Complaints process

We appreciate your feedback. It helps us to improve our service delivery and achieve our goals. We’re committed to ensuring that complaints are dealt with in a transparent, responsive, effective and fair way.

On this page

Making a complaint

How to make a complaint

You can contact our customer service centre to:

  • make a complaint
  • give feedback
  • ask a question.

How your complaint will be managed

Your complaint will be handled in accordance with our Complaint Management Framework (PDF, 267KB).

If your complaint relates to a local problem, it will normally be handled by an officer in the business group or region involved.

Your complaint may be referred to a more senior management level if it’s related to an organisational problem such as:

  • misconduct by staff
  • misuse of resources
  • maladministration
  • danger to the environment or public health.

If there is a specialised or statutory process for dealing with an issue, such as right-to-information requests, we must use that process.

If your complaint may involve an allegation of corrupt conduct of the Director-General, it will be handled in accordance with the Complaints about the Director-General Policy (PDF, 80KB) (see section 48A of the Crime and Corruption Act 2001).

After the complaint has been considered, the department will contact you to explain what has been found and the action that will be taken.

If you’re not satisfied with the outcome, you may request an internal review of the decision or contact the Queensland Ombudsman.

Your privacy

You can submit feedback and complaints anonymously. However, that will mean we won’t be able to contact you to get more information or to let you know the outcome of your submission.

We will not release your personal information to a third party without your consent unless we are required to do so by law, according to the Information Privacy Act 2009. If you're concerned that your privacy has not been dealt with in accordance with this Act, you can submit a written privacy complaint to the department.

Response times

  • We'll acknowledge your complaint within 5 working days.
  • Simple complaints related to service delivery and code of conduct complaints that don't require additional enquiries, may be resolved within 7 working days.
  • Complaints that require additional enquiries may take up to 8 weeks.
  • More complex matters may take up to 3 months.
  • If an investigation or formal disciplinary processes are required, it may take longer (e.g. 6–9 months).

Statistics on complaints against the department

The Public Sector Act 2022 defines a customer complaint as a complaint about the service or action of the department or its staff, by a person who is apparently directly affected by the service or action.

It also states we must publish information relating to the customer complaints we receive. View the statistics of how many complaints we've received and how many required further action.

Public interest disclosures

A public interest disclosure means revealing information that is in the public interest about wrongdoing in the public sector. To be considered a public interest disclosure under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 2010, it must be:

  • public interest information about serious wrongdoing or danger
  • an appropriate disclosure
  • made to a proper authority that has the responsibility or power to take appropriate action.

Policy and procedure

PID examples

Any person, including members of the public, can make a disclosure about:

  • a substantial and specific danger to the health or safety of a person with a disability
  • a substantial and specific danger to the environment
  • an environmental offence (Schedule 2 of the PID Act)
  • the conduct of another person that could, if proven, be a reprisal.

Employees of the department and other public sector agencies can make a disclosure about:

  • suspected corrupt conduct, as defined in the Crime and Corruption Act 2001
  • maladministration that negatively affects someone’s interests in a substantial and specific way
  • a substantial misuse of public resources
  • a substantial and specific danger to public health or safety.

How to make a disclosure

Anybody can make a public interest disclosure to:

  • The Manager
    Governance and Ethics
    Human Resources
    Department of Agriculture and Fisheries
    GPO Box 46
    BRISBANE QLD 4001
    Ph: 07 3087 8543
    Email: ethics@daf.qld.gov.au
  • The Director-General
    Department of Agriculture and Fisheries
    GPO Box 46
    Brisbane QLD 4001

Employees of the department can also make a public interest disclosure to their manager or supervisor.

Anybody can also make a disclosure to the following bodies, external to the department:

More information

Last updated: 12 Oct 2023