Purpose
The purpose of this Client Service Charter is to clearly set out what our clients can expect of services provided by the Office of the Information Commissioner (OIC). This Charter sets out the expectations of the OIC in relation to our performance and our expectations of our clients.
The OIC
The OIC is an independent statutory authority that reports to a Parliamentary Committee. This ensures that the community can have confidence that the role of the Information Commissioner will be carried out independently, fairly, and impartially.
Our vision is an informed Queensland that values and respects information rights and responsibilities.
Our role is to:
- provide independent, timely and fair reviews of access and amendment decisions made under the Right to Information Act 2009 and the Information Privacy Act 2009
- provide an independent, timely and fair privacy complaint mediation service
- assist agencies to achieve compliance with the privacy principles
- promote greater awareness of right to information and information privacy in the community and within government
- improve agencies’ practices in right to information and information privacy
You can find out more about our Key Functions from our website and in our Strategic Plan.
Our clients are members of the community and Queensland public sector agencies and the Queensland Parliament.
What you can expect from us
We will deliver our services in line with our values:
| Respectful | Collaborative | Focused | Innovative |
|---|
This means we will:
- be courteous, helpful and respectful in our dealings with you
- deal with your external review, privacy complaint, or request for assistance in a fair, timely and impartial manner and provide you with regular updates on the progress of your matter
- keep your matter as confidential as possible subject to the requirements of affording procedural fairness to others when dealing with your issue
- respect your privacy and protect your personal information
- respect and protect your human rights
- give clear explanations about what can and cannot be done for you and explain our decisions in plain English
- make our services accessible, including by:
- having a clear website with easy to read guidelines, brochures and publications
- providing interpreters and other services (if possible) on request
- provide you with information about what other avenues may be open to you including possible appeal / review rights.
Human rights
We support the Queensland Government's vision for a modern, fair and responsive Queensland that respects, protects, and promotes human rights. From 1 January 2020, the Human Rights Act 2019 will form part of the obligations and oversight mechanisms of government.
The main objects of the Act are to:
- protect and promote human rights
- help build a culture in the Queensland public sector that respects and promotes human rights
- help promote a dialogue about the nature, meaning and scope of human rights.
If you believe that an OIC employee has not properly taken your human rights into account when making a decision or taking an action, as required by the Human Rights Act, you may make a complaint to us. Human rights complaints will be managed under our Complaints Management Procedure (linked below).
How you can help us
We are committed to providing quality services, delivered with courtesy and respect.
You can help us do this by:
- providing us with information relevant to our services
- being polite, respectful and willing to listen when in contact with us
- responding to our requests within nominated timeframes
- updating us if your circumstances change
- respecting what our role allows us to do and what it does not.
If you are unable to meet these expectations, we may restrict our contact with you – for example, we will engage with you in writing only.
Feedback on our performance
We continually monitor our performance to ensure we meet our service standards and welcome your feedback. We conduct surveys of clients to obtain feedback about our performance with a view to further improving our services.
You can provide feedback on our services via the below contact details. If you are unhappy with our services and wish to lodge a complaint, please refer to our Complaints Management Procedure.
Contact us
You can contact us in person, by telephone, or in writing (by email, letter or online).
Postal Address:
Office of the Information Commissioner
PO Box 10143 Adelaide Street
Brisbane Qld 4000
Office Address:
Level 11
53 Albert Street Brisbane
Queensland 4000
Telephone: 1800 642 753 or (07) 3234 7373
Email: administration@oic.qld.gov.au
Web: www.oic.qld.gov.au
