Maurice Hayes (Independent)

Drawing on the analogy of the courts may be sending us down the wrong road. The ombudsman procedure is not confrontational in nature. An ombudsman operates in a manner similar to that adopted by French investigative magistrates. I would regard it as the duty of an ombudsman to observe the type of balance to which the Senator refers in order to ensure that ordinary people are decently represented and provided with every opportunity to present their cases. The ombudsman procedure does not, of its nature, allow for head-to-head confrontations in which people are browbeaten by opposing counsel.