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Family Violence Information Sharing Scheme

The Family Violence Information Sharing Scheme (FVISS) enables the sharing of information between authorised organisations to assess and manage family violence risk. The Royal Commission into Family Violence found organisations working with victims and perpetrators of family violence collect a wide variety of information to:

The Commission also discovered that:

As a result, FVISS was created by Part 5A of the Family Violence Protection Act 2008. FVISS supports effective assessment and management of family violence risk.

Under the FVISS, Information Sharing Entities or ISEs (key organisations and services) can share information related to assessing or managing family violence risk. FVISS supports ISEs to:

FVISS doesn’t interfere with existing information sharing legislation, like privacy or child protection legislation.

Changes have also been made to Victorian privacy legislation so information can be shared to reduce or prevent a serious threat to someone’s life, health, safety or welfare.

FVISS is complemented by a range of other information sharing permissions and obligations that continue to apply, such as:

Victorian privacy law allows organisations to use or disclose personal or health information in some circumstances, including with consent or without consent if they reasonably believe it is necessary to lessen or prevent a serious threat to an individual’s life, health, or safety. A range of resources on compliance with privacy law are available on the Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner’s website, refer to Privacy resources for organisations.

Who can share information under FVISS?

Information can only be shared under FVISS by ISEs.

ISEs are prescribed under:

Many of the authorised organisations under FVISS are also prescribed under CISS.

For a list of organisations prescribed to share information under FVISS and CISS, refer to Who can share information under the information sharing and MARAM reforms.

You can also search for contact details of organisations and services prescribed to share information on the online ISE List.

For more information on how to use the ISE List, see the ISE list user guide.

What other resources are available to guide information sharing?

Ministerial Guidelines

The Family Violence Information Sharing Guidelines (Ministerial Guidelines) provide guidance to ISEs on how to share information under FVISS.

Download the Ministerial Guidelines for more detail about FVISS:

Family Violence Information Sharing Guidelines PDF 5.67 MB (opens in a new window)

Family Violence Information Sharing Guidelines (accessible) Word 2.38 MB (opens in a new window)

For further guidance, templates and tools

For a range of resources for different workforces, including decision trees, guidance and templates, please see the Information sharing guides, templates and tools webpage.

To access the range of resources developed for education and care workforces, visit the Child Protection and Child Safe Standards (PROTECT) website for schools or Child protection in early childhood (PROTECT) webpage.

More information

For more information and support on information sharing and MARAM, visit Frequently asked questions about information sharing and MARAM.

Health & social support

Updated 13 May 2025

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