Professor John McMillan AO, Acting New South (NSW) Ombudsman, released his annual report for 2016-17. During the reporting year, the office dealt with a broad range of issues, including public housing maintenance, water regulation, disability accommodation and support services, school student suspensions, debt recovery, guardianship, prisoner health services, and out-of-home care services for children.

The Acting Ombudsman and Convenor of the NSW Child Death Review Team (CDRT), Professor John McMillan AO, tabled the CDRT’s annual report for 2016-17. The work that the CDRT does is focused on one key outcome – to prevent the deaths of children. The report details the degree to which the CDRT’s recommendations to prevent or reduce the likelihood of child deaths have been accepted by government, and the progress being made by agencies to implement them.

El Procurador Penitenciario recomendó a la Presidenta del Consejo de Derechos de Niños, Niñas y Adolescentes de la Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires que se reglamente los procedimientos de utilización de la fuerza por parte de los guardias de seguridad de los establecimientos de régimen cerrado para adolescentes.

The Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman (the Office) has produced three annual reports: Commonwealth Ombudsman Annual Report 2016–17, ACT Ombudsman Annual Report 2016–17 and the ACT Judicial Council Annual Report 2016–17 (not published online). This year marked the 40th anniversary of the Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman. While it was an occasion to reflect on its many achievements of the past 40 years, the Office looks with excitement to the future.

 

The IOI has started the first phase of its membership evaluation process, which will be conducted on a rolling basis. The first 60 members have received the evaluation forms in our three official languages and can choose which one suits them best. We highly appreciate your active participation in this confidential evaluation, which has a non-punititve charater. The final report of this membership evaluation process will be presented by the Office of the Secretary General at the 2020 World Conference in Dublin.

 

New Zealand’s Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier has released his final opinion on the complaint concerning the seclusion of a child at Ruru Specialist School. He underlined that the family had been let down by the school and education agencies, and acknowledged the subsequent changes to legislation that prohibit the use of seclusion in any New Zealand school.

 

The Banking Mohtasib (Ombudsman) Pakistan has issued the twelfth Annual Report for the year ending 31 December, 2016. Like the previous reports, the current annual report also includes analysis of systemic deficiencies and control weaknesses in banks which the Banking Mohtasib came across during the course of investigations of complaints in the year under review. 

The Acting NSW Ombudsman Professor John McMillan tabled a progress report in Parliament today on his investigation into water compliance and enforcement. Water is a vital public asset. It is also a scarce public resource in Australia. Regulating how water can be accessed and used is a matter of intense public interest.