Complaints investigated by the Ombudsman identified concerns with the Australian Taxation Office’s (ATO) response when Tax File Numbers (TFNs) are compromised or TFN records are incorrectly linked. Three key areas of concern are the ATO’s: failure to respond appropriately to problems arising from compromised TFNs inadequate policy oversight and recognition of the systemic issues demonstrated...

Conflicting and out–of–date internal information policies, multiple databases with varying degrees of security and low staff morale increased the risk of confidential Australian Crime Commission (ACC) intelligence falling into the wrong hands, according to Commonwealth Ombudsman Professor John McMillan. This investigation focused on the policies, practices and controls that the ACC uses to ensure information...

Report by the Commonwealth Ombudsman on the administration of the Economic Security Strategy Payment – an examination of the implementation, monitoring and review of the scheme. The purpose of this report is to highlight for all government agencies how the administration of payments which are developed and delivered within tight time frames, such as the...

Guidelines on banning customers from entering Centrelink offices because of inappropriate behaviour are the subject of this report. The Ombudsman has received complaints over a number of years from customers whose face-to-face contact with Centrelink staff has been withdrawn because of their behaviour. The report concludes that in most instances Centrelink’s decisions to ban customers...

The Migration Act requires that a non-citizen who is detained is liable to pay the Australian government the costs of his or her detention. This liability includes costs for the transportation of the person to and from an immigration detention centre and the daily maintenance amount for each day the person spends in detention. In...