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The long-await­ed report of a review of the ABC com­plaints-han­dling process was released today. The review was con­duct­ed by for­mer Com­mon­wealth and NSW Ombuds­man Pro­fes­sor John McMil­lan and for­mer SBS Direc­tor News and Cur­rent Affairs Jim Car­roll.

Com­ment­ing on the report, ECAJ co-CEO Peter Wertheim said: “Although it is heart­en­ing to note the Review­ers’ rec­om­men­da­tion that the cur­rent ABC com­plaints sys­tem should be scrapped and replaced with a more impar­tial and trans­par­ent sys­tem head­ed by an Ombuds­man, this does not go far enough.”

He added: “The pro­posed Ombuds­man and all of the mem­bers of the com­plaints unit will be employ­ees of the ABC, as is the case under the present sys­tem. The com­plaints unit will there­fore not remain apart from the ABC’s organ­i­sa­tion­al cul­ture and ‘group think’, which have been a peren­ni­al source of com­plaints over many years.”

The ECAJ has long main­tained that to be tru­ly inde­pen­dent and at arm’s length, the com­plaints process must be exter­nal to the organ­i­sa­tion, as is the case in oth­er sec­tors of pub­lic and cor­po­rate life in Aus­tralia.

Wertheim also ques­tioned the pow­ers of the pro­posed Ombuds­man. “It is far from clear whether the Ombuds­man and the com­plaints unit will have any real teeth, or will sim­ply be more win­dow dress­ing. Apart from report­ing to the Board, will the find­ings of the Ombuds­man about a com­plaint be made pub­lic? What pow­ers, if any, will the Ombuds­man or the complaint’s unit have to order redress and, if need­ed, a change of approach by the organ­i­sa­tion?”

Wertheim also expressed dis­ap­point­ment in the fact that even though the report was com­plet­ed in April, it has only been released now, “while pub­lic atten­tion is focused on the Fed­er­al elec­tion four days away.”

Con­tact
Peter Wertheim | Co-CEO
ph: 02 8353 8505 | m: 0408 160 904 | fax 02 9361 588
e: pwertheim@ecaj.org.au | www.ecaj.org.au