, Overseas Students, Private Health Insurance, VET Student Loans and National Student Ombudsman, the ACT Ombudsman, the inspector of covert and intrusive powers used by law enforcement agencies, the overseer of the public interest disclosure scheme, and the National Preventive Mechanism for Commonwealth places of detention (AR 2024-25 pp 7, 20-23, 66). The Office's Corporate Plan 2025-26 counts "20 separate functions".
In 2024-25 complaints about Commonwealth agencies were 10,510 of 22,720 complaints received, or 46% (calc: 10,510 / 22,720) (AR 2024-25 pp 106-107). More than half of the complaint workload is now industry and student schemes.
2. The test
The core test is the gap between what the body is meant to do and what the record shows it does. For this body the test has three parts:
- Individuals: when a person complains about a Commonwealth agency, does the Office deal with the complaint promptly, and does it look into it?
- Systems: does the Office find and fix problems that affect many people?
- Candour: does the Office publish enough for the public to judge parts 1 and 2?
3. Individuals: the complaint service
3.1 The Office's own targets
| Year | Measure | Target | Result | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019-20 | Complaints finalised within service standards | 75% (table) / 80% (text) | 88% | AR 2019-20 pp 15, 17 |
| 2020-21 | Complaints finalised within service standards | 90% | 72% | AR 2020-21 p 25 |
| 2021-22 | Service standards met | 90% | 46% | AR 2021-22 p 29 |
| 2022-23 | Service standards met | 90% | 24% | AR 2022-23 p 31 |
| 2023-24 | Complaint handling standards met (new composite of 15) | 80% | 67% | AR 2023-24 p 30 |
| 2024-25 | Complaint handling standards met (composite of 14) | 80% | 50% | AR 2024-25 pp 31-32 |
The target has been missed in each of the five most recent reported years. The 2022-23 report later restated the 2020-21 and 2021-22 results as 78% and 47% because of a change in rounding method (AR 2022-23 p 33). The measure changed in 2023-24, so the last two rows are not directly comparable with the earlier ones.
In 2024-25 the Office met 7 of its 14 complaint handling standards, and only 1 of its 5 timeliness standards for complaints, enquiries and out-of-jurisdiction contacts (AR 2024-25 pp 32-33, 140-141):
| Standard | Target | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Complaints finalised in 30 working days | 50% | 44% |
| Complaints finalised within 90 working days | 75% | 78% |
| Complaints finalised in 6 months | 85% | 82% |
| Complaints finalised in 12 months | 99% | 95% |
| Enquiries and out of jurisdiction contacts finalised within 10 working days | 95% | 90% |
| Telephone: average speed of answer | 10 minutes | 14 minutes 9 seconds |
The Office's explanation is that the slip "is due in part to our prioritisation on resolving aged cases, particularly in the first quarter of 2024-25" (AR 2024-25 p 33). The Ombudsman wrote: "I acknowledge that this year again our performance results reflect that we have not met our complaint handling standards, particularly our timeliness in resolving complaints" (AR 2024-25 p 16).
For 2021-22 the Office pointed to COVID-19 lockdowns, a "limited-service complaint handling model" and reduced telephone hours (AR 2021-22 pp 13, 31-32). For 2022-23 it pointed to a backlog built up during the pandemic and to resources diverted to other roles: it "had to divert resources from our core complaint-handling function because we had to also resource some of our other roles that were un- or under-funded" (AR 2022-23 pp 34-35).
3.2 What complainants say
| Year | Complainants satisfied | Target | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019-20 | 66% | benchmark year | AR 2019-20 pp 14, 16 |
| 2021-22 | 61% | 65% | AR 2021-22 p 29 |
| 2022-23 | 38% | 65% | AR 2022-23 p 31 |
| 2023-24 | 46% | 65% | AR 2023-24 p 30 |
| 2024-25 | 36% | 65% | AR 2024-25 pp 32, 34 |
The Office reports that in 2024-25 "the main reasons given for dissatisfaction were about the issue was not resolved, a lack of communication, cases not being investigated, and the time taken to action" (AR 2024-25 p 34). Sample sizes are not published for 2024-25.
