Make a complaint - Local Government Inspectorate

What we do

We can only investigate certain types of concerns about councillors, council staff or elections. This is set out in the Local Government Act 2020.

We can look into	We can't look into
Council matters such as: ✔ misuse of position by a councillor ✔ conflict of interest by a councillor, senior council employee or person providing advice to council ✔ disclosure of confidential information ✔ council election offences ✔ nomination of someone not qualified to be a council election candidate ✔ authorisation of electoral material	Other council matters such as: ✗ planning and building permits ✗ council services ✗ performance of council staff, unless related to offences under the act ✗ council decisions (unless there is a conflict of interest) ✗ council fines ✗ rates charges ✗ councillor code of conduct (such as profanity in meetings) ✗ holding closed meetings. Disputes between individuals Private organisations: ✗ building and construction companies ✗ banking, credit, insurance or superannuation ✗ electricity water or gas ✗ rental agreements Members of Parliament Victoria Police Victorian government bodies Universities and TAFEs Australian government bodies: ✗ Centrelink ✗ Australian Taxation Office ✗ Services Australia ✗ Australia Post Prisons Decisions made by courts and tribunals

We can look into

We can't look into

Council matters such as:

✔ misuse of position by a councillor

✔ conflict of interest by a councillor, senior council employee or person providing advice to council

✔ disclosure of confidential information

✔ council election offences

✔ nomination of someone not qualified to be a council election candidate

✔ authorisation of electoral material

Other council matters such as:

✗ planning and building permits

✗ council services

✗ performance of council staff, unless related to offences under the act

✗ council decisions (unless there is a conflict of interest)

✗ council fines

✗ rates charges

✗ councillor code of conduct (such as profanity in meetings)

✗ holding closed meetings.

Disputes between individuals

Private organisations:

✗ building and construction companies

✗ banking, credit, insurance or superannuation

✗ electricity water or gas

✗ rental agreements

Members of Parliament

Victoria Police

Victorian government bodies

Universities and TAFEs

Australian government bodies:

✗ Centrelink

✗ Australian Taxation Office

✗ Services Australia

✗ Australia Post

Prisons

Decisions made by courts and tribunals

Other agencies or authorities may be able to help you with your complaint. Find the right agency or authority to contact when we can't help.

We can also receive complaints and enquiries by phone Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm. However, due to our limited resources, you may get a more efficient response if you submit your complaint through the online form. While we can receive complaints by email, we do not assess or respond to emails that are addressed to other government agencies or individuals (such as 'mass distribution' emails CC'd to us and other agencies).

Make a complaint

Sometimes you will not be able to get through to the phone to speak to us. This may be because we are taking another call or talking to someone else. If this happens, you can request that our complaints and enquiries staff call you back.

Request a callback

Our complaints process

When we receive a complaint, we assess it to determine if we are able to look into it. We aim to acknowledge complaints within five working days.

If we do investigate a matter, the investigation may not start immediately as our investigations are prioritised alongside the current workload. Investigations can take significant time to complete.

Once the investigation has been completed, you’ll be notified of the outcome.

Complaints about us

If you’d like to raise a concern about us, you can request a review by contacting the Operations Manager.

Please include:

the reason you’re not satisfied
any supporting evidence.

If you have a complaint about a staff member from our team, please contact the Chief Municipal Inspector.

If the complaint relates to an administrative decision or function of the Inspectorate, and you have been unable to resolve this using the process above, you can lodge a formal complaint with Ombudsman Victoria.