News

Ombudsman Michael Barnes has tabled two reports in Parliament today, the Biennial report of the deaths of children in New South Wales: 2016 and 2017 and Review of suicide clusters and evidence-based prevention strategies for school-aged children.

The Biennial report concerns 981 children aged from birth to 17 years who died in NSW in 2016 and 2017 and the second report, Review of suicide clusters sets out what is known about suicide clusters among school-aged children, and examines current policy frameworks.

Read the Biennial report and Review of suicide clusters report.
Read the Media release

Kids are dying in car crashes because some parents and carers are failing to heed the ‘Buckle-Up Safely’ message, the NSW Child Death Review Team (CDRT) has found.
Ombudsman Michael Barnes has tabled a report in the Parliament today reviewing the deaths of 66 children aged less than 13 years who died as passengers in vehicle crashes in NSW between 2007-2016.

Read our report

Read media release

A former senior NSW public servant, Paul Miller, has been appointed Deputy Ombudsman and Community and Disability Services Commissioner, the NSW Ombudsman announced today.

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The NSW Ombudsman, today tabled the Oversight of the Public Interest Disclosures Act Annual Report 2017-18 in Parliament. The report describes how public sector agencies are discharging their responsibilities under the PID Act and the activities of our office to support those agencies and persons who make public interest disclosures.

The report shows that 1,166 reports – or public interest disclosures – were made about the conduct of NSW public sector staff or organisations in 2017-18.

Read the report

View summary on YouTube

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The NSW Ombudsman today tabled a special report to Parliament on his inquiry into the abuse and neglect of adults with disability in community settings (such as their family home). The Ombudsman’s office has responded to 206 reports of alleged abuse and neglect of adults with disability, involving their family members, partners, or other members of the community.

The report demonstrates the need for a comprehensive safeguarding approach in NSW for vulnerable adults living in the community – including an effective response to the abuse and neglect of both vulnerable adults with disability and older people. The Ombudsman has called on the NSW Government to implement the recommendations of the NSW Law Reform Commission to establish an independent statutory position of a Public Advocate with investigative functions.