Commonwealth Ombudsman Michael Manthorpe released an own motion report into the Department of Home Affairs (Home Affairs) and the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources (DAWR) processing of international containerised sea cargo.

Monsieur Marc Bertrand est officiellement reparti pour un second et dernier mandat de six années à la tête de l’institution du Médiateur de la Wallonie et de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles.

A mother and her five children were accommodated in a damp and mouldy single bedroom, too small for the number of people, by Ealing council while it took too long to decide their homelessness status. A Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman investigation found the council’s delays added three months onto a six month stay in the unsuitable accommodation.

The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) took part in the conference ‘SDGs, Climate and the Future of Europe’ on 31 May in Milan, organised by the Italian Alliance for Sustainable Development. The meeting discussed the key role that the EU can play towards advancing the 2030 agenda and will feed into a European Commission reflection paper on the subject.

The 2^nd issue of the IOI’s Best Practice Paper series deals with the question of how to secure effective change. It draws on the experience of IOI member institutions and highlights ways of working that are most likely to bring about a successful outcome and make recommendations that result in sustainable improvements to public administration.

Victorian Ombudsman Deborah Glass has begun a follow up investigation to her previous Investigation into the management of complex workers compensation claims and WorkSafe oversight. In that 2016 investigation, she found that Victoria’s workers compensation scheme had failed some particularly vulnerable people.

The Parliamentary Ombudsman, Mr Anthony C. Mifsud, called upon the President of the House of Representatives, the Hon. Angelo Farrugia to present the Office of the Ombudsman’s Annual Report for 2016. During the meeting with the Speaker, the Ombudsman announced that during the Annual General Meeting of the Association of Mediterranean Ombudsman in Skopje, Macedonia, he was appointed as Secretary General of the Association.

Nearly 60% of Europeans consider being old a disadvantage when looking for work. Societies often view older people as burdens. Too often we overlook the basic human rights of our older people. This year, the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) in its 2018 Fundamental Rights Report explores how a rights-based approach towards respect for older people is starting to happen.