新西兰英语 566 Ombudsman office needs more staff

 　　The Ombudsman, Beverley Wakeham, told a Parliamentary committee that her office has too much work and too few staff. She needs another $1m to employ extra staff and for general administration.

　　The job of the Ombudsman office is to deal with complaints about government departments or organisations. The office now has 48 staff members and is expected to cope with a work load of 800 to 1000 complaints at any one time. Now they are having to cope with nearly double that number – at the moment they are dealing¹ with 1854 cases. They have 300 cases waiting but they do not have enough staff to deal with these cases. There are 270 complaints against EQC and CERA – both organizations responsible for the earthquake recovery in Christchurch.

　　The word “ombudsman” is Swedish. New Zealand borrowed the idea of an ombudsman and the word from Sweden. We also have an ombudsman for Insurance and Security, and another for Banking². There is also a complaints commissioner³, which is similar to an ombudsman, for Electricity and Gas.

　　Vocabulary

　　administration – office work

　　deal with – manage, work on

　　cope – manage successfully

　　work load – how much work someone has to do

　　Questions

　　Does your country have an ombudsman or something similar? The International Ombudsman Institute has more than 20 member countries.

　　Why is an ombudsman office important in a democracy?

1 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

2 banking   

n.银行业，银行学，金融业

参考例句：

• John is launching his son on a career in banking.约翰打算让儿子在银行界谋一个新职位。
• He possesses an extensive knowledge of banking.他具有广博的银行业务知识。

3 commissioner   

n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员

参考例句：

• The commissioner has issued a warrant for her arrest.专员发出了对她的逮捕令。
• He was tapped for police commissioner.他被任命为警务处长。