The ACT Government Ombudsman has released their annual report and it does not make for pretty reading in the London Circuit Soviet:
I commenced my appointment as ACT Ombudsman on August 30, 2010 and quickly formed the view that residents of the Australian Capital Territory were not receiving the level and quality of services from the ACT administration to which they are entitled. I set as an early and urgent priority for my term as Ombudsman, to review all areas of complaint with a view to identifying root causes and systemic problems and to work with ACT Government agencies to correct them.
I made a commitment to making the ACT Ombudsman role more engaged with the challenges of ensuring ACT Government agencies delivered services more effectively.
By the close of the 2010–2011 year it was clear to me that there remain significant areas for improvement in service delivery and complaint-handling. Overall, 742 approaches and complaints were received by my office about ACT Government agencies and ACT Policing, up from 676 the previous year. Those specifically about ACT Government agencies have risen 19 per cent on 2009–10, from 507 to 600. Of these, my office formally investigated 126 complaints, which in 14 cases resulted in a finding of ‘administrative deficiency’. This is four more than in 2009–2010.
