Removing nine words - Legal professional privilege and the NSW Ombudsman

The New South Wales Ombudsman Act 1974 is the only Australian Parliamentary Ombudsman Act that permits an agency to refuse to provide the Ombudsman with information on the grounds of a claim of legal professional privilege. This report outlines the Ombudsman's recent attempts to have the Act amended to correct this anomaly. It outlines comparable NSW watchdog and interstate Parliamentary Ombudsman legislation, and provides a number of examples of the impact of claims of privilege during Ombudsman investigations.