Purpose
This Client Service Charter sets out what Queensland Office of the Information Commissioner (OIC) clients can expect from us and what the OIC expects from its clients.
The OIC
The OIC is an independent statutory body that reports to a Parliamentary Committee. This means the community can have confidence that the role of the Information Commissioner will be carried out independently, fairly, and impartially.
Our vision is “Building Trust through transparency”.
Our role is to independently regulate and promote information access and privacy rights.
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 that are subject to the Right to Information Act 2009 (Qld) (RTI Act) and Information Privacy Act 2009 (Qld) (IP Act).
What you can expect from us
We will deliver our services in line with our values. This means we will:
- listen and work with you to understand your individual circumstances and cultural needs
- be courteous, helpful, and respectful in our dealings with you
- deal with your matter according to law in a fair, timely and impartial manner and provide you with regular updates
- keep your matter confidential, subject to our obligation to ensure all parties have a reasonable opportunity to respond (this is often known as ‘procedural fairness’)
- respect your privacy and protect your personal information
- respect and protect your human rights
- give clear explanations about what we can and cannot do, and explain our decisions using plain language
- make our services accessible, including by:
- having a clear website with easy-to-read guidelines, brochures and publications
- where possible, providing interpreters and other services on request
- provide you with information about other options you may have, including any appeal or review rights.
Complaints
If you believe OIC has not met these service expectations, you can make a complaint under our Complaints Management Procedure.
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 (Qld) (Human Rights Act) forms part of the obligations and oversight mechanisms of government.
The main objects of the Human Rights 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 we have not properly taken your human rights into account when making a decision or taking an action as required by the Human Rights Act, you can make a complaint under our Complaints Management Procedure.
What we expect from you
The Information Commissioner (IC) has a responsibility to maintain a safe, supportive and respectful workplace for their employees.
The IC expects everyone who deals with OIC staff and Commissioners, to do so in a respectful and polite manner.
In order to provide you with the best possible service, we expect you to:
- give us the information we need to provide you with the service you are seeking
- be polite and respectful when dealing with OIC staff verbally or in writing
- listen when in contact with us and advise us if you do not understand something we have told you
- advise us if you have any special needs that we may need to take into consideration when communicating with you
- respond to our requests within the timeframes allowed or contact us in a timely manner if you are unable to do so
- update us if your circumstances change
- respect and accept what our role does and does not allow us to do.
The IC also expects that you will not:
- behave in an aggressive, sarcastic, offensive, intimidating, humiliating or threatening way
- intimidate OIC staff physically or emotionally, including through victimisation
- make unsubstantiated allegations of misconduct or personal attacks
- ridicule, name call or make gendered or racist statements based on personal attributes including a staff member’s gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, disability or age.
Behaviour of the above nature will not be tolerated and will be handled in accordance with OIC's Managing Complex and Unreasonable Behaviour Policy and could result in your contact with us being limited.
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.
Contact us
You can contact us by telephone, email, post or using our online contact form.
Web: www.oic.qld.gov.au
Email: administration@oic.qld.gov.au
Telephone: 1800 642 753 or (07) 3234 7373
Postal Address:
Office of the Information Commissioner
PO Box 10143 Adelaide Street
Brisbane Qld 4000