How we deal with complaints
We follow a process that is designed to promote and protect the rights of victims of crime.
Step 1: Receiving your complaint
Your first contact with us might be via our contact form, a phone call or email.
If you have lodged your complaint with us, we will contact you within 3 business days to let you know we have received it. If you do not hear from us after 3 business days, please contact us to let us know.
Step 2: Assessing your complaint
We will assess your complaint to decide whether:
- we can deal with your complaint
- we can refer you to another organisation better able to assist you.
The Victims’ Commissioner can only deal with a complaint if it has been made by, or on behalf of a victim of crime, and:
- it is in relation to a violent offence, including all forms of domestic and family violence
- it relates to rights under the Charter of Victims’ Rights
- the agency that you have made a complaint about is a government or government-funded agency.
We may need more information from you or the agency you are making the complaint about to help decide if your complaint can be dealt with by the Victims’ Commissioner.
We will contact you if we find that your complaint cannot be dealt with by the Victims’ Commissioner. For example, if your complaint is not about rights under the Charter of Victims’ Rights, or it falls outside of the Victims’ Commissioner’s powers.
We still value hearing about your experience in the justice system. Your story can help us drive change to improve the experiences of all victims.
We may also tell you that you can complain directly with the agency that your complaint is about. It is your choice about who you ask to deal with your complaint.
After we have assessed whether the Victims’ Commissioner can deal with your complaint, we will let you know what we have decided to do.
Step 3: Resolving your complaint
If your complaint can be dealt with by the Victims’ Commissioner, we will get information from the agency you have complained about. We may also ask you for more information.
We will review all the information to establish whether there has been a failure to uphold a right under the Charter of Victims’ Rights and consider if your complaint can be resolved.
In resolving a complaint, the Victims’ Commissioner may make recommendations to the agency. This could involve recommending that the agency:
- apologise to you for how they treated you
- provide further information to you
- changes its policies or processes to minimise future negative experiences for victims
- provides more training for its staff.
These steps and your involvement can help improve the justice system for victims. The Victims’ Commissioner can only recommend agencies take actions or make changes. The Commissioner cannot require or direct an agency to do anything. However, we follow up on all recommendations to monitor whether they have been implemented (see Step 4).
We will let you know about the outcome of your complaint.
Complaints that can’t be resolved
Sometimes a complaint cannot be resolved.
If this happens, the Victims’ Commissioner will write a report and give it to you and the agency you complained about. The report might include information about the steps the Commissioner believes the agency should take to make sure that their acts and decisions comply with the Charter of Victims’ Rights.
Step 4: Monitoring recommendations made by the Victims’ Commissioner
Our office monitors the Victims’ Commissioner’s recommendations to check if the agency implements them. We also evaluate any action taken in response to a recommendation. This is reported in the Victims’ Commissioner’s Annual Report.
No personal information or information that identifies you or any other victim will be included in the annual report.
The Victims’ Commissioner also looks at all complaints and feedback to help identify and review system-wide issues affecting victims.
Disagreeing with how the complaint was handled
If you are unhappy with the handling or the outcome of the complaint, you can discuss your concerns with the officer from the Victims’ Commissioner’s office who dealt with your complaint. They will explain the decision and answer any questions you have.
If you believe that the wrong decision was made about your complaint, you can ask our office to conduct an internal review. You can do that by making an internal review request within 28 days of being notified about the outcome. Your internal review request needs to:
- be made in writing
- outline reasons why you think the decision is wrong. This may include:
- identifying relevant information that wasn’t considered
- providing information about why you think the law was not applied correctly.
An internal review request should be made to contact@victimscommissioner.qld.gov.au or by mail. If you need help to put the request in writing, you can contact us and an officer who was not involved in your original complaint will assist you.
If you have a complaint about our office, you can make a complaint here.