In November 2012 the Ombudsman's Office introduced "a more comprehensive telephone queueing system with auto-attendant messaging". Callers heard recorded information before reaching a person.
That year, approaches to the Office fell 34 per cent. The Office said "the reduction is primarily due to the new telephony processes we put in place". Complaints within its jurisdiction fell 21 per cent and the number of complaints investigated fell 32 per cent, from 4,667 to 3,185.
The Office's view was that the recordings sent people who had not yet complained to the agency back to the agency. "We think our messaging arrangements have diverted around 5,000 people to the DHS" complaint service, it wrote. The report gives no figures on how many callers with a complaint the Ombudsman could have taken simply gave up.
Source: Annual Report 2012-13 pp 9-11, 40.