Human rights complaints

Complaints under the Human Rights Act

The Human Rights Act places obligations on public agencies to be compatible with human rights when acting or making a decision. You may make a human rights complaint directly to the relevant public agency.

You can also make a human rights complaint to the QHRC if:

•  you have already made a complaint to the public agency about the alleged breach which is the subject of your complaint, and
• at least 45 business days has elapsed since the complaint was made, and
• you have not received a response to the complaint or have received a response you consider is inadequate.

The QHRC Commissioner has discretion to accept a complaint where less than 45 days has elapsed if there are exceptional circumstances.

What about complaints that could be made to either the Queensland Ombudsman or the QHRC?

The QHRC handles complaints under the Human Rights Act. Information about how the QHRC handles human rights complaints is available here.

The Queensland Ombudsman handles complaints under the Ombudsman Act 2001 (Ombudsman Act). Information about how the Queensland Ombudsman handles complaints is available here.

If you make a complaint to us about a public agency that may also be a human rights complaint, we will assume that you want us to handle the matter under the Ombudsman Act.

If you have made a complaint to the QHRC and then make a complaint to us before the QHRC has finalised the matter, then in most cases we will not assess your complaint further until your human rights complaint to the QHRC has been finalised.