Image from the Ombudsman website here
TASMANIA’S new ombudsman may not be a “super regulator” but he is confident he can prompt change in the public sector as the office deals with a staggering increase in complaints.
In the past financial year, the Ombudsman’s office received more than 1200 complaints – against government departments, state-owned businesses and councils – a massive increase from 702 recorded the previous year.
Leon Atkinson-MacEwen, who stepped into the role in March, expects the numbers to only go up.
“A rising level of complaints isn’t suggesting there’s a rising level of incompetency in the public sector. I think it’s just a symptom of greater awareness.”
Despite limited resources, Mr Atkinson-MacEwen said the office was coping with the increasing workload and had managed to make small inroads into a backlog of complaints.
Yesterday, he revealed plans to analyse five years of complaints data to identify recurring problems within departments, starting with Health and Human Services.
Mr Atkinson-MacEwen said it was not a witch-hunt.
