A 'Super Bureaucrat' to the Rescue?
Push and Pull Factors in the Creation of the Queensland Ombudsman, 1963–74
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1017/qre.2012.26Keywords:
Queensland State Ombudsman, independent watchdog, local and state government administration, 1963–74Abstract
Reflecting on the first nine months of his role as Queensland's first State Ombudsman (then titled Parliamentary Commissioner for Administrative Investigations), David Longland noted that support for this independent watchdog of local and state government administration had not always been forthcoming:
When the question of the appointment of a Queensland Ombudsman was first raised, there was consistently an opinion that the services of an Ombudsman were not necessary, but with the growth of administrative action commensurate with the wider field of legislation born of a variety of governments, negative argument was reduced and eventually became positive argument. So effluxion of time brought the adoption of policy for the appointment of an Ombudsman by the Queensland Government.
References
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See, for example, Queensland Parliamentary Debates 257 (19 October 1971), 1200–1; ‘C.P. debate on Ombudsman’, Courier-Mail, 16 May 1968, 8; ‘Ombudsman not for Qld’, Courier-Mail, 20 October 1971, 9.
‘More pressure for Ombudsman’, Courier-Mail, 3 March 1972, 6.
See Queensland Parliamentary Debates 258 (10 November 1971): 1689–91; Newspaper clipping, ‘Revolt by Liberal on Ombudsman’, Telegraph, 10 November 1971, Part 2 Ombudsman, QSA, item 541005; ‘Getting closer to an Ombudsman?’, Courier-Mail, 15 March 1972, 2; ‘C.P. wants grievance settlers’, Courier-Mail, 18 March 1972, 16.
‘Govt. parties want an Ombudsman in policy’, Courier-Mail, 30 March 1972, 3.
Stuhmcke, ‘An empirical study’, 219.
Cribb, Margaret, ‘Australian political chronicle: Queensland’, Australian Journal of Politics and History, 19.3 (1973), 423; newspaper clipping, ‘Queensland loses out on Ombudsman – squeeze shelves promise’, Australian, 15 August 1973, Ombudsman Part 2, QSA, 541005; ‘Senate candidate seeks Ombudsman’, Courier-Mail, 16 August 1973, 8; newspaper clipping, ‘“State will have an Ombudsman”‘, Telegraph, 16 August 1973, Ombudsman Part 2, QSA, item 541005; ‘Ombudsman to have wide say – Premier’, Courier-Mail, 23 March 1974, 3.
See, for example, Cribb, Margaret, ‘Australian political chronicle: Queensland’, Australian Journal of Politics and History, 20.2 (1974), 244.
Newspaper clipping, ‘Our Ombudsman is a step closer’, Telegraph, 14 November 1972, Ombudsman Part 2, QSA, item 541005; ‘Look at job of Ombudsman’, Courier-Mail, 20 September 1972, 3; ‘Premier's portrait of perfect Ombudsman’, Courier-Mail, 9 January 1973, 3.
Newspaper clipping, ‘Finding the best man to help you’, Sunday Mail, 13 August 1972, Ombudsman Part 2, QSA, item 541005.
Annual Report of the Queensland Parliamentary Commissioner, pp. 3, 7.
Queensland Parliamentary Debates, 264 (4 April 1974), 3612–13, 3629; newspaper clipping, ‘State Mr. Fixit will take you seriously’, Telegraph, 13 August 1974, Ombudsman Part 2, QSA, item 541005.
Gellhorn, ‘The Ombudsman in New Zealand’, 1155, 1165, 1183–4; Weeks, ‘Public servants in the New Zealand Ombudsman system’, 636.
Jack Richardson, ‘The Ombudsman's place among the institutions of government – past, present and future’, Australian Journal of Administrative Law, 8.4 (2001), 184.
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Annual Report of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administrative Investigations 1978–1979, 4, 5, 9–10; Commonwealth Ombudsman Annual Report 2008–09, 30; Annual Report of the Queensland Ombudsman 2008–2009, 3, 68.