The agencies the Office oversees are much happier with it than complainants are: 83% of surveyed entities were satisfied with its impartiality in 2024-25 against a target of 65% (AR 2024-25 p 37).
3.3 The backlog
The annual reports do not publish the number of open or aged complaints. The figures below come from the Office's answers at Senate estimates.
At a hearing on 26 May 2026 the Ombudsman said: "We've got 7,441 complaints open at the moment, of which 574 are over 12 months old." The written answer added that at 30 April 2026 "the oldest complaint on hand is three years and two months old. It is a complaint under formal investigation", that the mean age of open complaints was 143 days, and that the National Disability Insurance Agency accounted for 113 of the 576 complaints older than 12 months (Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee, Budget Estimates 2026-27, answer to question on notice BE26-101).
3.4 How many complaints are investigated
Investigating complaints is the function the Act puts first, and the number investigated has fallen steeply.
| Year | Investigated | Base | Share | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001-02 | 6,496 issues | 21,236 Ombudsman Act issues finalised | 30.6% (calc) | AR 2001-02 p 174 |
| 2008-09 | 5,233 complaints | complaints finalised | 27% (published) | AR 2008-09 p 15 |
| 2010-11 | 4,468 complaints | complaints finalised | 22.4% (published) | AR 2010-11 p 24 |
| 2012-13 | 3,185 complaints | 18,385 in-jurisdiction finalised (calc: 26,739 finalised less 8,354 out of jurisdiction) | 17.3% (calc) | AR 2012-13 pp 11, 130 |
| 2014-15 | not stated; report says 89% finalised without investigation | in-jurisdiction finalised | about 11% | AR 2014-15 p 11 |
| 2016-17 | not stated; report says 89 per cent finalised without investigation | in-jurisdiction finalised | about 11% | AR 2016-17 p 26 |
| 2018-19 | 1,116 complaints | 18,748 parliamentary complaints finalised (includes 445 ACT Ombudsman complaints) | 6.0% (calc) | AR 2018-19 pp 53, 139 |
| 2019-20 to 2021-22 | not published | |||
| 2022-23 | 447 complaints | 12,137 Commonwealth complaints finalised | 3.7% (calc) | AR 2023-24 p 42 (not in AR 2022-23) |
| 2023-24 | 182 complaints | 10,289 Commonwealth complaints finalised | 1.8% (calc) | AR 2023-24 pp 42, 94 |
| 2024-25 | 185 complaints | 10,832 Commonwealth complaints finalised | 1.7% (calc) | AR 2024-25 pp 47, 106 |
Cautions on this table:
- It is not one continuous series, and the rows are not like for like. The Office reported on "issues" up to 2005-06 and on complaints from 2006-07. From 2005-06 to 2017-18 "investigated" meant categories 3 to 5 of a five-category scheme. The 2018-19 figure excludes 533 complaints handled by "a simple enquiry with the agency" (AR 2018-19 p 52). From 2023-24 the count is of formal investigations only, which the reports describe as investigations in which the Office uses its powers to obtain information from the agency (AR 2023-24 p 41; AR 2024-25 p 45). Preliminary inquiries under s 7A are not counted and their number is not published.
- Some industry scheme complaints (postal and overseas students) are inside the totals for 2012-13 and 2014-15. Private health insurance complaints were added in 2015-16, so 2015-16 to 2017-18 are omitted or given only in the Office's own words.
- Later reports restate some figures slightly. The 2024-25 report gives 2023-24 as 181 of 10,287 (AR 2024-25 p 47).
- The direction of the change is clear from the Office's own figures: 6,496 investigated issues in 2001-02, 1,116 investigated complaints in 2018-19, 185 formally investigated complaints in 2024-25. Because the basis of counting narrowed, the size of the fall cannot be stated exactly.
