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Our voice to Parliament
The NSW Ombudsman is an independent integrity agency, accountable to the people of NSW. We report directly to the Parliament of NSW.
Where we identify matters of serious public interest, we can make a public report to Parliament.
We also support the work of Parliamentary Committees by making submissions to public inquiries.
Our latest reports
Investigation into actions taken against bystander inmates following an incident at Clarence Correctional Centre
This special report concerns an investigation into actions taken by the operator of Clarence Correctional Centre (Serco) against inmates who witnessed an assault on an officer by an inmate, at the centre in September 2023.
Following complaints made by some of those inmates, the NSW Ombudsman conducted an investigation and found that procedural requirements designed to ensure a fair process had not been followed when inmates were charged with correctional centre offences, and that inmates were found guilty despite relevant evidence (including CCTV footage) not supporting such findings. The Ombudsman also found that 'behaviour management contracts' were imposed on some inmates inappropriately, and the conditions of these contracts were unreasonable and oppressive.
The NSW Ombudsman has made recommendations in response to those findings.
Investigation into inmate discipline in NSW correctional centres
The report follows an investigation by the NSW Ombudsman involving a systemic examination of how inmate discipline is managed across all correctional centres. The inmate disciplinary system deals with inmates who are alleged to have committed a ‘correctional centre offence’ while in custody.
The investigation carried out a trend analysis of the more than 57,000 inmate discipline charges determined between 2018 and 2023, and conducted an in-depth review of a sample of over 350 individual determinations.
The investigation found a systemic failure across all correctional centres to follow the requirements of the legislation and the relevant policies in relation to inmate discipline, as well as finding several issues following its in-depth reviews of determinations.
The NSW Ombudsman has made recommendations in response to those findings.
Casebook July 2024: Investigations and complaint-handling case studies
Casebook July 2024: Investigations and complaint-handling case studies provides a summary of investigations conducted and a sample of complaints handled by the NSW Ombudsman from 1 October 2023 to 30 June 2024. This is the first of what will be biannual reports to feature case studies demonstrating how the NSW Ombudsman holds agencies to account, and how we have achieved positive outcomes for the people of NSW.
Protecting children at risk: an assessment of whether the Department of Communities and Justice is meeting its core responsibilities
This special report was completed as part of the NSW Ombudsman’s Community Services monitoring and review functions.
The Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ), the lead agency for child protection in NSW, has three core responsibilities: to respond to children reported at risk, support children in statutory out of home care, and provide early intervention and family preservation services.
The report found that DCJ cannot demonstrate that it is meeting its core responsibilities, and that the NSW child protection system operates in a disconnected, fragmented way which is reflected in the poor tracking of outcomes achieved for children.
Revenue NSW - The lawfulness of its garnishee order process
In this report we examine Revenue NSW’s conduct in its design and use of its garnishee order system for recovering unpaid fines and other state debts since 2016. The investigation looked at whether decisions produced by the garnishee order system complied with the legislation that gives Revenue the power to issue garnishee orders.