The Commission, with a total staff of 36, has four offices throughout Queensland. These are located in Brisbane, Rockhampton, Townsville and Cairns. While each office delivers a full range of services, some, by their nature, need to be located in Brisbane.

Regional offices, each staffed by three, offer complaint handling, community relations and training services to their region. There is real value of having a local presence, an 'ear to the ground', a regional profile, in terms of being able to respond quickly to issues, to deal locally with enquiries, and to provide training and information in an area familiar to people.

Generally, regional offices manage about a third of the total work of the Commission. In complaint handling, the regions this year have dealt with an increased number of complaints following the introduction of a statewide complaint handling system. This year, 38% of all complaints lodged, up from 29% last year, were dealt with by regional staff.

Training session numbers have been correspondingly reduced so that regional staff could assist with dealing with complaints according to mandated statutory timelines. This financial year, regional staff delivered 65 sessions, 30% of the 218 presented statewide. This is a reduction of 15% compared to last year. We will be seeking some further funding to address training needs regionally. This will be innovative and cost-efficient training, appropriate for regional centres, including train-the-trainer and web-based training.