Funding squeeze undermines oversight work: Ombudsman
13 March 2026
The Victorian Ombudsman has told an inquiry that persistent funding shortfalls and an increasingly complex referrals pipeline are constraining her office’s ability to investigate systemic unfairness in government services.
Appearing before Parliament’s Integrity and Oversight Committee, Marlo Baragwanath said the Ombudsman’s mission of upholding fairness, integrity and human rights in public administration depends on a modern, well‑resourced and politically independent integrity system.
She urged greater budget transparency, noting a joint proposal with IBAC and the Auditor‑General.
‘This proposal instead recommends that there's more transparency in the process so that the committee is consulted on what our budget bids are before it goes to Cabinet for decision. And that we're all provided then with feedback for our debrief about what the funding decision was, and then that the Treasurer actually should state in Parliament why we did or did not get the funding that we'd requested, so that there's real transparency,’ she said.
She told the committee the office’s funding has ‘gone backwards in real terms’ and was now sitting at just 39 per cent of its New South Wales counterpart, despite consistently high demand.
The Ombudsman received 18,031 complaints in 2023–24 and 16,943 in 2024–25, with the latter year marked by more complex issues. While the office continues to resolve complaints quickly (94 per cent within 30 days in 2023–24 and 95 per cent in 2024–25) investigations are taking longer, reflecting their complexity and statutory referral obligations.
The office has sought ‘Treasurer’s advances’ most years since 2019 to plug unfunded costs such as enterprise agreement increases and to cover the expense of parliamentary referrals.
She cautioned that non‑recurrent fixes undermine workforce planning and the technology investments needed to manage caseloads and keep complainants updated.
‘It’s not great to fund staff out of Treasurer’s advances because it’s non‑recurrent, so you can’t plan,’ she said.
‘We’re not asking for a blank cheque,' she told the committee.
‘But the community expects us to level the playing field and we need the resources and independence to do it.’
The Integrity and Oversight Committee will hold a further inquiry into the adequacy of the annual budget for the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission, the Ombudsman and Integrity Oversight Victoria.