This report provides information on the activities, achievements and performance of the Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman (the Office) for the 2018–19 financial year.

Part 1—Review by the Ombudsman

The Commonwealth Ombudsman Michael Manthorpe’s review of the year and the outlook for 2019–20.

Part 2—Overview of the Office

This outlines the roles and functions and organisational structure of the Office.

Part 3—Report on performance

An overview of our performance and financial performance for the 2018–19 financial year.

Part 4—What we do

Complaint management

• Complaints to our Office
• Accessibility of our services
• Complaint assurance initiatives

Oversight of government agencies

• Department of Human Services
• National Disability Insurance Agency
• Immigration Ombudsman
• Defence Force Ombudsman

Working with Law Enforcement

• Law Enforcement Ombudsman
• Inspections of covert, intrusive or coercive powers

Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment

Our role as an Industry Ombudsman

• Private Health Insurance Ombudsman.
• Postal Industry Ombudsman
• Vocational Education Training Student Loans Ombudsman
• Overseas Students Ombudsman

Working with International Partners

Part 5—Public Interest Disclosures

Part 6—Management and accountability

This outlines the Office’s governance and accountability arrangements including external scrutiny, management of human resources, procurement and asset management.

Part 7—Appendices

This includes statistics on the number of contacts and complaints received by the Office, Financial Statements, a report on compliance with the information publication scheme, entity resource statement, ecologically sustainable development and environmental performance for the Office and correction of material errors in the previous annual report.

Part 8—References

This includes a glossary, a list of figures and tables contained in the body of the report, a compliance index and an alphabetical index.