The Commonwealth Ombudsman has accused the Federal Government’s departments of lacking in clarity in their communication and being inaccessible to those that need their services.

 

Commonwealth Ombudsman Allan Asher criticised the standards of communication by Federal departments in a speech to the National Administrative Law Forum in Canberra.

 

‘Government agencies must place a greater emphasis on social inclusion when approaching policy and service delivery,’ Mr Asher said. ‘Central to this is improving the way government agencies communicate with people.

 

Mr Asher emphasised the importance of taking happiness and wellbeing as a starting point when developing and implementing policy and service delivery, and the value of proper complaints handling in ensuring community feedback leads to improvement in the provision of services.

 

‘I suspect that for every complaint we get, there are maybe 10 we don’t,’ he said. ‘In general terms, I believe that the people we don’t hear from are the people we should be hearing from most, because they are likely to be those members of our community who are the most marginalised and disadvantaged.

 

‘Many of the complaints we receive about government agencies arise from poor communication. Partly I suspect because many agencies see the way they communicate as a side issue to the services they provide, whereas the two are inextricably linked or indeed the same thing.

 

The report gives examples of what it labels ‘common examples of poor, or even lazy, communication’ including:

  • computer-generated form letters, or letters that cut and paste great tracts of impenetrable legislation, or refer to websites to which their clients may not have access
  • sending people too much correspondence, or too little, or none at all
  • call centre staff who don’t have enough information themselves, or don’t have the authority to make proper decisions
  • failing to provide key information, such as the right to review, and how to complain
  • writing in bureaucratese rather than plain language using jargon, acronyms and abbreviations
  • failing to provide simple explanations for people with cognitive impairment
  • taking an officious tone
  • not providing translations or interpreters
  • having no single point of contact, so that people have to repeat their concerns over and over again

 

Mr Asher called for a unified approach across government to making communication clear, accessible and two-way. He recommended a shift in attitude to complaint-handling, pointing to it as a strategic resource.

 

The issue of social inclusion, community-focused service delivery and integrity of government will be the main topics of discussion at the Commonwealth Ombudsman National Conference in November.

 

A full transcript of Mr Asher’s speech can be found here