In Queensland, the Human Rights Act protects specific human rights by requiring that public entities:
- act and make decisions in a way that is compatible with human rights, and
- consider human rights before making a decision.
The Act protects 23 internationally recognised human rights, such as the right to life, right to privacy and the right to education.
You can find out more about the rights protected under the Human Rights Act by visiting the Queensland Government website or the Queensland Human Rights Commission.
Under the Queensland Human Rights Act, public entities are:
- state government departments and agencies
- public service employees
- Queensland Police Service and other emergency services
- State Government Ministers
- public schools
- public health services such as hospitals
- local governments, councillors, and council employees
- organisations providing services of a public nature.
If you think a public entity hasn’t met its obligations under the Act, you can lodge a complaint.
Before lodging your complaint, you need to make sure that the public entity has made a decision that affects and limits your human rights.
Steps to submit a human rights complaint
First
You need to reach out and complain directly to the public entity that you believe has acted incompatibly with your human rights. This provides the public entity with an opportunity to engage with you and help resolve the complaint.
To make a human rights complaint you need to:
- Provide details of the act or decision that has impacted you, including how it has impacted your human rights
- Explain how the act or decision has infringed on your human rights
and/or
- Explain why you believe the public entity did not give proper consideration to your human rights when making their decision.
If you’re not sure whether your complaint involves your human rights, make sure you include enough information to help the officer who receives your complaint understand what happened.
Providing detailed information in your complaint can save you and the public entity time.
Second
Once your human rights complaint is lodged, the public entity has 45 business days to respond.
You and the public entity should make a genuine effort to resolve the complaint during this period.
If you don’t receive a response within 45 business days, or if you believe the response is inadequate, you can submit your complaint to the Queensland Human Rights Commission.
You can find more information about human rights and complaints at www.qld.gov.au/humanrights.