Editors --- "Industry Ombudsmen" [2003] AdminRw 18; (2003) 55 Admin Review 54

• Industry ombudsmen

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Industry ombudsmen

The Council notes that the establishment of industry ombudsmen is becoming more prevalent. In 2002 the Council made a submission to the Department of communications, Information Technology and the Arts in response to a discussion paper proposing the establishment of another industry ombudsman, the Postal Industry Ombudsman. Among other things, it submitted,

The establishment of any new administrative review body should be precipitated by a clear need for such a body. In recent times a number of industry ombudsman schemes have been established, especially in relation to areas that were previously publicly owned or regulated.^[1] While generally not unsupportive of such schemes, the Council believes that such bodies should only be established where there is a demonstrable case that they would be welcomed by the community and are likely to impose consumer satisfaction by enhancing the efficiency and responsiveness of service delivery.

The Council intends to monitor developments in this area.

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^[1] For example, telecommunications, banking, insurance and energy.