The Victorian Ombudsman has reported that the number of complaints received in the past 12 months were the second highest on record.
Ombudsman Deborah Glass (pictured) made the observation in her 2019-2020 Annual Report saying the COVID-19 crisis had made her office more relevant than ever.
“The constancy of our values help us deal with the inconstancy of the emergency,” Ms Glass said.
“The need to ensure fairness, enhance accountability, protect human rights and foster innovation and improvement is even greater,” she said.
Ms Glass said the three most complained about Authorities continued to be Corrections, Justice and Regulation (which includes prisons and Fines Victoria); Local Councils, which accounted for about 22 per cent of all complaints; and Health and Human Services (including child protection and public housing) which accounted for about 16 per cent of complaints.
She said that from 1 January this year, new functions and powers vested in her office by Parliament came into effect including an education function; the ability to carry out alternative methods of dispute resolution such as conciliation; and the power to investigate publicly-funded bodies.
Furthermore, she said, the threshold for whistleblowing had been lowered prompting her office to expect to have to consider more improper conduct matters as a result.
The Ombudsman’s 145-page Annual report, including the 2020-2021 Annual Plan, can be accessed at this PS News link.
