House of Representatives

Second Reading Speech

Mr Hunt (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for the Environment and Heritage)

I move:

That the bill be now read a second time.

The Postal Industry Ombudsman Bill 2005 (the bill) implements a government election commitment to establish a dedicated Postal Industry Ombudsman (PIO).

Unlike a number of overseas postal administrations, Australia does not yet have a dedicated PIO. As a result, consumers do not have a recognisable, dedicated and independent entity to deal with their complaints about the provision of postal services.

The bill will address this situation by inserting a new part into the Ombudsman Act 1976 to establish the PIO as a separate office within the office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman.

The Commonwealth Ombudsman currently has the authority to investigate actions taken by Australia Post and to recommend that it take appropriate action. However, the Commonwealth Ombudsman does not have a high profile with regard to postal complaints, and many consumers may be unaware of the Ombudsman's role with regard to Australia Post. In addition, the Ombudsman does not currently have the authority to investigate complaints relating to postal operators other than Australia Post, which are instead investigated by relevant state and territory offices of fair trading.

To address these issues, the bill will establish the PIO as a high-profile office that will be responsible for investigating actions taken by Australia Post in relation to the provision of postal services. The PIO will also be able to investigate actions taken by private postal operators (PPOs) who are required to be registered or choose to register with the scheme.

For PPOs who 'opt-in' to the scheme, registration may be attractive because it could be presented as a benefit to customers using their services. It may therefore provide a marketing advantage over their competitors. The PIO will also serve as a final arbiter for the resolution of difficult disputes, which will be of benefit both to postal service providers and their consumers. Any operators who choose not to register will remain subject to the authority of state and territory offices of fair trading.

In many respects, the PIO will be provided with similar powers to the Commonwealth Ombudsman. For example, the PIO will be able to require a person to provide information in writing or to attend before the PIO to answer questions. The PIO will also be required to provide procedural fairness to Australia Post, registered PPOs and their employees in the investigation of any actions they have taken.

However, whereas the Commonwealth Ombudsman's powers are tailored to the investigation of public sector administrative actions, the PIO's powers will be customised for the investigation of service delivery complaints in relation to both Australia Post and PPOs. Moreover, as the PIO will have jurisdiction over non-government entities including those which have voluntarily registered with the PIO, the PIO will not have certain powers that are considered unnecessary or which would act as a deterrent to registering with the scheme. For example, it was not considered appropriate to provide the PIO with the power to enter premises or to override a person's claim to legal professional privilege.

Due to these differences, the PIO's powers will complement rather than replace the Commonwealth Ombudsman's existing powers to investigate action taken by Australia Post. The Commonwealth Ombudsman will retain existing powers to investigate actions by Australia Post and will use these powers primarily to investigate actions that are not related to the provision of postal services. Examples of these types of action are the handling of requests under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 or the handling of pre-employment matters or employee compensation.

Complaint transfer provisions in the bill will mean that complaints can be transferred from the PIO to the Commonwealth Ombudsman, and visa versa. These will mean that most, if not all, service delivery complaints against Australia Post will be dealt with by the PIO in a similar way to those against any other postal operator but, where it is more appropriate to do so, complaints against Australia Post can still be dealt with by the Commonwealth Ombudsman. This will ensure that the full powers currently available for the investigation of actions taken by Australia Post will remain available.

The PIO will also have the discretion to transfer an investigation to another statutory office holder, if it is considered that it could be more conveniently or effectively dealt with by that statutory office holder. In combination, these transfer measures will ensure that complaints are handled by the ombudsman or statutory office holder with the most appropriate functions and duties to deal with them.

Some provisions in the bill have been drafted differently from provisions in the current Ombudsman Act, even though they cover similar matters. This has been done to modernise the drafting style and to address other drafting issues, some of which may be considered during the current review of the act. For example, the current act separates the ombudsman's investigative powers in relation to preliminary inquiries from his or her other investigative powers. However, in practice the division of these powers is not reflective of the administrative practices of the ombudsman. They are, therefore, combined in the new part.

The bill provides that a register of registered PPOs be maintained for administrative purposes and for public information. The bill provides that PPOs other than Australia Post apply in writing to the PIO to be registered, and are taken to be registered once the PIO includes them on the register.

The PPOs, including those which are required to be registered, may apply in writing to deregister from the scheme. However, the PIO will still be able to investigate a complaint about a PPO who has decided to deregister, so long as the action was taken while they were registered and the complaint is received within 12 months of the action complained of. This provision is intended to discourage PPOs from deregistering simply to avoid having particular actions investigated.

The bill provides that the cost of the PIO will be recovered from Australia Post and registered PPOs, and will be based on the cost of conducting investigations into complaints made about them. The details of the cost recovery mechanism will be prescribed in regulations.

The bill, as amended by the Senate, requires PPOs with more than 20 employees and a turnover of more than $1 million to register with the PIO. The government indicates to the House that it disagrees with the Senate amendment to the bill and will move an amendment removing it from the bill. I commend the bill to the House. I present the revised explanatory memorandum.