The Office has given reasons along the way. In 2013-14 it said a 27% fall in investigations "corresponds with our revised complaint management practices and a focus on systemic issues" (AR 2013-14 p 7). In 2018-19 the Ombudsman wrote that "the sheer volume of complaints means that we cannot investigate all of them" and that "Many times, the best assistance we can realistically provide is to refer complainants back to the agency" (AR 2018-19 p 13). Since then complaints about Commonwealth agencies have fallen from 18,161 (AR 2018-19 p 138) to 10,510 (AR 2024-25 p 106), while the number investigated fell from 1,116 to 185 formal investigations.
An innocent explanation is available and should be stated. Investigation is not the only way to help. A complaint can be resolved by a phone call to the agency, by a transfer with the person's consent, or by a better explanation. The Office's July 2026 statement on managing complaints lists six approaches: assess, refer, inquire, resolve, investigate, conciliate. If most complainants were getting a result by those quicker routes, a low investigation rate would not matter. The difficulty is that the Office does not publish how many complaints were resolved in each of those ways or what the outcomes were, so the public cannot tell.
3.5 What investigation produces
For the 185 complaints formally investigated in 2024-25, the Office publishes only the top five outcomes: better explanation by the Ombudsman 79 (32%), no remedy 70 (28%), change to policy, practice or law 19 (8%), agency apology 18 (7%), better explanation by the agency 14 (6%) (AR 2024-25 p 47). A complaint can have more than one outcome.
Earlier reports said much more. In 2001-02 the Office reported that "an agency defect was identified in 29% of cases" investigated (AR 2001-02 p 16). The published rate then fell to 14% in 2004-05 and 1% in 2005-06, when the Office introduced a rule that deficiency be recorded "only after a rigorous internal process, involving sign-off at the Senior Assistant Ombudsman level or above" (AR 2005-06 pp 23-24). The Office later said such a policy "can lead in the early days to fewer findings of administrative deficiency being recorded than is probably warranted" (AR 2006-07 p 43). The rate recovered to 10% in 2008-09 (AR 2008-09 p 15), fell to 3% in 2011-12 (AR 2011-12 p 41) and has not been published since.
The count of remedies obtained for complainants was last published for 2017-18: 3,953 across all jurisdictions, of which 2,502 were for complaints about Commonwealth agencies (AR 2017-18 pp 116-118).
3.6 Review of the Office's own decisions
The Office offers an internal reconsideration and then one discretionary review. Its website says: "Being unhappy with a decision or saying it is not fair is not grounds for a review" (ombudsman.gov.au, Request a review of your complaint outcome, read 11 October 2026). It describes no external avenue.
Review statistics were last published for 2018-19, when 146 requests were received (AR 2018-19 p 54). In 2017-18, of 155 requests, the Office "declined 48 requests, affirmed the original investigation decision in 76 reviews, decided to investigate, or further investigate, 16 reviews and to change the original decision in three" (AR 2017-18 p 17).
3.7 The ANAO audit
The Australian National Audit Office audited the Office's complaint handling for the period 30 June 2018 to 1 July 2021 and concluded: "The Office is largely effective in managing complaints directed to it" (Auditor-General Report No. 41 2021-22, Management of Complaints by the Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman, published 23 June 2022, para 8). It made one recommendation, which the Office accepted. The audit also found that communication of outcomes and prioritisation of cases "was not always in-line" with the complaint handling standard and better practice guide (para 12).
This is the most favourable independent assessment found and it should be given weight. No other ANAO performance audit of the Office's complaint handling was found. Two limits apply. The audit period ended before the service-standard results of 46% (2021-22), 24% (2022-23) and 50% (2024-25). And the audit did not examine the share of complaints finalised without investigation.
4. Systems: investigations that affect many people
This is where the Office is strongest.
- It finalised four own motion investigations in each of 2023-24 and 2024-25 (AR 2023-24 p 43; AR 2024-25 p 49).
- In 2024-25 it made 136 formal recommendations across its jurisdictions, of which 124 were accepted in full or in part, a rate of 91% against a target of 75% (AR 2024-25 p 38).
