Our approach to complaints

Seareal wants every participant to receive excellent support. When something goes wrong — or when you feel it has — we want to hear from you directly. Complaints help us improve, and every complaint is taken seriously.

You will never be disadvantaged for making a complaint. Making a complaint will not affect your access to services from Seareal.

This policy applies to NDIS participants, their families, nominees, support coordinators, plan managers, and any other person who receives or is affected by Seareal's services.

What you can make a complaint about

You can complain about any aspect of Seareal's services, including:

  • The quality or appropriateness of support provided
  • The conduct or behaviour of a Seareal worker
  • Being treated disrespectfully or without dignity
  • Privacy or confidentiality concerns
  • Billing or invoicing errors
  • Service cancellations or disruptions
  • Failure to follow your Service Agreement
  • Discrimination or failure to accommodate your needs

How to make a complaint

You can make a complaint in any of the following ways:

By phone: 0478 061 055 — ask to speak with the Complaints Officer

By email: info@seareal.com.au — subject line: COMPLAINT

By post: Seareal, Queensland (contact us for postal address)

In person: at any scheduled service visit — ask your support worker to note the complaint formally

If you need help making a complaint — for example because of a communication difficulty or language barrier — Seareal will provide assistance. You can also ask a family member, support coordinator, or advocate to make the complaint on your behalf.

Complaints can be made anonymously where possible, though anonymous complaints may be harder for us to investigate fully.

What happens after you complain

Once we receive your complaint:

Within 2 business days, we will acknowledge the complaint and confirm that it has been logged.

Within 10 business days, we aim to provide a substantive response — including what we found, what action we are taking, and how we have addressed the issue.

For complex complaints, we may require more time. We will keep you informed of progress at least every 10 business days until the complaint is resolved.

All complaints are documented and reviewed as part of our continuous improvement process. We identify any patterns in complaints and use them to improve our services.

If you are not satisfied with our response

If you are not happy with how Seareal has handled your complaint, you have the right to escalate it to the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission — the independent regulator of NDIS providers.

NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission

Phone: 1800 035 544

Website: www.ndiscommission.gov.au

You can also contact the Queensland Human Rights Commission (1300 130 670) if your complaint involves human rights issues, or the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (1300 363 992) for privacy-related complaints.

These external channels are always available to you, and contacting them will not affect your services from Seareal.

Serious complaints and reportable incidents

Some complaints involve matters that require reporting to the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission as Reportable Incidents. These include:

  • Serious injury to a participant
  • Death of a participant connected to service delivery
  • Physical, sexual, emotional, or financial abuse by a Seareal worker
  • Unlawful restrictive practices
  • Any criminal offence involving a participant

Seareal has mandatory reporting obligations in these cases and will comply with them. We will inform you about any mandatory reporting that relates to your complaint.