‘I understand that the MIQ system has caused anger, concern and distress among many people... We are currently looking into all the complaints... We will be sharing some news in a week or two.
Navdeep Kaur Marwah
Indian Weekender caught up with the Chief Ombudsman of New Zealand Peter Boshier to know more about the significance of the role of Ombudsman, the history, his motivation and what he is doing about the increasing complaints against the MIQ system.
Mr Boshier was born and educated in Gisborne, attended Victoria University of Wellington and obtained a Bachelor of Laws with Honours Degree in 1975. In 2004 he was appointed as the Principal Family Court Judge of New Zealand and in December 2012, he was appointed a Law Commissioner. He has been the Chief Ombudsman of New Zealand since December 2015.
What is the significance of this position?
I came here having been a Judge in the family court. When I was asked by Parliament to become an Ombudsman, honestly, I knew very little about the position then. It is one of three offices of the Parliament and I have a direct relationship with Parliament. From a constitutional point of view, it is a very, very important role, and one that I value because of the independence that we have to say what should be said –independent of the views and wishes of the government of the day.
How did the role of an Ombudsman come about and how has it developed over the years?
A long time ago, Scandinavia decided it would have an Ombudsman’s team. It is a Scandinavian expression, which means someone who looks into complaints and investigates them. New Zealand became the first country outside of Scandinavia to develop an Ombudsman team in the year 1962. The most famous being Sir Guy Powles, the first Ombudsman of New Zealand who was appointed on 1 October 1962.
Next year, on the 60th anniversary, we plan to celebrate with a function in Parliament. Sir Paul started with just a staff of 16, and now my office has 170 staff. It has grown by leaps and bounds. We encourage people to use us. We want to help people, and we have got good ability to do so.
A lot of complaints come in. It can be everything from bullying, noisy neighbours to immigration, not applying the correct procedure to process a person’s application. One can complain against anything that one feels is disrupting his/her life.
We triage these in the office and give them a time as quickly as we can. The breadth of work that we do has changed over the years. Most of our work starts as complaints under the Ombudsman act. Then we have the official information act, and that's when people want to know what information an agency holds about something - be it Immigration or Department of Customs. Let say, for example, a particular agency of local government is not providing them with the information they need, they can complain to us.
We are appointed by Parliament to monitor the rights of people with disabilities. Apart from that, for all those who are in detention – be it in prison, mental health facility, current MIQ facility or aged care facility, we are asked to make sure they are being treated humanely. We understand that many people do not necessarily know their rights, they don’t know what they can ask and what to accept and that’s why we are here.
Can you tell us the process of how a complaint can be made to the Ombudsman's office?
The Ombudsman has been a bit too much of a Wellington institution and hasn't reached the four corners of New Zealand, especially the Indian community, Pacific community and Maori as much as it should have. We have a user-friendly website which is even mobile-friendly to make a complaint. You can also ring us on 0800 802 602 or email us at info@ombudsman.parliament.nz.
We accept complaints in all forms. We are also available on social media including Twitter, Facebook and Linkedln. Then we enter the complaint into our case management system and then allocated it to an investigator. A case number is assigned, and then we track it and until we finish it and have a decision on it.
It is important to know that we are free and that's different from going to court where one has to pay a big fee. I want my staff to be more and more open about the way we communicate and the language we use. We want us to be culturally appropriate.
What is your message to people who are fearful of complaining against an authority?
There is nothing to fear. We are secret. Every investigation is done in confidence and secret. I know people are scared to complain. They are scared to create a fuss and are often prepared to accept a decision and not protest, but we say we are prepared to look into the case, and if we think you are treated unfairly, we would try and help you in a way which doesn’t land you in any trouble. I am sensitive to the fact that the Indian community might worry about the consequences, and that's why I am reaching out. I am trying to be more available. We believe all communities need to be treated with equal fairness.
How binding is a decision given by an Ombudsman?
Under the Ombudsman Act, the decision is not binding the way it is in court. The decisions and recommendations are given effect to. There is no point in someone coming to me if my decision is not taken seriously. I would lose credibility. If somebody does not obey the decision or recommendation given by me, they get a letter telling them off. We are few organisations that can table our report in Parliament. When we have an important report it is read in the Parliament. People don't like to be exposed for bad behaviour, and many people would change. We want to be able to make life better for others.
What is the thing that keeps you motivated?
There are 16,000 [people] on average in a year that wants our help. The fact that we can change their life, it gets me motivated. The office is growing. We are trusted, and more and more people need us and are reaching us.
In the current scenario, a lot of people have complaints against the MIQ system. What is happening with them?
I understand that the MIQ system has caused anger, concern and distress among many people who can't come to New Zealand. But the fact is the MIQ will be likely here there for years. We are currently looking into all the complaints. We know it is an important matter. We are looking at the big picture. We will be sharing some news in a week or two.
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