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Compliments and complaints

QCAT is committed to professionalism, integrity and impartiality of its staff and decision makers and values the right of parties to have access to a quality service.

We take every complaint seriously. We respond fairly, promptly and openly. This means we make our complaints process easy to understand and we will answer any questions you have.

QCAT is people focused and we value feedback and complaints from the people we serve. This is because we use complaints as feedback to help us to improve services.

Making a complaint will not disadvantage you or affect the outcome of your matter. We treat your complaint confidentially and only share information when needed to resolve it.

Compliments

If you would like to send us a compliment about our performance or services complete the feedback form at Feedback | Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

Complaints

A complaint is feedback you give us when you are not happy with something we have done, or not done, or how you have been treated, and you want us to respond.

Anyone can make a complaint. We can assist people to do this, including with any support a person needs to provide that feedback – this can include organising an interpreter for a person; helping them with physical access to our premises; organising support for their cultural needs or organising support to assist them emotionally or cognitively.

We may need to withhold some details from a response to you to meet our privacy obligations to other people.

We are committed to effective client complaints management. Our client complaint process aims to be fair, timely, easy to use and confidential.

What you can complain about

We can help with complaints about:

  • Decisions made by registry staff about your documentation or application or failure or refusal to make a decision
  • Policies or procedures
  • Registry staff contact
  • Registry staff service delivery.

Some complaints are handled under a different process. We will tell you if your complaint falls into one of these categories and help you find the right pathway. Some examples include allegations of corrupt conduct, breaches of human rights, or breaches of guardianship orders. They must be handled under a different policy and under a different process. These may fall under one of the below acts and legislation:

  • Corrupt conduct under the Crime and Corruption Act 2001
  • Functions, obligations and powers under Queensland’s Guardianship legislation and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
  • Human Rights Act 2019
  • Public Interest Disclosure Act 2010
  • Public Sector Act 2022
  • Complaints about another agency or service provider
  • Ministerial complaints

Guiding principles

These principles reflect our values, and commitment to a fair, accessible and accountable complaints process.

  1. Enabling – making it easy to complain

    We make it easy to complain by:

    • making sure you will not be disadvantaged for making a complaint
    • publishing clear information on how and where to complain
    • making it easy and free for everyone, including children, young people and people who need extra support
    • making adjustments when we identify someone needs help
    • acting promptly when someone needs a different kind of support.
  2. Responding – taking action to resolve the complaint

    When we respond to your complaint, we will:

    • be fair, prompt and open
    • protect your privacy and keep your information confidential
    • tell you clearly what is happening, including timeframes and your options if you are not satisfied.
  3. Accountability – learning from complaint feedback to improve services

    We learn from complaints by:

    • identifying how we can better protect human rights throughout the process
    • using complaint data to find patterns and improve our services, not just resolve individual cases
    • being clear with staff about their responsibilities
    • reviewing our process annually, or sooner if the law or our practices change.

What happens when you submit your complaint

  • Your complaint is received by us and sent to the appropriate business area, where an officer will be assigned to review your complaint.
  • We acknowledge receipt of your complaint either in writing or by telephone within 3 business days.
  • QCAT manages complaints at three levels:
    Level 1 – Early resolution: local resolution by staff, focused on outcomes.
    Level 2 – Investigation: investigating the issues and identifying where improvements can be made.
    Level 3 – Internal review: a systemic review of the complaints process and outcome.
  • We will respond to your complaint within 30 business days. If we need more time, we will advise you how long it will take. If it is a human rights or privacy complaint it can take up to 45 business days to resolve.
  • Once completed we will notify you of the outcome

Learning and continuous improvement

We record all complaint outcomes and use them to improve our services. We report regularly to our leadership team to identify trends and fix systemic issues. Learnings are shared with relevant teams. We review this policy annually, or sooner if the legislation or our practices change.

How to make a complaint

You can make a complaint by:

If you would like to contact QCAT staff for help directly we can assist you to make a complaint or give you information about our processes and procedures.

Anyone can make a complaint including anonymously, please note we may not be able to respond or fully investigate your complaint if it is anonymous. This is because we may not be able to ask further questions or seek further information from the complainant to help resolve the complaint. QCAT cannot respond to complaints about a  decision made of a Tribunal Member. Each Tribunal Member is an independent decision maker and is not subject to direction or control by any person or agency, including any Minister.

