The Commonwealth Ombudsman's Office was created by the Ombudsman Act 1976 (Cth).

The Ombudsman’s Office can investigate and receive complaints from people who believe that they have been unfairly treated by Commonwealth government departments and agencies (e.g. Centrelink). This includes private contractors delivering services on behalf of the Commonwealth government.

The Ombudsman also acts in the following specialist roles:

The Ombudsman can investigate complaints about the actions of Australian Federal Police members and the policies, practices and procedures of the Australian Federal Police as an agency.

The Ombudsman can receive and investigate complaints from serving and former members of the Australian Defence Force or their dependants about official actions in relation to their service. From 1 December 2016 the Ombudsman’s role has been expanded to include an abuse reporting function for the report of sexual abuse, serious physical abuse and serious bullying and harassment within Defence for those who feel unable to access internal mechanisms within Defence.

In this capacity the Ombudsman can investigate complaints about the administrative actions of the Department of Home Affairs and the Australian Border Force, including visa and citizenship delays and immigration detention issues.

The Ombudsman can investigate complaints about Australia Post and Star Track such as lost or delayed letters or parcels, incorrect mail redirection and other customer service issues.

The Ombudsman can investigate complaints about privately registered education providers in their dealings with international students (former, current or future).

The Ombudsman can investigate complaints about private health insurance providers.

VET-FEE Help was a Commonwealth scheme established to help students with fees to pay for vocational education, with the fees repaid when the student’s income reached a certain threshold. The Commonwealth Government ended the scheme in 2018 after issues with some private colleges signing up students but not providing suitable training and other issues. There is help available for students with debts under this old scheme. The VET-FEE HELP Ombudsman is able to consider disputes where students have been signed up to a course and believe they have been treated unfairly or have not been able to complete their studies because of the closure of the provider.