Compliments and complaints

Your feedback is important to us

The department is committed to building and maintaining relationships with our clients, stakeholders and staff.

We encourage and appreciate feedback, which helps us to shape our service delivery and values, and improve the way we achieve our goals and interact with others.

How to submit a compliment or complaint

You can submit feedback and complaints anonymously if you wish, however, please be aware that if you submit anonymously, we cannot contact you to get further information or to tell you the outcome of your submission.

Assistance with your complaint

If you are deaf or have a hearing or speech impairment, you can call the National Relay Service on:

  • 133 677 (TTY/Voice) or
  • 1300 555 727 (Speak and Listen).

If you need an interpreter, call the Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS National) on 131 450.

If you need any other assistance please contact us through our Customer service centre.

How we handle your complaint

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

Your personal information will not be released to a third party without your consent unless we are required to do so by law, according to the Information Privacy Act 2009. Individuals who are concerned that their privacy has not been dealt with in accordance with the Information Privacy Act can submit a privacy complaint in writing to the department.

We will acknowledge your complaint within 5 working days. For simple service delivery complaints, and Code of conduct complaints that do not require additional enquiries, the matter may be resolved within 7 working days. Matters involving additional enquiries or some fact-finding may take up to 8 weeks and more complex matters may take up to 3 months. If an investigation or formal disciplinary processes are required, the time taken may be longer (e.g. 6–9 months).

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 are not satisfied with the outcome you receive, you may request an internal review of the decision or contact the Queensland Ombudsman.

We are committed to ensuring that complaints are dealt with in a transparent, responsive, efficient, effective and fair way. If your complaint relates to a local problem, it will normally be handled by an officer in the business group or region of the department involved.

If your complaint is more serious or in relation to an organisational problem such as misconduct by staff, misuse of resources, maladministration, or danger to the environment or public health, your complaint may be managed or referred to more senior management or Human Resources to manage your complaint. If there is a specialised or statutory process for dealing with an issue, such as right to information requests, we are obliged to use that process.

Where 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, see section 48A of the Crime and Corruption Act 2001.

Complaints received by the department

The Public Service Act 2008 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 on how many complaints we have received and how many required further action.

Last updated: 17 Jan 2023