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Make a privacy complaint to the Department of Education

Find out how to make a privacy complaint about the handling of your own personal information, or the personal information of a child for which you have parental or carer’s rights.

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A privacy complaint is a concern raised about departmental processes, staff or services associated with the collection, handling or sharing of personal or health information.

A privacy complaint can only be made by the individual whose privacy has been breached or someone acting on their behalf. If acting on someone’s behalf, you may be asked to provide documentation to that effect.

Ways to make a complaint

Complete our online form

Make a privacy complaint

The form will be received by the privacy team who will prepare a response.

Other ways to make a complaint

Complaints can be made verbally or in writing to the privacy team or to a regional office. Regional offices will refer any privacy complaints to the privacy team for response.

If a complaint is made to the Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner (OVIC) or the Office of the Victorian Health Complaints Commissioner (HCC), or other appropriate regulatory agency, these Offices will confirm first that the department has had the opportunity to respond directly.

Complaints about the handling of personal information on the Child Link Register will be responded to by the department’s privacy team. For all other complaints relating to Child Link, email childlink@education.vic.gov.au or contact the Child Link Enquiry Line at 1800 549 646.

What to include in a complaint

When making a complaint, we need to know the following:

Time limits for complaints

The department must acknowledge the receipt of any complaints within three working days.

We will respond to privacy complaints within 20 working days. If circumstances require a longer period to investigate a complaint, we will discuss this with the complainant.

Reasons for an extended period of investigation might include:

Investigating a complaint

Privacy complaints are investigated by the department’s privacy officers, who are experienced in understanding and applying the Victorian Information Privacy Principles and the Victorian Health Privacy Principles.

The privacy officer’s role in the complaints handling process is to investigate and resolve complaints appropriately. In responding to a complaint, the privacy officer will ensure that all relevant information is received from the complainant to help them in their investigation, and may contact the complainant to clarify any details.

To fulfil this role, the privacy officer will:

Departmental response to a complaint

The department will provide the complainant with a written response to a complaint, including a full response to the details of the complaint and the reasons for its response.

The communication will also advise the complainant of the right to appeal to the Office of the Victorian Privacy Commissioner or the Health Services Commissioner or other appropriate regulatory agency, if the complainant remains dissatisfied.

Record keeping of privacy complaints

The department retains the details of privacy complaints in a secure location where access is restricted to the privacy team.

Privacy complaints are also logged in a register, in the same secure location, which allows the department to monitor the number and types of complaints made, the outcome of those complaints, and to identify any improvements to processes or practices that may come out of a privacy complaint.

Contact information

The privacy team can be contacted by phone or email during business hours:

The Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner can be contacted via:

The Office of the Victorian Health Complaints Commissioner can be contacted via:

Education & training

Updated 26 March 2026

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