Office of the Ombudsman (New Zealand)

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Office of the Ombudsman
Agency overview
Kaitiaki Mana Tangata

Formed	1962
Jurisdiction	New Zealand
Headquarters	70 The Terrace Wellington 6011
Minister responsible	Gerry Brownlee, Speaker of the House of Representatives
Agency executive	Vacant, Chief Ombudsman
Website	www.ombudsman.parliament.nz

The Ombudsman is an officer of the New Zealand Parliament to independently look into complaints. The core jurisdiction of the office is cases of maladministration, but it has been progressively expanded over the years to cover complaints under the Official Information Act 1982 and Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987, whistleblower complaints under the Protected Disclosures Act 2000, and it is one of New Zealand's national preventive mechanisms under the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture.

Ombudsmen are appointed by the Governor-General of New Zealand on recommendation from the New Zealand House of Representatives for a term of five years.^[1]

The former Chief Ombudsman is Peter Boshier.^[2]

History

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The idea of establishing an ombudsman in New Zealand goes back to early 1961 when the Second National Government circulated a paper proposing to do so, based on the Scandinavian model. The idea was received with skepticism by the public service.^[3] In 1962 Parliament passed the Parliamentary Commissioner (Ombudsman) Act 1962, creating an ombudsmen system based on that of Denmark, with powers to investigate administrative decisions.^[4] Initially the Ombudsman served for a term of three years, and had jurisdiction only over central government agencies. In 1968 their jurisdiction was extended to include education boards and hospital boards.^[5] In 1975 the Act was replaced with the Ombudsmen Act 1975, which allowed for multiple Ombudsmen, each serving a term of five years.^[4] In 1982 the jurisdiction of the Ombudsmen was expanded again, to cover complaints under the Official Information Act 1982.

List of Chief Ombudsmen

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The following is a list of New Zealand's Chief Ombudsmen:^[2]

No.	Name	Portrait	Term start	Term end
1	Sir Guy Powles		13 October 1975	5 April 1977
2	Sir George Laking		6 April 1977	15 October 1984
3	Lester Castle		16 October 1984	26 November 1986
4	Sir John Robertson		21 December 1986	14 December 1994
5	Sir Brian Elwood		14 December 1994	30 June 2003
6	John Belgrave		1 July 2003	3 December 2007
7	Dame Beverley Wakem		23 April 2008	9 December 2015
8	Peter Boshier		9 December 2015	16 March 2024

References

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^ Ombudsmen Act 1975, s5(1).
^ ^a ^b "Past Ombudsmen". Office of the Ombudsman. Retrieved 31 May 2021.
^ Gellhorn, Walter (1965), "The Ombudsman in New Zealand", California Law Review, 5 (35): 1155–1211, doi:10.2307/3478951, JSTOR 3478951
^ ^a ^b Cameron, Bruce James. "Ombudsman". In McLintock, A. H. (ed.). An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand. Ministry for Culture and Heritage / Te Manatū Taonga. Retrieved 31 May 2021.
^ Parliamentary Commissioner (Ombudsman) Amendment Act 1968

External links

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Official website

v t e New Zealand Chief Ombudsman
Powles Laking Castle Robertson Elwood Belgrave Wakem Boshier

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