QCAT members treat all applications on their merits and must decide applications according to established legal principles.

Tribunal member decisions are subject to checks and balances through avenues of appeal.

If you believe QCAT has not met its obligation to conduct proceedings fairly and on the merits of your case, you may wish to consider the legal avenues available to you. Information about your appeal rights is available on our website and will be included with the decision when it is posted to you.

If you need legal advice, we can refer you to a community legal service or advocacy organisation.

Forms for young people

If you are under 18, and are unable to use the online form, you can use this form to make a complaint:

National Principles for Child Safe Organisations

Our complaints process reflects the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations. In practice, this means staff take extra care when a complaint involves a child or young person – including using language and processes that are easy for them to understand. Any concern regarding a child’s safety is escalated appropriately. This empowers staff to identify issues and make improvements that support the safety and wellbeing of children and young people.

Human rights complaints

Complaints under the Human Rights Act 2019 (Human Rights Act) can only be made about alleged breaches which occurred after 1 January 2020.

The Human Rights Act requires public entities (including our department) to be compatible with human rights, as well as give proper consideration to human rights when making decisions. There are 23 human rights set out in the Human Rights Act. Find out more about these rights and the Human Rights Act.

If you believe our actions have breached your human rights, you can raise a client complaint through our existing client complaints process. We will assess all client complaints we receive for breaches of human rights, whether you have identified a human rights concern or not.

Charter of Victims’ Rights – client complaints

The Victims’ Commissioner and Sexual Violence Review Board Act 2024 defines the rights of an affected victim which must be upheld by Queensland Government entities and provides direction on the reporting and referral of related complaints.

A complaint about a breach of an affected victim’s (as defined in the Victims’ Commissioner and Sexual Violence Review Board Act 2024) Charter Right is in scope of the DoJ Client complaints policy.

For more information about the Charter of Victims’ Rights, visit the Office of the Victims’ Commissioner.

Privacy complaints

The Information Privacy Act 2009 requires agencies (including our department) to comply with the Queensland Privacy Principles (QPPs) to protect your personal information that is collected, stored and handled by the Queensland Government. If you consider there has been a breach of your privacy, you can raise a client complaint through our complaints process.

Your privacy during the complaints process

We collect your personal information to process your complaint. Your personal information will be forwarded to the business unit or region relevant to your complaint so your complaint can be addressed.

If you are making a complaint about one of our staff members, your personal information will not be provided to them unless it is specifically required to ensure your complaint is appropriately dealt with. Any use of your personal information will be limited to that necessary to investigate and respond to the issues raised in your complaint.

Complaints processing timeframes

At any stage, it may be appropriate for a complaint’s complexity to be escalated or downgraded in response to investigation findings or after the receipt of further information from the complainant.

General timeframes are as follows:

  • Level 1 - complaints that can be resolved when received (early resolution - for example, immediately by a short discussion or phone call.
  • Level 2- complaints that require an investigation of the issue, should be resolved within 30 business days.
  • Level 3 – complaints that are complex and require an internal review by senior leader/s, or complaints that cannot be resolved at level 2, should be resolved within 45 business days.
  • if there is a delay in resolving your complaint, we will contact you within 30 business days with a new timeframe and outline why there has been a delay.
  • privacy complaints by an individual about an act or decision our department is responsible for relating to their personal information should be resolved within 45 business days of receipt.
  • human rights complaints by an individual about an alleged contravention of section 58(1) of the Human Rights Act 2019 by a public entity in relation to an act or decision by our department should be resolved within 45 business days of receipt.

If you’re not satisfied with the outcome

If you are not satisfied with the response in levels 1 and 2, you can ask for a review from a senior Lleader from QCAT (level 3 complaint).

Queensland Ombudsman

If you are still not satisfied with the response from a senior leader after a level 3 complaint, you can contact the Queensland Ombudsman:

They will assess your complaint and advise if they can conduct an external review (some matters are out of scope for review under this complaint management system—see the list of out-of-scope matters).

Office of the Public Guardian

If you are aged under 18 and are not satisfied with the outcome of your complaint, you can contact the Office of the Public Guardian:

Queensland Human Rights Commission

If you’re not satisfied with the outcome of a human rights complaint, you can contact the Queensland Human Rights Commission:

Accessibility and interpreter assistance

Interpreter

National Relay Service

If you are deaf or hearing impaired, contact us using the National Relay Service:

Last updated:
9 November 2026