The role of the Ombudsman is ‘to safeguard the rights of citizens by establishing a supervisory agency independent of the executive branch’.  Unlike Sweden – where an Ombudsman was first established in 1809 –, in Australian, the Ombudsman is a tool of the executive branch to legitimate and protect corruption and maladministration.

The Australian Ombudsman is a large organisation. In addition to the Commonwealth Ombudsman, every state and territory has a state Ombudsman. It provides privileged employment to mostly white Anglo-Australians and the few exotic faces that have become an Australian requirement just for the purpose of ticking the “multicultural” or Aboriginal box. They are busy protecting the government and its agencies.

On its website, the Ombudsman states

• “We are free of control by any government body and act independently”.
• Our aim is to be fair and find out the truth.
• Our aim is to work out reasonable solutions that are in the public interest”.

Nothing could be further from the truth. The Australia Ombudsman is a government-funded office. The claim that it acts “independently” is a shame. The Ombudsman lacks impartiality and honesty. Its primary aim is to act against public interest by protecting the government and its agencies and cover-up maladministration. The annual Ombudsman report which often publishes few investigated cases is a fraud designed to con and misleads the public. In addition, having an Ombudsman protects Australia’s manufactured image.

The focus of this article is the NSW Ombudsman.

The NSW Ombudsman is appointed without the process of public selection. And the current Ombudsman did not have to undergo a competitive process for reappointment. Under the Ombudsman Act 1974, the Ombudsman has significant powers, including a wide jurisdiction over public sector agencies and many private agencies that provide services for them. In 2007, a report by Inspector Glynis Cameron – conducted from July 2000 to January 2004 – found that corrupt practices in NSW government and police extend into the offices of the NSW Ombudsman. In other words, the Ombudsman is deeply complicit in corruption and acted to protect and cover-up corruption and maladministration. Indeed, the State of NSW is the most corrupt, and has been so from its inception. It is second only to Queensland.

Anyone makes a complaint to the Ombudsman will receive the following statement: “We are assessing your complaint and we will decide whether we need to speak with the agency about your concerns. Often, they [the agencies] will give a solutions or an explanation that satisfies us. If this happens, we will contact you within four weeks to let you know the results”. In fact, the Ombudsman is always satisfied with the agency explanation. The Ombudsman connives with the agency to whitewash wrongdoing and maladministration.

The case of a Muslim student who was excluded from the University of Western Sydney (UWS) early this year is particularly instructive. The student was racially abused and assaulted by one of the University’s unskilled Anglo staff. Despite overwhelming evidence of racially-motivated assault and the fact that the staff has admitted using racist language and violence, the University concocted and used baseless allegations to justify the student’s exclusion. The student was accused of calling another Anglo staff a “racist”, a form of bullying employed by Anglo-Australians not only to intimidate their victims of racism, but also to legitimise and normalise racism. While the student was denied the right to view the “evidence” against him and was excluded from the University just few months before he was scheduled to complete his graduate study, the accused staff continues to enjoy the protection and support of the University.

When the student made a complaint to the NSW Ombudsman against the unfair and rather racist conduct of the University of Western Sydney, the Ombudsman took its time and never consulted with the student. After more than five months of deliberate delay, and even when there is overwhelming evidence of flagrant administrative misconduct and miscarriage of procedural fairness by the University, the Ombudsman declined to investigate the case. Indeed, the Ombudsman declined to investigate the case, because it will be against the Ombudsman role to act in public interest. There is no right of appeal against the Ombudsman’s decision.

The Ombudsman informed the students that, “I do not consider there is any evidence of wrong administrative conduct by the University that would warrant a formal investigation by this office. It appears to me the university’s [UWS] investigation of the circumstances surrounding your exclusion was thorough and you were given an opportunity [by UWS] to represent your version of events, which was clearly considered by the Appeals Committee”. It appears that the Ombudsman connived with the University to victimise the student.

The student told me: “It was an outrageous and misleading allegation by the Ombudsman. How the Ombudsman, sitting in his nice Sydney CBD Office, knows that there was an independent and fair Appeals Committee? The administrative process by the University was a farce and a case of miscarriage of procedural fairness. The Hearing was unfair and the Appeal Committee lacks impartiality and professionalism. Its members were all white Anglo-Saxons and showed clear practical injustice and prejudice towards students from non-Anglo-Saxon background. They were aggressive, provocative and racist during the entire Hearing”. The student was denied the right to have a legal representative during the Hearing. The University allowed the student to be accompanied by a “silent” University staff to the Hearing.

In a civilised, progressive and classless society like Sweden, the role of the Ombudsman is to protect the public from misconduct and maladministration by the government and its unscrupulous agencies. By contrast in a racist and backward society like Australia, which thrives on corruption and cronyism, the role of the Ombudsman is to legitimate and protects these values.

Ghali Hassan is an independent writer living in Australia.