Abstract
The Northern Territory with its capital Darwin is a self-governing territory and one of eight states and territories which make up the Commonwealth of Australia. It has a two-tiered political system with both a territory and a local government level. The Administrator of the Northern Territory, appointed by the Governor-General of Australia, fulfils functions widely similar to that of a Governor. The Head of Government of the territory is the Chief Minister, who is appointed by the Administrator. The Northern Territory’s Parliament consists only of the Lower House, the Legislative Assembly. The Australian Parliament has powers to legislate in territories but has granted the Northern Territory and the ACT the right to self-government.
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- 1.
The other self-governing territory is the ACT. Cf the report on the Commonwealth Ombudsman for more information as to the difference between territories and states, Chap. 7, p. 101.
- 2.
Cf. Chap. 7, p. 101 for more information on the Commonwealth.
- 3.
Australian Bureau of Statistics (June 2011).
- 4.
This Commission was established as an independent statutory body by the Health and Community Services Complaints Act 1998. It also used to be situated within the Ombudsman office, cf www.hcscc.nt.gov.au/about/. In August 2011, the Ombudsman’s contract as the HCSC Commissioner expired and the office of the Ombudsman separated from the HCSCC. Since January 2011, the HCSCC — the functions and duties of which have been expanded with the entering into force of the National Registration Scheme on 1 July 2010 — has become a division of the Department of Justice; cf Annual Report 2009/2010, p. 7 and HCSCC Annual Report 2009/2010, p. 5 for more details.
- 5.
The plan aims at fostering “an understanding and commitment to equity and diversity principles, activities and outcomes by all employees in the agency”. The objective is to include “equity and diversity in all Human Resource Management policies and practices” and to “eliminate workplace discrimination and harassment”. Cf Annual Report 2010/2011, p. 97 for details.
- 6.
Cf APOR Manual (2009), p. 22.
- 7.
Cf www.ombudsman.nt.gov.au/about-us/our-structure/ for details.
- 8.
Cf Annual Report 2010/2011, p. 21.
- 9.
Cf APOR Manual (2009), p. 21.
- 10.
Cf Annual Report 2010/2011, p. 143.
- 11.
Public authorities are defined in s5 OA and include an agency, the Police service, the Power and Water Corporation, a council or another entity that is constituted or established for a public purpose by or under a law of the Territory or declared to be a public authority by other legislation.
- 12.
Cf APOR Manual (2009), p. 20.
- 13.
Cf s19ZE(1) Ombudsman Act (Commonwealth).
- 14.
Cf www.phio.org.au/ for details.
- 15.
Cf www.fos.org.au/centric/home_page.jsp for details.
- 16.
The office’s jurisdiction has been extended over the years; last extensions include the Telecommunications Interception Inspection and Surveillance Devices Inspections in 2007, respectively 2008.
- 17.
A third party may only make a complaint if the complaint raises a substantive issue or if the party has first-hand evidence about the matter complained about. Also, a deceased person may be represented by a third party (s22 OA).
- 18.
The Ombudsman shall inform all parties involved of the referral (s32(2) OA).
- 19.
In the case of a referred complaint, the Ombudsman must deal with such a complaint (s18 OA).
- 20.
The period is limited to a maximum of 45 days by law.
- 21.
It could be assumed that this is possible in practice as, pursuant to s49 OA, every investigation is to be conducted in private.
- 22.
Cf Sect. 9.2.2.2, p. 135 for details.
- 23.
Cf APOR Manual (2009), p. 19.
- 24.
Cf s155 OA.
- 25.
Cf APOR Manual (2009), p. 19.
- 26.
Included in the OA following the reform of the establishing legislation in 2009, cf APOR Manual (2009), p. 24.
- 27.
Of the 1,768 initial approaches, 977 were made by men (55.3 %) and 791 were made by women (44.7 %).
- 28.
Cf Annual Report 2010/2011, p. 31.
- 29.
The law requires the Ombudsman to report on the results of inspections that were carried out (s10 Telecommunications (Interception) Northern Territory Act).
- 30.
Cf Annual Report 2010/2011, p. 90.
- 31.
The law requires the Ombudsman to inspect the records to determine the extent of compliance with the Act by the agency and its law enforcement officers (s63 Surveillance Devices Act 2007).
Reference
Commonwealth Ombudsman (2009a) Australasia and Pacific Ombudsman Region Information Manual 2009. Commonwealth Ombudsman, Canberra. www.ombudsman.gov.au/docs/APOR-Manual_20091009.pdf. Accessed 10 Nov 2011
Further Reading
Overview of Legislation: http://www.comlaw.gov.au/Details/C2011C00309; http://www.ombudsman.nt.gov.au/about-us/legislation/
Annual Reports (2002–2011): http://www.ombudsman.nt.gov.au/publications-reports/annual-reports/
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Frahm, M. (2013). Australia: Northern Territory Ombudsman. In: Australasia and Pacific Ombudsman Institutions. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-33896-0_9
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