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Your responsibilities

Access Canberra’s service commitment

Access Canberra is the Canberra community’s front door for local government services and transactions, and we uphold a range of regulatory protections in the ACT.

Our customer service is based on respect, transparency and integrity. We also action the Access Canberra Customer Service Charter [PDF 446 KB].

This service commitment page explains how we interact with customers and, importantly, your customer responsibilities to Access Canberra.

Our commitment

What you can expect from us

  • We will listen carefully to you and serve you in a professional, courteous and respectful manner.
  • We will aim to respond to your enquiries and process transactions promptly and accurately.
  • We will respect and protect your privacy to the best of our ability.
  • We will provide customer support where needed. This includes interpreter and Auslan services, or other assistance where practical to help you understand or access our services.
  • We will be accountable for our actions, acting with honesty and integrity.
  • We will publish regular customer satisfaction surveys on our website to measure our business performance and help us improve our services.

Your responsibilities

Most customers interact respectfully with Access Canberra staff. However, a small number of customers may behave in ways that are difficult to manage, despite our staff doing their best to support. It's important that our staff and customers feel safe and respected.

Access Canberra has obligations under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (ACT) to provide staff a safe environment that is free from threats of harm, violence or aggression.

What we expect from you

  • You treat our staff and other customers with respect.
  • You let us know how we can assist you, without yelling, threatening or abusing our staff.
  • You are patient during busy times. We are working hard to serve you as quickly as possible.
  • You let us know if you need an interpreter or other support to understand or access our services.
  • You understand that our staff follow processes and have legal obligations. We can explain these to you.
  • You acknowledge that while we are the front door to government services, we may need to refer you to another service or area of government to complete your transaction or support you.
  • You supply valid documents and supporting paperwork, as required
  • You respectfully let us know if you think we may have gotten something wrong, so we can review and rectify if needed.
  • You do not film, record or photograph our staff without their consent.

Unreasonable customer behaviour

We understand that not all interactions are straight forward. They can be challenging.

Disrespectful, abusive, aggressive or threatening behaviour towards our staff or other customers is not tolerated.

If such behaviour occurs, we may:

  • ask you to leave our premises and/or end a phone call with you
  • contact the police for assistance
  • issue you with a warning or, in some cases, place restrictions on your future interactions with Access Canberra.

Warning letters

Warning letters inform customers their behaviour is unreasonable and will not be tolerated. They also outline potential consequences for such behaviour.

Restriction letters

Restriction letters explain any restrictions or requirements when dealing with Access Canberra. These could include only contacting Access Canberra through a particular service channel (eg. phone) or being required to make an appointment before attending a Service Centre.

Restrictions will vary depending on individual circumstances and will be clearly outlined in the letter. A review date for the restriction will also be included.

Removing your restriction

Restrictions remain in place until withdrawn in writing by Access Canberra.

Customer complaints

We acknowledge that sometimes we may not get it right. Our customer complaints process explains how you can provide feedback and how we manage feedback.

Unreasonable complainants

Most complaints we receive are made in good faith. We welcome feedback to improve our services. However, in some cases, a complainant’s conduct can go beyond what is reasonable or acceptable. They may:

  • contact the agency repeatedly without providing new information
  • demand outcomes that are not practicable or achievable
  • provide false information
  • be unwilling to accept the complaint handler’s decision and/or subsequent review.

Unreasonable complainants will be handled through Access Canberra’s Managing Unreasonable Complaints Policy [PDF 176 KB], and will be assessed based on the nature, severity, or frequency of the behaviour.