Tuesday, March 31, 2015



Feeding the watchdog?

The Officers of Parliament Committee reported back today on the annual appropriations for the Ombudsman, and have recommended a significant increase in funding. There's additional funding to help it cope with its duties under OPCAT and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and with administration and security, but there's also money for the OIA - notably $166,000 a year for providing proactive training and advice, and $340,000 a year for additional investigators. All up, they're getting a 15% increase. I guess the failures of the office were so blatant that event MPs could see it and recognise that something needed to be done. The question now is whether Ministers will approve it.