Enhanced oversight of the APS
The Oversight Legislation Amendment (Robodebt Royal Commission Response and Other Measures) Act 2025 (the Act) began on 15 February 2025.
The Act implements 2 recommendations of the Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme related to strengthening the powers and capability of the Commonwealth Ombudsman to investigate the actions of departments and agencies.
The Royal Commission findings provide evidence that strong oversight is essential to ensuring Australian Public Service agencies act with integrity and in a lawful, fair, transparent manner that meets the needs of the communities they serve.
These legislative reforms position the Commonwealth Ombudsman and Inspector-General of Taxation and Taxation Ombudsman to undertake independent and robust investigations into the actions of government agencies.
The Act imposes a duty on all APS employees and agency heads to use their best endeavours to assist the Ombudsman in the performance of their functions. This reinforces the responsibility of APS employees to act in good faith when engaging with the Ombudsman's office. Failure to do so may be a breach of the APS Code of Conduct and could attract sanctions. The Act amends the Inspector-General of Taxation Act 2003 to apply these measures in respect of the Inspector-General of Taxation and Taxation Ombudsman.
Agency heads are responsible for ensuring their agencies proactively assist the Ombudsman and provide full, free and direct access to relevant records in the course of Ombudsman investigations.
Every APS employee is responsible for acting in good faith when engaging with the Ombudsman's office. In practice, this may look like:
- responding to information requests from the Ombudsman in a timely manner, and engaging early about delays
- providing an agency device to the Ombudsman’s authorised investigator to facilitate their access to the agency’s system in a timely manner
- including all information that could reasonably be considered relevant when responding to a request, even if not specifically referred to in the Ombudsman's request.
The Act implements the Australian Government’s response to recommendations 21.1 and 21.2 of the Report of the Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme.
Find out more
Commonwealth Ombudsman (2025) Statement of Expectations, Commonwealth Ombudsman website, accessed 25 August 2025.
Commonwealth Ombudsman (2025) Factsheet: Access to Documents or Other Records Electronically Held, Commonwealth Ombudsman website, accessed 25 August 2025.