- Income apportionment. In a statement published on 2 August 2023 the Office reported its finding that Services Australia had been unlawfully apportioning income across Centrelink instalment periods since at least 2003, and in December 2023 it reported on the agencies' slow response (Lessons in Lawfulness, public statement of 2 August 2023; Accountability in Action, December 2023). The agencies accepted 11 of the recommendations and one in part (AR 2023-24 p 44). The Office used its compulsory s 9 power in the first investigation.
- Targeted Compliance Framework. In August 2025 the Office published its first report on the cancellation of income support payments under the framework: "we found that the actions of DEWR and Services Australia were not lawful, and we made 7 recommendations" (AR 2024-25 p 17).
- Child support. In June 2025 it published Weaponising Child Support, with eight recommendations; Services Australia accepted all eight and the Department of Social Services accepted seven and noted one (AR 2024-25 p 51).
- Complaint-initiated findings still occur. In March 2025 the Office reported that Services Australia's actions in a child support matter were "unreasonable, unjust and oppressive, and otherwise wrong in all the circumstances" (AR 2024-25 p 46).
These reports name unlawful conduct in plain words. That is a clear change from the Office's conduct during Robodebt, described next.
5. The Robodebt failure
The Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme reported on 7 July 2023. Chapter 21 concerns the Commonwealth Ombudsman. Its findings include:
- The departments withheld documents and deceived the Office. The Department of Human Services and the Department of Social Services "provided incomplete responses to the Ombudsman's various s 8 notices and withheld key documents" (ch 21, s 2.2). "It was not only in respect of legal advice that the Ombudsman was deceived" (s 2.4).
- The Office did not use its compulsory powers. "No requests for information were issued pursuant to s 9" (s 2.2). The Commission found the responses "warranted the use of the s 9 powers in the Ombudsman Act" (s 2.5).
- The Office gave the department a draft outline and then Word drafts of its 2017 report for tracked changes. A departmental officer wrote that "the department has been given a great opportunity to effectively co-write the report with the Ombudsman's Office" (s 2.7). The Commission found this created "a reasonable perception" that the investigation allowed the department "to influence the content of the resulting Investigation Report in order to further DHS's own interests, thus compromising the independence of the investigation" (s 2.7).
- The Office's own staff doubted the scheme was lawful. Draft text on legality was removed and the published report said nothing on the question (ss 3.1, 3.4). The Office did not seek external legal advice or refer the question to the tribunal, although its staff had recommended a referral (ss 3.2, 3.3).
- The result: "the 2017 own motion investigation did more harm than good." The report "gave the Scheme a veneer of legitimacy which enabled it to continue" (s 3.6).
- In 2019 a "comment on legality" was removed from the Office's follow-up report at the request of the department's Secretary. The Commission called remaining silent "a very poor choice indeed" (s 3.9).
- Overall: "the Ombudsman's Office was not able to fulfil its role in exposing maladministration over the almost three years it investigated Robodebt complaints; it took litigation to do that" (s 3.9). "successive holders of the Ombudsman's Office were hesitant to use the investigative and reporting powers the Ombudsman Act conferred when the circumstances clearly warranted it" (s 4).
The Commission also recorded pressures on the Office: it "was operating under great pressure to rapidly produce results", and the 2017 report "identified a number of practical measures" that improved people's dealings with the system (s 3.6).
The current Ombudsman accepted the findings in the 2022-23 annual report: "The Royal Commission found there were things we could have done differently that might have helped bring the Robodebt Scheme to an end. I accept and agree with these findings" (AR 2022-23 p 16).
What has changed since:
- The Government accepted the five recommendations in chapter 21 (one in principle). New powers and the duty to assist commenced on 15 February 2025 under the Oversight Legislation Amendment (Robodebt Royal Commission Response and Other Measures) Act 2025.
- The Office says it has "used section 9, and equivalent powers" in investigations since August 2022 (answer to question on notice AE26-044, Additional Estimates 2025-26). The answers read do not say how often.
- Its investigations since 2023 have made findings of unlawfulness (section 4 above).
What was not found: a media release or public statement by the Office responding to the Commission's findings against the Office itself. The Office's release of 9 March 2023 concerns its evidence and the departments' conduct. The acceptance quoted above appears in the annual report. The Office's media listing for 2022 and 2023 could not be read in full, so this is a search result, not proof of absence.
