Complaints investigated by the Ombudsman identified concerns with the Australian Taxation Office’s (ATO) response when Tax File Numbers (TFNs) are compromised or TFN records are incorrectly linked. Three key areas of concern are the ATO’s: failure to respond appropriately to problems arising from compromised TFNs inadequate policy oversight and recognition of the systemic issues demonstrated...

Guidelines on banning customers from entering Centrelink offices because of inappropriate behaviour are the subject of this report. The Ombudsman has received complaints over a number of years from customers whose face-to-face contact with Centrelink staff has been withdrawn because of their behaviour. The report concludes that in most instances Centrelink’s decisions to ban customers...

The Migration Act requires that a non-citizen who is detained is liable to pay the Australian government the costs of his or her detention. This liability includes costs for the transportation of the person to and from an immigration detention centre and the daily maintenance amount for each day the person spends in detention. In...

This investigation was prompted by 124 complaints received by the Ombudsman’s office about Centrelink’s administration of the activity test requirements following the implementation of Welfare to Work reforms on 1 July 2006. The report was critical of the practice of stopping a person’s welfare payment before a decision was made about whether or not a...

This report deals with the Department of Immigration’s (DIAC) obligation to provide an unsuccessful visa applicant with a letter that clearly explains the decision and information about DIAC’s notification of adverse decisions was not well coordinated or consistent. There was variation in the quality of notification letters, many of which fell short of best practice...