Outgoing Ombudsman warns her office is hamstrung by cabinet secrecy

Outgoing Victorian Ombudsman Deborah Glass has taken a parting shot at the state government, warning the watchdog is still hamstrung by its inability to access cabinet documents and restrictions on releasing information to the public.

In one of her last official reports, Glass said the office’s budget should be fully independent, warned of ongoing issues with social housing and described the rules overseeing her use of coercive powers as “inefficient and ineffective”.

After a decade in the role, Victorian Ombudsman Deborah Glass is approaching the end of her tenure.Credit: Paul Jeffers

Glass’ tenth and final annual report was tabled to state parliament on Thursday. Her final day in the role will be March 29, 2024.

Before stepping down, she is expected to release the findings of a long-running investigation into the alleged politicisation of the public service. The probe was referred to the office of the Victorian Ombudsman in February 2022 following reports in The Age.

In her 2022-23 financial year report, Glass said she would not yet deliver a eulogy for her decade-long term but thanked her staff and described her role as an independent officer as a “great, but lonely privilege”.

She said many improvements requested since taking the job in 2014 had been delivered, but there were still significant reforms needed to improve how the Ombudsman functioned.

The Ombudsman’s report into the lockdown of public housing towers during a COVID outbreak.Credit: Penny Stephens

“Requirements for legislative change have emerged over the years and some remain unfilled,” Glass said.

“We still do not have a broad ability to release information in the public interest, our investigations can be hampered by our inability to obtain cabinet-in-confidence documents, our oversight regime is inefficient and ineffective, and while there have been welcome moves towards budget independence, reform does not go far enough.”

“These will be for my successor to take up, as they see fit.”

Speaking at a parliamentary inquiry in August, Glass was critical of the current oversight rules that require her to report to the Victorian Inspectorate every time she uses her coercive powers in an investigation. In the last year, her office had to make 185 notifications and respond to multiple requests for information, leading to significant delays.

Under the legislation, the Ombudsman can summon people for interviews, obtain confidential documents and enter premises and receive evidence under oath.

On Thursday, she said she had also hoped the creation of the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission in 2014 would “make it clearer that corruption was IBAC’s business and fairness was mine”.

“Nearly 10 years later the lines are more blurred,” Glass said.

“Corruption is certainly IBAC’s business and fairness is still at the heart of my vision for
the office. But the boundaries between the two are not clear-cut.”

Victoria’s prison system was the source of the most complaints to the Ombudsman in 2022-23, rising by 18 per cent. Cost of living pressures have also led to a 1.4 per cent increase in complaints involving councils, the second most common topic.

The Victorian Ombudsman says complaints about social housing are on the rise. Credit: Paul Jeffers

But Glass said complaints about social housing continue to grow, and pointed to a report into the sector, released in July last year, which highlighted a broken complaint system, properties in dire need of repairs and instances where renters felt their health and safety was being compromised.

“Complaints about social housing are rising, and are increasingly coming to us via community legal centres,” she said.

“While I am pleased to see our CLC partnerships bearing fruit, it should not take the repeated nudge of the Ombudsman’s elbow to deliver outcomes for some of the most disadvantaged people in our society.”

Since 2014, the Victorian government has on average accepted 95 per cent of the Ombudsman’s recommendations, but this fell to 83.7 per cent in 2022-23 because it was yet to respond to eight requests made in Glass’ social housing report.

“These recommendations, developed in close collaboration with the sector, including advocacy groups, would deliver real change at a minimal cost, in an area that has been neglected for too long,” Glass said.

The annual report also reveals the Ombudsman received $1.4 million from the government as an advance from the Treasurer after the parliament referred the probe into the public service.

That referral requested her to investigate “allegations in the article published in The Age that ALP activists are “stacked” into the public service, thus compromising objectivity and professionalism and increasing the risk of corruption”.

In September, the Ombudsman and IBAC delivered a progress report into their joint investigation, Operation Watts, which called for reforms to stop the use of taxpayer staff for party political activities and anti-corruption measures such as a parliamentary integrity commissioner.

Former IBAC commissioner Robert Redlich, left, and current Victorian Ombudsman Deborah Glass.Credit: Paul Jeffers

The update found some improvements had been made, but they were still yet to be consulted on key changes promised to be delivered by June 2024.

Shadow attorney-general Michael O’Brien accused the state government of stalling on integrity measures.

“The Ombudsman has again highlighted the gulf between what Labor says and what Labor does,” he said.

“Premier Allan must listen to the Ombudsman and start taking integrity seriously, or she will face the same condemnation as her predecessor.”

It came as acting Parliamentary Budget Officer Xavier Rimmer was on Thursday signed off to take on the role full-time, serving a five-year term.

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