6. Candour: what the Office publishes
6.1 What stopped being published
| Item | Last published | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Share of investigated complaints in which agency error or deficiency was found | 2011-12 (3%) | AR 2011-12 p 41 |
| Office-wide complainant satisfaction survey | No results printed in the 2010-11 to 2018-19 reports (the 2009-10 report printed results of the 2007-08 survey); 2012-13 records the "cancellation of client surveys" | AR 2009-10 p 25; AR 2012-13 p 33 |
| Complaints open at year end | 2014-15 | AR 2014-15 p 11 |
| Complaints finalised by category, and remedies by type | 2017-18 | AR 2017-18 pp 116-118 |
| Requests for review of the Office's decisions and outcomes | 2018-19 | AR 2018-19 p 54 |
| Number of complaints investigated | Absent from the 2019-20, 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23 reports; restored in 2023-24 | AR 2023-24 p 42 |
| The service standards behind the headline result | Absent 2019-20 to 2022-23; restored in 2023-24 | AR 2023-24 p 128 |
The 2022-23 report, covering the year in which the service-standard result was 24%, has no chapter on the handling of complaints about Commonwealth agencies.
The Office deserves credit for restoring the investigated count and the standards in 2023-24, and for reporting failed targets in direct language.
6.2 What the Office cannot say about itself
Two estimates answers bear on this.
Asked how often the Ombudsman had formed an opinion under s 15 that a law was unreasonable or unjust and reported that it should be altered, the Office answered that a detailed answer "would take a significant amount of manual work and be an unreasonable diversion of the Office's limited resources". It said the current Ombudsman had done so "on one occasion in his term" (answer to question on notice SBE25-338, Supplementary Budget Estimates 2025-26).
Asked later about its record-keeping, the Office said of its case management and records systems: "Neither system captures information in a way that supports automated reporting on the number of opinions formed under s.15(1) and reports made under s.15(2)". It said it "has not identified any internal audits conducted regarding the use of s.15 powers from records dating back to 2015-16" (AE26-054, Additional Estimates 2025-26). In the same answer the Office said it "does not consider that its record keeping systems are inadequate for statutory reporting" and "disagrees with the characterisation of its use of section 15 powers as extremely rare".
A further answer states: "The Ombudsman does not publish statistics about the number of recommendations made pursuant to section 15 of the Ombudsman Act although as part of its annual reporting the Office reports on the number of its formal recommendations (which includes s.15 recommendations) which have been accepted" (BE26-154). The same answer says s 15 reports are generally published.
On escalation, the 24 annual reports record one report to the Prime Minister under s 16: "In late 2004 the Ombudsman made a formal report to the Prime Minister under s 16 of the Ombudsman Act, recommending that the advance payment scheme be extended" (AR 2004-05 p 59). The next report records that a legislative change followed (AR 2005-06 p 108). A keyword search found no later s 16 report, and no special report to Parliament under s 17 in any of the 24 years. Of s 17 the 2006-07 report says: "Only two such parliamentary reports have been made, in 1985 and 1986" (AR 2006-07 p 124). The 2009-10 report says "reports to the Prime Minister or the Parliament are rare" (AR 2009-10 p 137).
6.3 Errors and inconsistencies in the reports
- The 2023-24 report gave 93% as the share of formal recommendations accepted. The next report corrected this: "The correct result was 84%" (AR 2024-25 p 163).
- The 2023-24 highlights page gives 33,739 as complaints and enquiries received. That is the finalised total; the received total in the appendix is 33,621 (AR 2023-24 pp 10, 95).
- The 2024-25 report says approximately 43% of National Student Ombudsman complaints "have now been resolved" (p 15). Its appendix, at 30 June 2025, shows 482 of 1,471 finalised, which is 32.8% (calc) (p 107). The report does not give the date of the 43% figure, so the two may be measured at different times.
- The 2024-25 report shows VET Student Loans Ombudsman complaints as 890 received in the appendix (p 106) and as 100 plus 714 in the body (pp 82-83).
