Ombudsman report delayed by lack of resourcing

A lack of resources means Ombudsman Wayne Lines won't publish details of misbehaving councillors and frivolous complaints until next month.

• Ombudsman lashes ICAC funding boost

A lack of resources means Ombudsman Wayne Lines won't publish details of misbehaving councillors and frivolous complaints until next month.

Mr Lines told The Advertiser he would not finalise his 2017-18 annual report until the end of the month, meaning his statistics would be at least seven months old when tabled in State Parliament in February.

He said there had been “no delay” as there was no requirement for him to finish his report by a set date, but a lack of staffing and an “exceptionally busy” past six months meant the report was taking longer than usual.

For contrast, Mr Lines, pictured, tabled the 2016-17 annual report in October 2017 and other agencies usually publish their reports before the end of the year.

South Australian Ombudsman Wayne Lines. Picture: Tait Schmaal

“It is fair to say that as the responsibility for steering the annual report through to completion falls to my deputy and me as we do not have the staff for this task and we have both been exceptionally busy in the last six months, it is taking longer than usual for the report to be completed,” he said.

Appearing before the Crime and Public Integrity Committee in August last year, Mr Lines lashed the State Government’s decision to grant the Independent Commission Against Corruption an extra $14.5 million of funding to hold public hearings into maladministration and misconduct.

Mr Lines told the committee he could run “very effectively” with an extra $1 million of funding each year but had not asked the Government for additional resources in the lead-up to the 2018 State Budget.

He said he “definitely” wished he had asked for extra resources after he saw ICAC’s funding injection. ICAC Commissioner Bruce Lander handles three or four misconduct or maladministration issues a year, Mr Lines told the committee.

“It does seem imbalanced that ICAC, for the few maladministration and misconduct investigations, has this large amount of funding, whereas I'm left with handling the bulk of those issues without any funding,” he said in August.

Mr Lines has an annual budget of $3 million and fields 4000 complaints each year, as well as about 50 maladministration and misconduct issues referred to it each year by the ICAC.

Attorney-General Vickie Chapman said the Ombudsman’s work was “very important” and the Government would review all funding arrangements and proposals for statutory bodies in the lead-up to this year’s state Budget.