News

The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission started in NSW and SA on 1 July 2018. Some of the NSW Ombudsman’s functions in relation to services and supports for people with disability have now moved to the NDIS Commission. Complaints and reportable incidents involving NDIS providers are now handled by the NDIS Commission (see Changes to safeguarding arrangements in relation to the NDIS in NSW - NSW Ombudsman). The NDIS Commission can be contacted on 1800 035 544.

The NSW Ombudsman, Michael Barnes, tabled a report in Parliament today drawing attention to critical legal, policy and service gaps in the response to homeless children. In 2016-17, just over 5,000 unaccompanied children and young people aged 12-18 presented to a homelessness service to access support and a place to stay. More than one third of these children were under 16, and about 700 of them were specifically seeking accommodation.

The NSW Ombudsman, Michael Barnes, tabled a report in Parliament today following his investigation into Fair Trading’s Home Building Service.

Our investigation found that there were serious and systemic issues with both the public register and the home building licensing system. The information that Fair Trading records on the public register does not have sufficient detail and contemporaneous information to make it fit for purpose, that is, to provide consumer protection and help stop the actions of unscrupulous builders.

The NSW Ombudsman and Convenor of the NSW Child Death Review Team, Mr Michael Barnes, today tabled a report in the NSW Parliament on the ‘Spatial analysis of child deaths in New South Wales’.

The report, prepared by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare for the NSW Child Death Review Team, focuses on two key issues - the geographic distribution of child deaths across NSW, and how the risk of death varies by area-level characteristics.

The Joint Protocol to reduce the contact of people with disability in supported accommodation with the criminal justice system aims to reduce unnecessary contact with the Police in relation to incidents that would be better managed within the disability accommodation service, and to improve relationships and communication between local police and disability services.

We have developed two short videos to make it as easy as possible for disability support workers and managers to quickly understand the Joint Protocol and what they need to do:

The NSW Ombudsman, Michael Barnes, tabled a report in Parliament today to correct the public record in relation to the enforcement statistics published in the former Acting Ombudsman’s November 2017 special report to Parliament (the November report).

Read the report.
Read the media release.