Ombudsmen take message to the people

New Zealand's three parliamentary ombudsmen hope to reach more people at the grassroots by translating publicity and education material into "plain-language" English among other tongues.

Chief Ombudsman John Belgrave says the English "translations" are complete and work is advanced on producing Maori, Samoan and Mandarin Chinese versions of his service's publications. He expects these to be ready in a month or two.

Mr Belgrave, who has just taken over supervision of his institution's Auckland office after Anand Satyanand retired last month as an ombudsman, is also adding Northland to a list of venues for regional "clinics" to spread his word further into the community.

His staff are likely to visit Northland in about May, although a date has yet to be set.

"The people who come to these clinics are probably those who wouldn't approach us in writing," he said.

Having been a bureaucrat for more years than he cares to recall, including stints as head of Customs, the old Ministry of Commerce and the Justice Department, he says he relishes his role as chief troubleshooter for ordinary people with grievances against agencies.

"It is a fascinating position because I am talking to real people - it was very much an honour to get the job," said Mr Belgrave, whom Parliament appointed in mid-2003.

Although a number of his more than 30 investigating staff have legal training, he emphasises that people do not need a lawyer to enlist an ombudsman's help to resolve complaints against Government agencies, local authorities, tertiary institutions, or school boards of trustees.

"It is very important to come in to talk face to face with an investigating officer without going through too much legal process," he said. "We try to impress on people who come to us that they don't need a lawyer."

But he said they should still be careful to preserve a paper trail to help ombudsmen do their job.

The ombudsmen have several Maori or Asian investigators, but hope having material translated into other languages will help to get more staff attuned to different cultures.

Mr Belgrave says with ombudsmen handling up 6500 complaints a year, there continues to be a need for the service and the public has confidence in the role of ombudsman.

He says that despite the high visibility of local authorities in communities, their actions generate only about a third of complaints.

"We have to deduce that local government enables people in many cases to quite often get satisfaction," he said.

Although complaints against Government agencies continue to rise, he says big organisations such as Inland Revenue and ACC have heeded his service's advice to improve their complaints procedures.

He is also pleased the Corrections Department is following a recommendation that it install closed-circuit television cameras at Auckland Prison at Paremoremo to aid ombudsmen's investigations of complaints alleging assaults on inmates by staff.

About one-third of overall complaints to ombudsmen are against denials by public organisations of requests for official information.

Department of Complaints

* It is 43 years since Sir Guy Powles became the first ombudsman.

* The number of complaints received annually has grown in the meantime from just under 800 to between 5500 and 6500.