Promoting integrity

The Ombudsman’s Office has always led by example, promoting integrity and encouraging public agencies to meet high standards of public administration and service. Guidelines and training have supported public agencies across the state, helping them to improve standards. Connecting and supporting integrity bodies in NSW, around the country and across the world has been a collegiate and influential part of the Ombudsman’s work for 50 years. 

A key element of any integrity body is its independence from executive government and the administration. The relationship between the Ombudsman’s Office, departments and executive government has been bumpy over its 50 years. Given the Ombudsman’s role and functions, perhaps this uneasy relationship is inevitable. 

The Office of the Ombudsman was originally closely associated the Premier’s Department and this proved challenging in the first decade of the Office. The relationship between the Ombudsman and the executive arm of government waxed and waned, often in accord with damning investigation findings. It was entirely a matter for the Premier’s discretion as to when a special report was tabled or (if Parliament was not sitting) should be made public. 

The introduction of the Joint Parliamentary Committee in 1991 has been an important mechanism to support the independence of the Ombudsman’s Office.  The Committee monitors and reviews the role and functions of the Ombudsman’s Office, may inquire into matters referred to it by Parliament, and reports to both Houses of Parliament. It consists of Members from both Houses - including representatives from government, opposition and independents - and meets annually with the NSW Ombudsman. 

It was not until 1993 that the Ombudsman Act was further amended to enable the Ombudsman to present reports directly to the presiding officer of each house of Parliament for tabling – another important step in accountability and independence. And the ongoing issue of funding was not satisfactorily resolved until 2023. 

The funding of the Ombudsman’s Office has for much of its existence been determined by Treasury through the general Government budget process, with substantial – but not always transparent – input from Department of Premier and Cabinet. The Ombudsman was subject to efficiency dividends, and other budget-saving measures.  On 14 October 2019, the Legislative Council’s Public Accountability Committee established an Inquiry into the budget process for independent oversight bodies, as well as the NSW Parliament. The five oversight bodies included within the inquiry were the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), the NSW Ombudsman, the Auditor-General, the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (LECC) and the NSW Electoral Commission. 

The Public Accountability Committee released their final report in February 2021. They reiterated their recommendation for a new budget process whereby the parliamentary oversight committees review the annual budget submissions of each integrity agency. Finally in September 2023, the NSW Special Minister of State John Graham announced that the funding of integrity agencies was ‘being put at arm’s length’. The integrity agencies were removed from all Department of Premier and Cabinet fiscal processes and excluded from efficiency dividends. Treasury now has a specialist integrity agencies unit to manage and represent the agencies’ budget requirements.

The Office began publishing guidelines in 1992 and so began an important strand of the Office of the Ombudsman’s work, which has now become a core function.  

First came Guidelines for Effective Complaint Management to assist public agencies to set up and manage their complaint handling systems. Next came the Ombudsman’s FOI Policies and Guidelines (1994). The Good Conduct and Administrative Practice Guidelines was published in 1995. Based on 20 years of complaint investigations and reports, one set of guidelines were aimed at public authorities and officials; another provided targeted advice for local councils. Guidelines on Public Sector Mediation (1997) and Protected Disclosures (1998) provided specific advice to public officials. Another significant publication aimed at frontline staff was Dealing with Difficult Complainants (1998), which brought together many of the learnings from training in this area. 

A landmark publication acknowledged the Ombudsman’s 25^th anniversary. The Complaint Handler’s Tool Kit (2000) combined several guidelines around complaint handling in the public sector into one volume. It became the definitive resource for all public officials, providing best practice guidance for complaint handling – from investigating complaints and dealing with difficult complainants to options for redress. 

The NSW Ombudsman’s guidelines have been widely adopted and adapted by equivalent organisations in Australia and New Zealand.  

The NSW Ombudsman’s Office’s experience improving public administration evolved into offering training opportunities. Training public sector staff is a key educational strategy for promoting fair, accountable and responsive administration. The workshops help agencies to understanding why they should take complaints about their performance seriously and how to deal with complaints properly. 

The Office began offering training workshops in 1993-94 as part of the Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling in the Public Sector program. By the year 2001, the Office was running four regular training workshops on a fee-for-service basis: ‘Understanding complaint management’; ‘Complaint handing for frontline staff’; ‘Dealing with difficult complainants’; and ‘The art of negotiation’. In 2025, the Office provides e-learning modules online, as well as face-to-face and virtual training workshops for the public and community sectors. 

An important initiative supporting the integrity agency sector has been the National Investigations Symposium. The idea of sharing approaches and ideas was first delivered in 1996. Now in its 14th year in 2025, the two-day National Investigations Symposium is the premier administrative investigations conference in Australia and is a joint initiative of the NSW Ombudsman, the NSW ICAC, and the Institute for Public Administration Australia (NSW). 

From the outset, Ken Smithers, the state’s first Ombudsman, took a proactive role networking with other Ombudsman in Australia and the region. He hosted the first Australasian Ombudsman’s Conference at the Office’s headquarters, 17-19 November 1975. The Australasian Ombudsman’s Conference continues to this day. 

The professionalism and size of the NSW Ombudsman’s Office by the late 1990s meant that it was able to assist with institutional strengthening in the region. At various times Ombudsman staff have supported, trained and reviewed procedures of Ombudsman offices in countries including Papua New Guinea, Kiribati, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Canada and the United States of America.  

The foundation meeting of the Pacific Ombudsman Alliance held on 28-29 October 2008. For smaller Pacific nations, whose integrity agencies were small, sometimes only two or three people, with tiny budgets, having the guidance and support of the NSW Ombudsman was of enormous value. Several staff were seconded to assist with training and office procedures.