Contact us

• TTY users and speak and read, type and read and type and listen users can phone 13 36 77
• Speak and listen users can phone 1300 555 727
• SMS relay users can phone 1300 555 727
• Internet relay calls can be made via the National Relay Service internet relay call service

Go to the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts for a full list of National Relay Service call numbers.

If you need help to translate this page in a language other than English, you can access a translating and interpreting service at the phone number below.

Phone 13 14 50 and ask for an interpreter in your language and request to be connected to 1300 305 695.

Local call cost from land line (fixed) telephones. Calls from mobiles will be charged at applicable rates.

Journalists only email [email protected]

If you urgently need accommodation, call Link2home on 1800 152 152 for an information and telephone referral service open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Go to the Department of Communities and Justice, social and affordable housing to find your nearest housing office.

The department takes a people-focused, proactive, and timely approach to managing feedback and complaints.

We are committed to providing an open and accessible process for everyone so that we can be accountable to the community we serve.

Feedback and complaints from the public are a valued and legitimate part of the relationship between the department and our customers.

They provide us with opportunities to improve our services, and are an essential component of an open and transparent planning system.

The department treats all complaints seriously and expects all staff members to be fair, effective, and efficient in all their dealings with our customers.

What is a complaint?

An expression of dissatisfaction made to or about an organisation, related to its products, services, staff, or the handling of a complaint, where a response or resolution is explicitly or implicitly expected or legally required.

Complaints do not include:

• decisions subject to other review processes;
• decisions not subject to departmental control;
• feedback on the quality or delivery of our business or the conduct of our staff, which do not explicitly, implicitly, or legally require a response;
• responses to public consultations;
• staff grievances;
• public interest disclosures or protected disclosures by staff;
• complaints about breaches of the Code of Ethics and Conduct;
• service requests from members of the public; or
• requests for information.

The department manages all complaints according to the following principles:

Visibility

We will place information on the department’s website showing customers how and where complaints can be made.

Accessibility

Our complaints management process will be open; friendly; flexible to meet the needs of the community; and accessible to everyone.

Responsiveness and timeliness

We will acknowledge and manage all complaints promptly and transparently.

Objectivity and fairness

We will address all complaints sensitively and in an objective, professional, and unbiased manner.

Participation

We will involve complainants in resolving their concerns.

Confidentiality

We will handle all complaints confidentially to avoid prejudicing any investigation or the privacy of customers or staff members.

Improvement and service excellence

We will use the outcomes of feedback and complaints to improve the department’s processes and deliver excellent customer service.

At any time, a customer can complain to external bodies such as the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), the Ombudsman, or the Audit Office of NSW.

If you have allegations of corrupt conduct, misconduct, or serious waste of resources, the department encourages you to approach these organisations directly.

The department will make every reasonable effort to:

• understand all the relevant circumstances and information surrounding your complaint; and
• ensure that the level of inquiry is commensurate with the seriousness, frequency of occurrence, and severity of the complaint.

Complaints will be acknowledged upon receipt and will usually receive a response within 21 working days.

If this is not possible, the customer will be contacted and advised on progress with the complaint and the likely response timeline.

Complaints will be handled confidentially to avoid prejudicing any investigation or anyone’s privacy.

The privacy of the customer and any staff member(s) who are the subject of complaint will be respected and preserved.

Although personally identifying information concerning the customer may be made available where needed, this will only be for the purposes of addressing the complaint within the department.

All information relating to the complaint and the customer will be actively protected from disclosure, unless the customer has expressly consented to its release.

Customers who:

• have fully exhausted their review options (including reviews by external agencies)
• make unreasonable demands on staff or resources
• are rude, angry, harassing, or aggressive towards staff members or others may be managed under different administrative arrangements and may have their ability to contact the department restricted.

The department welcomes the opportunity to exchange information and ideas with visiting delegations from overseas organisations and governments where possible. So we can accommodate visits and make our people available, you should make your request in writing and at least four (4) weeks in advance.

Overseas delegations should contact their country’s Consulate in NSW (or Australian trade representative where there is none) and accompany their request with a letter or email of endorsement.

All local or interstate requests must be accompanied by an official letter of request from either the relevant government agency or private company that is sponsoring the visit.

Official letters of request

Official letters of request must include the following details:

• Confirmed date of delegation visit.
• Where the delegation is from.
• Delegates names.
• Delegates titles.
• Purpose of visit.
• Specific key areas of interest within the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure.
• Whether an interpreter will be accompanying the delegation.

Visit requests are subject to the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure having the available resources to meet with the delegation at the requested time.

The Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure is not responsible for providing transport to and from the department or accommodation arrangements. These arrangements and costs are to be met by the visiting delegation.

Requests from delegation organisers for the department can be submitted in the above Contact form.