Feeling reluctant to lodge a formal complaint after you have been treated badly is not an isolated experience. Many people who have been wronged may feel that reporting is not worth the hassle and nothing will come from it.
It’s understandable to feel hesitant to complain, especially when it’s an institution causing the harm as the power imbalance can make speaking up feel intimidating. This can be even harder for communities who have historically been discriminated against by government agencies.
But your complaint does matter as it gives you a way to formally record what happened, ask an institution to address it and make sure your experience is not forgotten.
Hear Me Out can help you take that first step. It can help you work out where to complain, understand your options and draft a formal complaint that clearly explains what happened and what you want to see change.
Does making a complaint do anything?
A formal complaint creates a documented record of what happened to you. When multiple people raise similar concerns, those complaints can show patterns of harm caused by institutions.
Complaints can help expose:
- unfair or discriminatory treatment
- harmful institutional practices
- problems with policies or procedures
- gaps in staff training
- failures to provide appropriate services
- decisions that need to be reviewed
Your complaint can do more than seek an outcome for you. It can help an institution recognise a problem and, in some cases, contribute to changes that prevent other people from experiencing the same harm.
This is particularly important when the institution involved has significant power over you.
Why individual complaints can lead to bigger change
When similar complaints are made by different people, they can show that a problem is not an isolated incident. Together, they can reveal patterns of discrimination, harmful policies, poor institutional practices or failures in training and services.
That information can help push institutions to change how they operate and can also support broader legal and policy reform.
For people who want to speak up, a complaint can be a powerful way to have an experience formally recognised, seek an outcome and help identify problems that are affecting others too.
Regardless of the outcome of an individual complaint, Hear Me Out can help identify where issues are happening and where there are high volumes of similar complaints. It does not collect people’s names or identifying details. Instead, de-identified information such as the type of complaint and geographical area can be used to track patterns and highlight areas where broader change may be needed.
How do I make a formal complaint?
A formal complaint is generally a written statement explaining what you are unhappy about and what you would like the institution to do about it.
Complaints can also be made informally, including verbally. Some problems can be resolved quickly, while others require a more formal complaints process or review.
You may be able to complain directly to the organisation involved, or to an external complaints or oversight body.
For example, the Commonwealth Ombudsman handles complaints about many Australian Government agencies, including Centrelink, Medicare and the Australian Taxation Office. In NSW, the NSW Ombudsman handles complaints about most NSW government agencies, local councils and community service providers.
There are also professional oversight and registration bodies that deal with complaints about particular professions and services, including healthcare, law, policing and prisons.
You do not need to work this out alone, Hear Me Out can help you identify the appropriate complaints pathway for your situation.
What should I include in a complaint?
A good complaint does not need to use complicated legal language. It should clearly explain what happened and what you want to happen next.
Try to include:
- What happened - explain the incident, decision or conduct you are concerned about.
- Who and where - include relevant dates, times and locations if you can.
- Who was involved - include names, positions or descriptions of the people involved where possible.
- What evidence you have - include relevant emails, letters, screenshots, photographs or other documents.
- How it affected you - explain what impact the experience had on you.
- Why you are concerned - explain what you believe went wrong or should have happened differently.
- What outcome you want - be clear about whether you are seeking an explanation, apology, review, investigation, reimbursement or changes to policies and practices.
- Whether you have complained before - include details of previous complaints or correspondence if they are relevant.
- Any deadlines - check whether there are time limits for making or escalating your complaint.
- Hear Me Out can help you organise this information and use its writing tool to turn your experience into a clear formal complaint.
What can I ask for in a complaint?
Before making a formal complaint, it can help to think about what you want to happen as a result.
Depending on your circumstances, you might ask an institution to:
- Acknowledge what happened - you could ask for an acknowledgement or apology for how you were treated.
- Explain what happened - you may want an explanation of why a decision was made or why you were treated in a particular way.
- Correct your records - if information held about you is incorrect, you could ask for your records to be corrected.
- Review a decision - if you believe a decision was unfair, you could ask for it to be reviewed or reconsidered.
- Address a financial loss - if an institution's actions caused you to lose money, you could ask for reimbursement or compensation where appropriate.
- Change how things are done - you could ask an institution to review or change a policy, procedure or practice that caused harm.
- Help prevent the same thing happening to someone else - this could include additional staff training, changes to how services are delivered, cultural safety measures or other safeguards.
Think about what would make a meaningful difference to you and what the institution has the power to change.
What if my complaint isn't resolved?
Sometimes an institution will not give you the response you hoped for.
If that happens, it does not necessarily mean you have run out of options.
Some institutions offer an internal review, allowing you to ask for a decision to be reconsidered. You may also be able to take your complaint to an external complaints body, such as an Ombudsman or professional oversight body.
What you can do next will depend on what happened, where you are and which complaints process you are using. Some processes also have strict time limits, so it is important to check these before deciding what to do next.
Hear Me Out can help you understand where you can take your complaint next.
Key takeaways
While making a complaint does not guarantee a specific outcome, complaints can hold institutions responsible, identify recurring problems and contribute to law reform and policy improvements.
Challenging institutions can be hard, particularly where there are power imbalances between the person who has been treated badly and the institution that they are complaining about. But raising concerns can still have great value including seeking an outcome for yourself, ensuring poor experiences are formally documented, or contributing to the identification of recurring problems that could be affecting others.