In this Guideline, the terms listed below have the following meanings:
Accessibility is the degree to which a product, system or service is available to as many people as possible.
Agency refers to a public service entity as per section 9 of the Public Sector Act 2022.
Customer complaint (see section 264(4) of the PS Act) means a complaint about the service or action of a public sector entity, or its staff, by a person who is apparently directly affected by the service or action. Examples of customer complaints include:
- a complaint about a decision made, or a failure to make a decision, by a public sector employee of the public sector entity
- a complaint about an act, or failure to act, of the public sector entity
- a complaint about the formulation of a proposal or intention of the public sector entity
- a complaint about the making of a recommendation by the public sector entity
- a complaint about the customer service provided by a public sector employee of the public sector entity.
Complaint management system consists of all policies, procedures, practices, systems, staff and resources used to manage complaints within an agency (AS 10002:2022, p.2).
Complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction made to or about an agency related to its services or actions, or its staff (AS 10002:2022, p.2).
Complainant is a person or their representative, or an organisational representative who makes a complaint to an agency. A representative must be authorised to make the complaint on behalf of the person or organisation, e.g. parent/ or relative/person with enduring power of attorney, or officer of an organisation.
Customer is a person or organisation who is apparently directly affected by a service or action by an agency.
External review is a process available for specific types of complaints where an oversight agency, such as the Queensland Ombudsman, or other complaints handling organisation, investigates the handling of a complaint by an agency or deals with complaints that were previously the subject of a complaint to an agency. An external review will only occur after the complainant has progressed through the agency’s complaint process in the first instance and exhausted any other internal right of review.
Internal review is a merits review that involves a consideration of whether, based on the information/facts available at the time, the decision made was the correct one (including whether the actions and decisions were lawful, reasonable, fair and not improperly discriminatory). It is not a re-investigation of the complaint; it is an impartial review of a decision made about a complaint undertaken by an appropriate officer independent from the original decision-maker.
Unreasonable complainant conduct is any behaviour which, because of its nature or frequency, raises substantial health, safety, resource or equity issues. Examples of unreasonable complainant conduct can include unreasonable persistence; unreasonable demands; unreasonable lack of cooperation; unreasonable arguments; and unreasonable behaviour (AS 10002:2022, p.3).
Vulnerability is a state of being especially susceptible to detriment due to circumstances including disability, age, literacy levels, gender, trauma, stress and location – rural/remote and/or homeless (AS 10002:2022, p.3).