Feedback and complaints give us an opportunity to evaluate our products and services so we can make changes and do better. We will manage any complaints you make or feedback you provide in line with our Feedback and Complaints Policy.
If you have trouble understanding the information on this page, please read our Easy English guides.
2024 local council elections
Local council elections take place in October this year. The Local Government Act 2020 (Vic) (LG Act) sets out rules for local council elections.
While we run local council elections, we do not oversee or enforce the LG Act. This is the responsibility of the Local Government Inspectorate (LGI). Your matter may need to go to LGI if it's about candidates, electoral offences or things that need to be done during an election period.
Examples include:
- campaign material, including authorisation statements
- actions of councillors, councils or council staff connected to the election, including their use of resources
- offences of bribery, tampering with ballot material or publishing misleading and deceptive material
- donations to candidates, including disclosures about what they received.
You can save time by submitting your complaint or enquiry to LGI directly.
Give us feedback
When you have ideas on how we can do things better, or want to tell us about something we are doing well, we consider it feedback.
Give us feedback
Make a complaint
When you want to express dissatisfaction about a policy, product or service related to an interaction with us, we consider it a complaint.
Make a complaint
We use feedback as part of our ongoing review and planning process.
A complaint may contain an allegation of a breach of the Electoral Act 2002 (Vic), Local Government Act 2020 (Vic) or some other act, by-law or protocol. We will try and suggest another agency to help you if your complaint is outside of our remit. In some cases, we may refer you to another agency ourselves.
What to know before submitting
What we ask
We ask that you be courteous, provide accurate and complete information (including relevant evidence), and do not engage in unacceptable behaviour.
Unacceptable behaviour means acting in a way that is unreasonable, regardless of the level of your stress, frustration or anger. It may involve acts, words or physical gestures that could cause another person distress or discomfort, including:
- aggressive or abusive behaviour (written or spoken) that could cause our staff to feel threatened or afraid
- making threats of harm to yourself, our staff or third parties
- making unreasonable demands or persistently contacting us about an issue that we have already addressed or which is not within our remit.
We do not expect our staff to tolerate unacceptable behaviour when communicating with you. If you engage in unacceptable behaviour, we have the right to stop communicating with you.
Information we need
Please include the following information when you submit your complaint or feedback. We use this information to understand and respond to your concerns.
- Your full name or the name of the group or organisation making the submission, unless you would like to remain anonymous.
- Your contact details, such as an email address, postal address or telephone number, unless you would like to remain anonymous.
- Details of your complaint or feedback, including relevant dates, places and a description of any events or occurrences relevant to your submission.
- Your desired outcome or the resolution you are seeking.
- Any evidence or supporting documents, which could include photographs, notices, letters or anything you think is relevant to your complaint or feedback.
You can make a complaint or submit feedback anonymously, but we will not be able to respond to you if you do not provide your contact details.
The complaint process
We aim to be transparent at all stages of the complaint process. The process is divided into three steps:
| Step 1: Acknowledgement |
We will send you an automatic acknowledgement to let you know that we have received your complaint. If you make a submission through our webforms or by email, you will also get a case number to refer back to. |
| Step 2: Assessment |
A member of our staff will assess your complaint. We may contact you if we need further information. |
| Step 3: Response |
We aim to respond to complaints within 5 working days. We will let you know if we think it will take longer. |
In addition to providing a response to your complaint, we may:
- refer your complaint to another VEC team for assessment and, if appropriate, action
- refer your complaint to another agency
- share your complaint with another VEC team for consideration, including as part of continuous improvement and planning.
Requesting a review
You can request a review if you are unhappy with how we have handled your complaint.
You can request a review within 60 days of receiving our response. If your request is granted, a member of the VEC's senior leadership team will review your complaint and send you an outcome letter. This letter will outline whether we have handled your complaint in accordance with our procedures.
For more information about the review process, refer to our Feedback and Complaints Policy.
Other ways to contact us
There are other ways to submit your feedback or complaint. You can:
Feedback and complaints policy
Our customer service charter
