The Ombudsman is an officer of the

New Zealand Parliament The New Zealand Parliament ( mi, Pāremata Aotearoa) is the unicameral legislature of New Zealand, consisting of the King of New Zealand (King-in-Parliament) and the New Zealand House of Representatives. The King is usually represented by hi ...

to independently look into complaints. The core jurisdiction of the office is cases of

maladministration Maladministration is the actions of a government body which can be seen as causing an injustice. The law in the United Kingdom says Ombudsmen must investigate maladministration. The definition of maladministration is wide and can include: *Delay ...

, but it has been progressively expanded over the years to cover complaints under the

Official Information Act 1982 The Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) is an Act of the New Zealand Parliament which creates a public right to access information held by government bodies. It is New Zealand's primary freedom of information law and has become an important pa ...

and

Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 The Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 (sometimes known by its acronym LGOIMA) is a statute of the New Zealand Parliament which creates a public right of access to information held by local authorities and council-control ...

, 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. The current Chief Ombudsman is Peter Boshier.

History

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. In 1962 Parliament passed the Parliamentary Commissioner (Ombudsman) Act 1962, creating an ombudsmen system based on that of

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, with powers to investigate administrative decisions. 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.''Parliamentary Commissioner (Ombudsman) Amendment Act 1968'' In 1975 the Act was replaced with the Ombudsmen Act 1975, which allowed for multiple Ombudsmen, each serving a term of five years. In 1982 the jurisdiction of the Ombudsmen was expanded again, to cover complaints under the

List of Chief Ombudsmen

The following is a list of New Zealand's Chief Ombudsmen:

References

External links

* {{New Zealand Chief Ombudsman Officers of the Parliament of New Zealand

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

1962 establishments in New Zealand