As large swathes of the North Island continue to get to grips with the consequences of severe flooding and a devastating cyclone, the Ombudsman says his office must receive more money for staff to handle a likely deluge of complaints
The country’s official information watchdog has made a last-minute bid for additional Budget funding, with fears Cyclone Gabrielle could lead to a surge of complaints and delay response times.
Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier – who is the final port of call for complaints about public sector agencies, as well as those related to requests for official information – had initially indicated he would not be seeking any further funding to handle a rise in demand related to the Covid-19 pandemic.
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“I am confident that my office will be able to meet the ongoing high demand for our services using our current resources in flexible and agile ways, while also achieving efficiencies at each stage of the relevant process,” Boshier said in a January submission to the Officers of Parliament committee, which is tasked with recommending how much money the office should receive from the Government.
However, in a March 9 letter released last week, the Ombudsman said January’s floods in the upper North Island, as well as devastation caused across the entire island by Cyclone Gabrielle in February, was likely to put even more pressure on his office.
A data analysis completed in January 2021 to assess the experience of the Ombudsman’s Office after the 2008 global financial crisis, the 2011 Christchurch earthquake and the 2019 mosques terror attack had concluded a surge in complaints usually followed a major event.
Complaint completion times
“In previous events, this surge in complaints usually peaks at 30 percent to 50 percent above normal intake levels in the two [to] three years following a significant event. This has certainly proven to be true in the most recent experience of my office when dealing with the intake of … pandemic-related complaints,” Boshier said.
His office’s rate for clearing complaints had already fallen under the weight of demand, with just 54 percent resolved within three months as of March 1, down from 73 percent in the 2021/22 year.
“I will fail to meet both Parliament’s and the public’s expectations for investigating complaints about the actions and decisions of the Government in a timely manner, and my office will be at a very real risk of a backlog similar to that which I inherited due to the Canterbury earthquakes, forming again.” - Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier, on the potential consequences of a failure to secure extra funding
“Without the Ombudsman being able to provide the public and the New Zealand Parliament with timely, independent reports on the activities and decisions of the Government, there is a heightened risk of the public’s trust and confidence in the actions and decisions of the Government deteriorating at a time when it is needed most.”
Temporary staff recruited to handle pandemic complaints were likely to move on in 2023/24 as their contracts ended, leaving the office with a staff shortage at a critical time.
“I will fail to meet both Parliament’s and the public’s expectations for investigating complaints about the actions and decisions of the Government in a timely manner, and my office will be at a very real risk of a backlog similar to that which I inherited due to the Canterbury earthquakes, forming again.”
To address that risk, Boshier said he had taken “the unusual and very rare step” of asking MPs to consider a supplementary Budget bid that would extend temporary funding for complaint handling by another two years, at a cost of $1.6 million.
In a statement, Boshier told Newsroom he was expecting a “surge” in complaints as a result of Cyclone Gabrielle, based on past experience as people exhausted their avenues of appeal with local and central government agencies.
“To be able to deal as effectively and efficiently as possible with the anticipated surge in complaints as a result of the recent extreme weather events our country has experienced (including Cyclone Gabrielle and the Auckland floods), my office needs to be resourced appropriately.”
Boshier said the office’s Budget bid was following the usual parliamentary process, which involved government consideration of a select committee’s recommendation.
