Oversight and monitoring

The NSW Ombudsman’s audit role commenced in the 1980s with specific statutory audit functions. From 1998, the Ombudsman’s role expanded as a legislative guardian, monitoring the impact of significant legislative changes and their impact on civil liberties. 

Child protection issues in Aboriginal communities drew increasing attention in the 2000s from the Ombudsman and others. 

The Ombudsman has always had jurisdiction to receive complaints from the Aboriginal community about services from public authorities. While policing and the justice system were garnering some complaints, the Ombudsman was concerned that the number of complaints emanating from the community was quite low. David Landa believed the best and only way to ‘break down the barriers’ between his Office and the Aboriginal community was to employ an Aboriginal officer. Landa established a position specifically designated for an Aboriginal person. Joyce Clague MBE was employed in August 1989 as the first designated Aboriginal Investigation Officer. 

A specialist Aboriginal unit was established within the police division in 1996, in response to recommendations made by the Wood Royal Commission into police corruption. The primary focus of the unit was on resolving complaints from Aboriginal people about police. In 2009 the Aboriginal unit was shifted to the strategic projects division to focus on reviewing whole-of-government service delivery. 

Child protection issues in Aboriginal communities drew increasing attention in the 2000s from the Ombudsman and others. The office was also given responsibility of auditing the implementation of the NSW Interagency Plan to Tackle Child Sexual Assault in Aboriginal Communities. 

The NSW Ombudsman was tasked in 2013 with monitoring and assessing Aboriginal programs under the government’s OCHRE Plan. This important new role, which recognised the Ombudsman’s strong track record handling complaints from Aboriginal people and helping to identify and resolve both local and systemic issues, was formalised by the Ombudsman Amendment (Aboriginal Programs) Act 2014. The Act established a new statutory officer, the Deputy Ombudsman (Aboriginal Programs); the first position of its kind in Australia. 

Key reports in this area include:

• Public interest in releasing the Ombudsman’s Report on Operation Sue (Redfern Raid) (1991)
• Toomelah report (1992)
• Addressing Aboriginal disadvantage – the need to do things differently (2011)
• Fostering Economic Development for Aboriginal People in NSW (2016)
• OCHRE Monitoring Reports (2019, 2025). 

From 1998, the Ombudsman’s role expanded as a legislative guardian, monitoring the impact of significant legislative changes. It all started with police powers, specifically the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Police and Public Safety) Act 1998, with a crackdown on ‘street gangs’, knife carrying, and antisocial behaviour. The Policing Public Safety report (November 1999) was the first of its kind in Australia, providing a comprehensive review of policing practices. 

Between 1998 and 2015 the NSW Ombudsman conducted 28 reviews of legislation which granted police with new and extraordinary powers. This included the use of controversial 'stop and search' powers (both vehicles and people), sniffer dogs, capsicum spray, DNA sampling, on-the-spot criminal infringement notices, and consorting laws. With each review the Ombudsman scrutinised whether police had implemented the new laws ‘fairly and effectively’, and whether the laws were operating the way Parliament intended. Monitoring reports would highlight issues and make recommendations for improvements. A recent example is the Ombudsman's 2025 report on the operation of the Mandatory Disease Testing Act.

Monitoring police powers has now passed to the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission, but the Ombudsman continues to monitor the fairness and impact of other legislation. Throughout the COVID-19 Pandemic, the Ombudsman kept a close watch on the rapidly changing regulatory environment, including documenting all the legislative amendments and public health orders in NSW. The Ombudsman Paul Miller has delivered two reports to the NSW Parliament documenting the measures taken by the NSW Government and their impacts on individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic. This form of monitoring and review is essential to identify lessons learned and improve government responses to future pandemics. 

The Telecommunications (Interception) (NSW) Act 1987 gave the NSW Ombudsman the power to inspect and report on the records of authorities who intercept telephone calls within NSW. The origin for these powers lay in the recommendations of the 1986 Stewart Royal Commission into Alleged Telephone Interceptions. This Ombudsman function commenced in 1988. 

Ten years later, the Law Enforcement (Controlled Operations) Act 1997 gave the Ombudsman the function of monitoring and reporting on “controlled operations”. It came into operation on 1 March 1998 and was one of the recommendations of the Wood Police Royal Commission. The Act required the Ombudsman to receive notifications, inspect records and report to Parliament on the execution of controlled or “undercover” operations authorised and conducted by: the NSW Police Service, the NSW Crime Commission, the Independent Commission Against Corruption and the Police Integrity Commission. 

The Surveillance Devices Act 2007 introduced Ombudsman oversight into this area of covert operations. This Act allowed agencies to install or “plant” devices for listening, optical, tracking and data surveillance. Warrants to conduct these activities were issued by certain judges and magistrates. The Ombudsman had a role inspecting the surveillance device records to monitor compliance, by both the agency and their law enforcement officers. Annual reports had to be supplied to the NSW Attorney General and Parliament. 

In 2017 the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission assumed the Ombudsman’s monitoring and audit functions under various covert powers legislation, including controlled operations, surveillance devices, and telecommunications interception and access. 

The death of Raymond Denning following the Police Commissioner’s decision to remove him from witness protection ultimately led to reform and better oversight of the witness protection scheme. The passing of the Witness Protection Act 1995 created a new responsibility for the NSW Ombudsman.  

The Office was now the appeal body for applicants and participants in the NSW Crown witness protection program against the decisions of the Commissioner of Police, whether that be inclusion in or removal from the scheme.

The Ombudsman’s function reviewing the witness protection scheme passed to the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission when that agency started on 1 July 2017.