Apply for a police check in Victoria
If you need a police check in Victoria, CrimCheck provides a fast and convenient online application process. Whether you're applying for Employment, Volunteering, Licensing, Registration, Study Placements or other approved purposes, you can complete your application online from anywhere in Victoria.
A Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Check (NCCHC) may be used by Employers, Government Agencies, Licensing Bodies and other Organisations to assess an Applicant's suitability for a role or purpose. Police checks can include information from police records across Australian States and Territories where legally releasable for the purpose of the check.
CrimCheck allows Applicants to submit their details, provide consent and complete identity verification online without attending a police station.
Getting a police check in Victoria
Victorian Applicants commonly require police checks for:
• Employment applications
• Volunteer positions
• Licensing requirements
• Professional registrations
• Contract work
• Student placements
• Membership applications
• Government requirements
Applicants will generally need to provide personal details, address history and suitable identity documents. If your name has changed, you may also need supporting documentation such as a Marriage Certificate or Change of Name Certificate.
Requirements can vary depending on the Organisation requesting the check, so Applicants should confirm the correct check type before applying.
Apply online from anywhere in Victoria
CrimCheck supports Applicants throughout Melbourne and regional Victoria. Because the process is completed online, Applicants can apply from anywhere in the state without travelling to a physical location.
Whether you are located in Melbourne, Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo, Shepparton, Mildura, Gippsland, Warrnambool or elsewhere in Victoria, you can complete your application online.
Melbourne and Regional Victoria police checks
Police checks are commonly requested by Employers, Community Organisations, Educational Institutions, Government Bodies and Licensing Authorities throughout Victoria.
Organisations may use police checks as part of their broader screening and compliance requirements across industries including Healthcare, Aged Care, Education, Community Services, Transport, Government and Professional Services.
Spent convictions and criminal records in Victoria
Victoria was the last Australian State or Territory to introduce a legislated spent convictions scheme, marking a significant reform in the State's approach to criminal records and rehabilitation. The Spent Convictions Act 2021 (Vic) was passed by the Victorian Parliament in March 2021 and came into operation later that year. Prior to its enactment, Victoria stood alone as the only Australian jurisdiction without a formal legislative mechanism allowing old and minor convictions to be removed from a person's publicly disclosed criminal history after a period of good behaviour.
The introduction of the scheme brought Victoria into line with every other Australian State and Territory. The legislation was designed to address the long-term social and economic disadvantages associated with historical criminal records. Under the Act, many less serious convictions become spent automatically after a period—while certain convictions can be spent immediately. Once a conviction is spent, it generally does not appear on police checks and does not need to be disclosed in most circumstances.
The significance of the Victorian legislation goes beyond rehabilitation. It also reflects a broader parliamentary effort to correct historical injustices that had resulted in people carrying criminal records for conduct that would no longer be considered criminal or that should never have been treated as criminal in the first place. Long before the passage of the Spent Convictions Act, the Victorian Parliament had enacted reforms to remove or nullify particular categories of historical convictions.
One important example concerns historical homosexual convictions. For many decades, consensual homosexual activity between adult men was criminalised in Victoria. Although homosexuality was effectively decriminalised in 1981, many people continued to carry criminal records for offences that were no longer regarded as criminal. In response, the Victorian Parliament passed the Sentencing Amendment (Historical Homosexual Convictions Expungement) Act 2014, creating a formal process through which eligible convictions could be expunged from an individual's criminal record. Successful applicants could legally state that they had not been convicted, and the conviction would no longer appear on criminal history checks.
This reform recognised that convictions imposed solely because of a person's sexual orientation were unjust by modern standards. The legislation provided an important symbolic and practical acknowledgment of past discrimination against LGBTQ+ Victorians. Subsequent amendments also ensured protection from discrimination on the basis of an expunged homosexual conviction.
A second significant reform related to Aboriginal children and other children placed in state care. Research undertaken through the Criminal Record Discrimination Project revealed that, for decades, Victoria's child welfare system failed to distinguish adequately between criminal proceedings and child protection matters. As a result, many Aboriginal children—particularly members of the Stolen Generations who had been removed from their families—acquired criminal records despite having committed no offence. These records arose simply because they had been placed under state care or subject to welfare orders.
In 2018, the Victorian Parliament enacted legislation to remove these historical records. The reform recognised that children taken into institutional or state care should never have been treated as offenders merely because they were the subject of welfare and protection orders. The change was particularly significant for Aboriginal Victorians, whose communities had been disproportionately affected by policies that separated children from their families and recorded welfare interventions on criminal histories.
Therefore, before Victoria adopted a general spent convictions scheme in 2021, there had already been at least two major parliamentary reforms aimed at removing categories of historical convictions or criminal records:
1. The 2014 expungement scheme for historical homosexual convictions, allowing eligible convictions arising from consensual same-sex conduct to be removed.
2. The 2018 legislation removing criminal records associated with children placed in state care, including many Aboriginal children affected by Stolen Generations policies and historical child welfare practices.
These earlier reforms helped pave the way for the broader Spent Convictions Act 2021. Together, they demonstrate an evolving recognition by the Victorian Parliament that criminal records can perpetuate historical disadvantage and injustice. The spent convictions scheme completed a process that many advocates had sought for decades, ensuring that people who have rehabilitated—and those whose records arose from discriminatory or inappropriate historical practices—are not unfairly burdened for life by their past.
Apply online with CrimCheck and complete your Victoria police check from wherever you are.
