The Victorian Ombudsman has issued her latest report on handling her annual casebook which generally receives more than 18,000 complaints each year.
The Ombudsman, Deborah Glass said resolving that many complaints makes up the vast majority of her office’s work although many could be resolved, with informal enquiries or by conciliation.
In her latest report, Complaint handling casebook: Resolving issues informally, Ms Glass describes how her office resolves complaints and works constructively with Agencies and public bodies to fix problems and improve public administration.
“The cases in this report illustrate what can be achieved when complainants have a potentially legitimate grievance and when, prompted by the Ombudsman, agencies are willing to reconsider decisions”, Ms Glass said.
She said her report also highlighted the Ombudsman’s new conciliation function where complainants were able to meet face-to-face with the agency they have a grievance with, under the careful guidance of qualified conciliators.
She said as an example how a client, Samuel’s, experience with a cemetery highlighted the power of bringing the affected parties together.
“Samuel was shocked and distressed after the Trust removed his mother Bethany’s treasured mementoes he had placed on her grave,” Ms Glass said.
“After complaining to the Ombudsman, Samuel and the Trust agreed to participate in a conciliation,” she said.
“Samuel said the conciliation was what he needed, as his concerns had been acknowledged by the Trust and they had apologised to him and taken ownership of the problem.”
Ms Glass said conciliation was a particularly useful tool when there is an ongoing relationship between the complainant and an agency, such as a tenant in public housing when there have been multiple ongoing complaints that could not be resolved.
“Bringing parties together can achieve tangible and lasting results to some intractable problems,” Ms Glass said.
“It can also ‘humanise the bureaucracy’ and empower complainants”, she said.
She said other cases highlighted in the report included: A restless city-dweller getting his post-lockdown travel voucher after initially being denied a pensioner in public housing; Another getting her leaky roof fixed; The owner of a hybrid vehicle getting a discount after initially being denied by VicRoads because of a mistake; and A prison improving its processes after a menstruating prisoner’s dignity was not respected.
“These stories demonstrate that although we hold powers similar to a Royal Commission, the nudge of the Ombudsman’s elbow is often the only power we need”, Ms Glass said.
The Ombudsman’s full report can be accessed at this PS News link.
