Records of the Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman’s legal services expenditures for the 2021-2022 financial year
Dear Commonwealth Ombudsman,
Paragraph 11.1(ba) of the Legal Service Directions 2017 (Cth) provides:
The accountable authority of a non‑corporate Commonwealth entity is responsible for ensuring that the entity’s legal services purchasing, including expenditure, is appropriately recorded and monitored and that, by 30 October each year, the entity makes publicly available records of its legal services expenditure for the previous financial year.
The Commonwealth Ombudsman, the accountable authority of the Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman is the Commonwealth Ombudsman, Mr Iain Anderson (Ombudsman Act 1976 (Cth), s 4A(c)).
As at 3 February 2022, the Commonwealth Ombudsman has failed to make publicly available the records of the Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman’s legal services expenditures for the 2021-2022 financial year on the website of the Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman. All that is available, as at 3 February 2022, is a record of the Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman’s legal services expenditures for the 2020-2021 financial year: www.ombudsman.gov.au/about/accountabilit....
Under the FOI Act I request access to the records of the Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman’s legal services expenditures for the 2021-2022 financial year, which should already have been made publicly available but have not been published on the website on the Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman.
Please provide the records to me by return email.
Yours faithfully,
Stephen
OFFICIAL
Dear Stephen
Our ref: FOI-2023-10023
23 February 2023
Emailed to: [1][FOI #9891 email]
Freedom of Information request – Acknowledgment
I apologise for the delay in responding to your request.
I acknowledge receipt of your correspondence dated 3 February 2023 in
which you requested access to documents under the Freedom of Information
Act 1982 (FOI Act). Your request for documents was framed in the following
way:
‘I request access to the records of the Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman’s
legal services expenditures for the 2021-2022 financial year’
Duplicates/irrelevant information
There may be duplicate copies of documents related to our request. Unless
you advise us you wish to receive multiple copies, we will only consider
and make a decision on one copy of each document.
Timeframes
You should expect a decision from us within 30 days from the date we
received your FOI request. This 30 day period may be extended if we need
to consult third parties, impose a charge (a fee for processing your
request) or for other reasons. We will let you know if this happens.
If you have any questions, you may contact me via email at
[2][email address] or by using the contact details in
the footer of this email.
Yours sincerely
David
Legal Officer
Legal Team
Commonwealth Ombudsman
Phone: 1300 362 072
Email: [3][email address]
Website: [4]ombudsman.gov.au
[5][IMG]
Influencing systemic improvement in public administration
The Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman acknowledges the traditional
owners of country throughout Australia and their continuing connection to
land, culture and community. We pay our respects to elders past and
present.
The Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman acknowledges the traditional
owners of country throughout Australia and their continuing connection to
land, culture and community. We pay our respects to elders past and
present.
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[FOI #9891 email]
2. mailto:[email address]
3. mailto:[email address]
4. https://ombudsman.gov.au/
5. http://www.ombudsman.gov.au/
OFFICIAL
Dear Stephen
I attach correspondence in relation to your complaint:
1. Decision letter dated 22 March 2023.
2. Document to be released.
Please do not hesitate to contact our Office using the details below if
you have any questions or concerns.
Yours sincerely
David
Legal Officer
Legal Team
Commonwealth Ombudsman
Phone: 1300 362 072
Email: [1][email address]
Website: [2]ombudsman.gov.au
[3][IMG]
Influencing systemic improvement in public administration
The Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman acknowledges the traditional
owners of country throughout Australia and their continuing connection to
land, culture and community. We pay our respects to elders past and
present.
The Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman acknowledges the traditional
owners of country throughout Australia and their continuing connection to
land, culture and community. We pay our respects to elders past and
present.
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. https://ombudsman.gov.au/
3. http://www.ombudsman.gov.au/
Stephen left an annotation ()
Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman
Legal Services Expenditure 2020-2021 (inc GST)
External ------ $222,785
Internal ------ $369,896
Total ------ $592,681
(https://www.ombudsman.gov.au/about/accou..., as at 3 February 2022)