Every day you go to, and talk to, organisations, like your school, sports club, or arts group. Sometimes, something might happen at the organisation that makes you feel unhappy or you may feel uncomfortable or unsafe. When this happens you have the right to speak up and tell someone your problem.
You have the right to speak up and be listened to. The Speak up poster and Speak up leaflet (see below), from the National Office for Child Safety, explain how you can tell someone about your problem and what might happen, in three steps.
- Find support – ask someone you trust to help you.
- Tell your support person about your problem.
- Make your complaint – you don’t have to do this by yourself. Your support person can be there to help you.
The how to make a complaint leaflet is available in Arabic, Chinese, Filipino, Hindi, Greek, Italian, Punjabi, Spanish and Vietnamese on the National Office for Child Safety website.
Check the website of the organisation
Most organisations have complaint forms on their websites to help you make a complaint. To find a form on a website look for the words feedback, comments or contact us.
Ombudsman Tasmania
The Ombudsman provides advice and information to help people make complaints about Tasmanian Government organisations and to understand what happens after a complaint is made.
Equal Opportunity Tasmania
EOT works to stop discrimination in Tasmania and helps people make complaints about discrimination (including discrimination based on your gender but also on other things like your race or religion).
Phone: 1300 305 062
Text: 0409 401 083
eSafety Commissioner
The Office of the Children’s eSafety Commissioner protects Australian children when they experience cyberbullying by administering a complaints scheme. It also deals with complaints about banned online content.
Schools and Child and Family Learning Centres
Make a complaint about a service, decision or action of Tasmanian Government Schools or Child and Family Learning Centres.
Child Safety and Youth Justice Services
Make a complaint, comment, or seek a review of a decision made by Child Safety and Youth Justice Services.
Health Complaints Commissioner Tasmania
You can contact the Health Complaints Commissioner if you have a complaint about your health service provider in Tasmania.
Department of Health – How to speak up
If you feel unsafe or if you are unhappy with how you have been treated by the Department of Health, please let them know. It is always ok to speak up if you are not happy.
Other help
Kids Helpline: 1800 55 1800 or counsellor@kidshelpline.com.au
Headspace and eheadspace: headspace.org.au
The CCYP office can also give you advice about who can help you. We can’t get involved in individual complaints about other organisations but we will try to find someone who can help you. If you’d like help finding out how to make a complaint, please phone us on (03) 6166 1366 or email childcomm@childcomm.tas.gov.au.
We will always keep the information you share with us private, unless we need to share information to keep you or other people safe.
The Commissioner and the CCYP team are happy to listen to whatever you want to say to us. If your complaint is about us, please phone us on (03) 6166 1366 or email childcomm@childcomm.tas.gov.au.
When you make a complaint about us, we will let you know the steps we will take to respond to your complaint and the feedback we will give you.