These are recorded as printed. None changes the findings above. They bear on how much reliance can be placed on headline figures without checking the appendices.
7. Money and the Office's own explanation
| Year | Total expenses | Staff | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002-03 | $9.126m | 81 full-time equivalent | AR 2003-04 p 163 (comparative); AR 2002-03 p 112 |
| 2010-11 | $21.400m | average staffing level 146 | AR 2010-11 pp 40, 179 |
| 2017-18 | $35.982m | average staffing level 201 | AR 2017-18 pp 122, 166 |
| 2024-25 | $51.809m | average staffing level 291 | AR 2024-25 p 112 |
Spending has grown more than fivefold since 2002-03 in nominal terms. Most of the growth has come with new functions, and the Office's consistent position is that some functions arrive without money:
- "We were also impacted by having some un- and under-funded roles, which took resources away from our existing core functions to the detriment of those functions" (AR 2022-23 p 15).
- New public interest disclosure powers from 1 July 2023 came with no additional funding (AR 2023-24 p 47).
- The National Preventive Mechanism and coordinator roles are funded at "approximately $300,000 per year … equivalent to 1.8FTE plus travel", on top of earlier ongoing funding of about $170,000 for the immigration role (answer to question on notice AE24-225). In May 2023 the Ombudsman described this as "funding for approximately 3.8 people" against more than 10 working on the function (BE23-138). The Ombudsman has said he is "diverting resources from other parts of my Office to perform these functions – which lessens my ability to perform my other functions" (AE25-203).
This explanation is credible and is partly outside the Office's control. It does not account for everything. The annual reports do not say how many staff or dollars are allocated to handling complaints about Commonwealth agencies, so the claim cannot be tested. The ANAO noted in 2022 that the Office "takes a limited approach to determining efficiency, focusing on timeliness and not considering inputs" (Report No. 41 2021-22, para 11).
8. Media releases
The Office's publications listing was read for June 2022 to October 2026: 83 media releases and 25 public or joint statements. The pattern:
- Most concern published investigation reports, statutory inspection reports, the National Student Ombudsman and joint statements on detention oversight.
- One release concerns Robodebt (9 March 2023, on the Office's evidence to the Royal Commission).
- None was found on the Office's own missed service standards, its backlog, or the funding of complaint handling. Three joint statements concern funding for detention oversight. The only statement found on how the Office manages complaints is dated 20 July 2026. It contains no figures.
The Office communicates readily about what agencies have done wrong and very little about its own performance. The listing was thin for June 2022 to January 2023 and may be incomplete for that period.
9. Assessment and proposed grade
Findings of fact are in sections 1 to 8. This section is Regulator Review's assessment.
Scale used: A excellent; B good; C adequate; D poor; E failing; F not performing the function.
| Criterion | Grade | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Doing the core job: looking into complaints | E | The Act's first function is to investigate complaints. The Office formally investigated 185 of 10,832 finalised complaints about Commonwealth agencies in 2024-25. It does not publish what happened to the rest |
| 2. Service to complainants | E | Own target missed in each of the five most recent reported years; 1 of 5 timeliness standards met in 2024-25; satisfaction 36% against 65%; 576 complaints older than 12 months at 30 April 2026 |
| 3. Willingness to use its powers | D | The Royal Commission found the Office "hesitant to use" its powers and that its 2017 investigation "did more harm than good". Conduct since 2023 is markedly better, but the Office's systems cannot report how often s 15 is used, and the annual reports record no escalation to the Prime Minister or Parliament since 2004 |
| 4. Systemic impact | B | Consistent, well-evidenced own motion work with a 91% acceptance rate and findings of unlawfulness that led to change |
| 5. Transparency about itself | D | Key measures dropped from annual reports for years at a time; backlog disclosed only under questioning at estimates; errors in headline figures. Partly offset by plain reporting of failed targets and the restoration of some data in 2023-24 |
| 6. Accountability | C | Accepted the Royal Commission's findings in writing and supported new powers. Internal review is narrow and its results are unpublished. The absence of a parliamentary committee and of any review clause is a fault of the Act, not the Office |
Proposed overall grade: D.
