How to lodge a complaint

We suggest you contact the Judicial Commission Office by phone or email first to discuss the nature of your complaint, the requirements for making a valid complaint and your options for making a complaint.

1. Your complaint must be in writing. There is an online form on the Judicial Commission website as well as a printable form PDF (789.3 KB) you may download to assist you to structure your complaint.
2. You must include:
   • your name and contact information;
   • the name or identity of the judicial officer or member of the Northern Territory Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NTCAT) that you are complaining about (for example, the Judge in Courtroom X on [date]);
   • the grounds for the complaint; and
   • a summary of the facts that are relevant to your complaint.
   The Judicial Commission cannot accept anonymous complaints.
3. Your complaint must be about the behaviour or physical or mental capacity of a judicial officer or a member of NTCAT. The Judicial Commission cannot change the decision of a court or NTCAT.
4. Your complaint must be about:
   • a Judge or Associate Judge of the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory;
   • a Judge of the Local Court of the Northern Territory (this includes, for example, a Local Court Judge in the Youth Justice Court or in the Coroner’s Court);
   • the President, a Deputy President or an ordinary member of NTCAT.
   The Judicial Commission cannot deal with a complaint about court or NTCAT staff, lawyers, judges from other courts, or people who are no longer Judges or NTCAT members.
5. Include as much information about what happened as you can, in the order it happened. For example:
   • what did the judicial officer or member of NTCAT say and who did they say it to?
   • where and when did the events take place?
   • were they recorded or were there any witnesses to what happened?
6. You can attach extra information or documents if you need to.
7. Please keep a copy of the complaint for your records.
8. If you want to complain about more than one judicial officer or member of NTCAT please use a separate complaint form for each one.
9. If you have any questions or need more information about the complaints process, please contact us.
10. You can submit your written complaint to the JCO by email, in person at our office, or via post.