If you are being badly harmed, please send your complaint directly to us (go to Step 2).
We prioritise complaints that are urgent.
Step 1: Make an internal complaint
First you should make a complaint to the detention centre. This gives the detention centre a chance to fix the problem.
You can make a complaint yourself by speaking to someone who works at the detention centre or by speaking to the community visitor.
If you can, write down what went wrong. You should also write down who you spoke to about it, and when you spoke to them (the date).
Otherwise, a parent, carer or friend can make a complaint for you.
Step 2: Make a complaint to us
Once you have given your complaint to the detention centre, send your complaint to us (tell us what went wrong).
In some cases, we will need to allow the detention centre time to fix the problem before we can try to resolve it. If this is the case, we will talk to you about it once we receive your complaint.
The complaint can be sent to this address:
Queensland Human Rights Commission
PO Box 15565
City East Q 4002
Sent by email: enquiries@qhrc.qld.gov.au
Or lodged online: https://www.qhrc.qld.gov.au/complaints/how-to-make-a-complaint/make-a-complaint-online
What we will do
We will look at your complaint to see if it is something we can help with. We can accept complaints about:
- unfair or poor treatment of children in detention — (including at the Brisbane, Cleveland, and West Moreton Detention Centres),
- the transporting children to detention.
The complaints process can take some time and we can’t solve everything. But we will listen to your and your supporters and do our best to help find a solution.
What we cannot do
We cannot accept human rights complaints about:
- how long a child is detained in a police watchhouse
- decisions to transfer children between police watchhouses (after 1 September 2023),
- the detention of children remanded at Wacol Youth Remand Centre.
We can accept complaints about discrimination that occurs in watchhouses, in the course of transferring children between watchhouses and at the Wacol Youth Remand Centre.