Reasoning. The Office does two jobs. On the systemic job it is good and improving. On the individual job, which its own statement of July 2026 calls "our core business", it has missed its own targets for five years, and fewer than 2 in 100 finalised complaints about Commonwealth agencies are formally investigated (calc: 185 / 10,832). The Office's explanations (pandemic backlog, unfunded functions) are real, and the one ANAO performance audit found, covering the period to mid-2021, was favourable. Those points keep the overall grade above E. The grade is held at D, not C, because the gap has persisted for five years and because the Office does not publish the figures that would let anyone test the innocent explanation in section 3.4.
What would change the grade: publication of outcomes for complaints not formally investigated; a return of the agency-error and remedy figures; open and aged case counts in the annual report; and two consecutive years of meeting the Service Charter timeframes.
10. What is not known
- The 2025-26 annual report had not been published at 11 October 2026. The 2026-27 Portfolio Budget Statements give mid-year results: "As at 31 December 2025, 53% of complaint handling performance standards were met" (target 80%) and 37% of survey respondents were satisfied (target 65%).
- How complaints that are not formally investigated are resolved, and with what result.
- How many s 9 notices, s 15 reports, s 16 or s 17 escalations the Office has issued in any recent year.
- Internal review requests and outcomes since 2018-19.
- Resources allocated to Commonwealth complaint handling as distinct from other functions.
- Senate estimates Hansard for 2022 to 2026 was not read. Only written answers to questions on notice, some of which reproduce the Hansard, were read.
11. Sources
- Commonwealth Ombudsman, Annual Reports 2001-02 to 2024-25.csv.
- Ombudsman Act 1976 (Cth), compilation No. 62, 4 June 2026. https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2004A01611/2026-06-04/2026-06-04/text/original/pdf
- Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme, Report, 7 July 2023, chapter 21. https://robodebt.royalcommission.gov.au/publications/report
- Auditor-General Report No. 41 2021-22, Management of Complaints by the Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman, 23 June 2022. https://www.anao.gov.au/work/performance-audit/management-complaints-the-office-the-commonwealth-ombudsman
- Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee, answers to questions on notice, Attorney-General's portfolio, Commonwealth Ombudsman: BE26-101, BE26-154, AE26-044, AE26-054, SBE25-338, AE25-203, AE24-225, BE23-138. https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Senate_estimates
- Commonwealth Ombudsman, Service Charter, April 2025. https://www.ombudsman.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0030/317577/Service-Charter.pdf
- Commonwealth Ombudsman, Ombudsman Statement: Managing Complaints, 20 July 2026. https://www.ombudsman.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0025/328525/Ombudsman-Statement-Managing-Complaints.pdf
- Commonwealth Ombudsman, Corporate Plan 2025-26. https://www.ombudsman.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0023/320936/Commonwealth-Ombudsman-Corporate-Plan-2025-2026.pdf
- Commonwealth Ombudsman, public statement on income apportionment (Lessons in Lawfulness), 2 August 2023. https://www.ombudsman.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0040/299947/Income-Apportionment-Lawfulness.pdf
- Commonwealth Ombudsman, Accountability in Action, December 2023. https://www.ombudsman.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/302059/Accountability-in-Action-identifying,-owning-and-fixing-errors.pdf
- Commonwealth Ombudsman, media release, 9 March 2023. https://www.ombudsman.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0016/290410/Media-Release-Ombudsman-statement-at-Robodebt-Royal-Commission.pdf
- Attorney-General's Portfolio Budget Statements 2026-27, Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman. https://www.ombudsman.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0022/327271/Portfolio-Budget-Statements-2026-27.pdf
- Oversight Legislation Amendment (Robodebt Royal Commission Response and Other Measures) Act 2025 (No. 7 of 2025). https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2025A00007/asmade
- Commonwealth Ombudsman website pages (About; Frequently asked questions; How to make a complaint; Request a review of your complaint outcome), read 11 October 2026. https://www.ombudsman.gov.au