Customer Service and Feedback

Effective complaints management is fundamental to the provision of quality services that Council aims to provide and enables a mechanism for obtaining feedback from customers and resolving disputes. To this end, Council recognises that errors and mistakes may occur and all reasonable attempts will be made to rectify failures to ensure community confidence is maintained.

Council is committed to effectively handling complaints promptly and professionally and takes seriously all complaints, irrespective of the mode of delivery. Anonymous complaints will also be accepted.

Further information about complaints management at Council:

• Complaints Management Policy(PDF, 98KB)
• Complaints Management Procedure(PDF, 137KB)

How to make a complaint

All complaints should be addressed to the Chief Executive Officer.

Administration Complaint Form(DOCX, 92KB)

Please lodge your complaint using one of the following methods:

Online: Please see Online Complaints section below
Email: flinders@flinders.qld.gov.au
Phone: 07 4741 2900
Mail to:
Flinders Shire Council
PO Box 274
HUGHENDEN QLD 4821

How your complaint will be investigated

When you let us know about your complaint, we will direct your concern to the directorate best able to deal with it. That area will investigate the issue and respond directly to you.

A Council officer may contact you to discuss your concerns or to ask for further information.

Council will then respond to your complaint, giving the reasons for our view.

If you are dissatisfied with the decision (or any part of it), you can apply for internal review, which will be undertaken by an officer more senior to the original decision-maker. The internal reviewer is required to remake the decision with fresh eyes.

How long it will take

Council will do its best to resolve your complaint within 14-45 days, depending on the nature and complexity of your complaint. If there is a delay, the council officer will contact you to advise of the circumstances and the estimated time for receiving the response.

You should be aware that by lodging a complaint, the matter will not be automatically suspended or put on hold.

Further action

If you are not satisfied with the outcome of your concerns, you have the right to take your complaint to an external agency, such as the Queensland Ombudsman or Judicial Review.

If you believe that the complaint involves crime or corruption on the part of a Councillor or Council Officer, this may be reported to the Crime and Corruption Commission to be dealt with externally.

Click here to view form.

The Flinders Shire Council is committed to responsibly manage our region on behalf of its residents. This Charter is our commitment to provide you, our customer, with quality service that is professional, efficient and effective. It also provides our staff with clear standards and expectations to deliver on our promise of quality service. These standards will be regularly monitored to gauge our performance and where we may need to improve.

Customer Service Charter Booklet(PDF, 970KB)

A `Request for Service' includes things like maintenance, potholes, barking dogs. This is different from an Administrative/Staff Complaint. The majority of requests made to Council will be resolved within five (5) working days and the requester contacted when the issue has been attended to.

Requests can be made by telephone, request form available from the Shire Office, email, mail, fax and online form (below).

In most cases, the requester will need to provide full contact details including name, address and phone number, as well as full details of the request including the location of the issue.

The Flinders Shire Council respects your privacy. Personal information is collected in accordance with the Information Privacy Act 2009 guidelines and is used only by Council staff for the purpose of resolving a customer complaint and will not be disclosed unless required by law.

Contact Council:
34 Gray Street Hughenden
Phone: 4741 2900

• Request for Service Form(DOC, 126KB)
• Customer Request Management (CRM) - Brochure(PDF, 287KB)

The Public Interest Disclosure Act 2010 commenced on January 1, 2011, and replaced the Whistleblowers Protection Act 1994.

The main objects of this Act are -

1. to promote the public interest by facilitating public interest disclosures of wrongdoing in the public sector;
2. to ensure that public interest disclosures are properly assessed and, when appropriate, properly investigated and dealt with;
3. to ensure that appropriate consideration is given to the interests of persons who are the subject of a public interest disclosure; and
4. to afford protection from reprisals to persons making public interest disclosures.

Flinders Shire Council Public Interest Policy and Procedure(PDF, 147KB)

Public Interest Disclosure Act 2010