Victoria Police Annual Report 2024–25: Our people

The Equal, Safe & Strong: Victoria Police Gender Equality Strategy 2020–2030 sets out our plan to achieve sustainable gender equality in Victoria Police by 2030.

The Gender Equality Action Plan 2022–2024 was designed to meet all requirements under the Gender Equality Act 2020.

The actions aligned to the following outcome areas:

• our culture recognises and promotes the value of gender equality
• leaders take ownership and proactively sustain gender equality outcomes
• the community has trust in our response to gendered violence
• gender does not restrict access to flexible work, recruitment, or progression
• employees have confidence in our response to gendered workplace harm
• gendered workplace harm is minimised.

All actions have been implemented under this first action plan.

We implemented a Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Framework to measure the outcomes of the first action plan and gather insights to inform the development of future action plans.

In accordance with the Gender Equality Act 2020, Gender Impact Assessments are now embedded in the development of policies, programs and services.

We have also completed our biannual gender progress report and audit, which was independently validated by the Commission for Gender Equality in the Public Sector.

The Workforce Diversity and Inclusion Framework 2023–2030 aims to transform our leadership and operational frameworks and build the knowledge, capability, processes and accountability required for a diverse and progressive workforce.

It complements Equal, Safe & Strong: Victoria Police Gender Equality Strategy 2020–2030.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Inclusion Action Plan 2023–2025

This action plan details six initiatives for improving the workplace experience of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees. It sets the foundation for self-determination and cultural safety.

Our key achievements included:

• establishing an Aboriginal Employee Mentoring Program in partnership with Murri Matters and the Victorian Public Sector Commission
• holding the third annual forum to enable Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees to connect and participate as a collective in culturally-safe discussion
• developing a Cultural Safety Assessment Tool to facilitate cultural safety and support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees
• our Aboriginal Inclusion Officer graduating from the VPS Barring Djinang Leadership Program.

We also convened a Self-Determination Reform Framework Working Group to support and implement self-determination reform for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees.

The working group will make recommendations on how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees can be involved in decisions that impact them. Once established, the Self-Determination Reform Framework will inform the next action plan.

Access and Inclusion Action Plan 2023–2024

This action plan details actions to improve the workplace experience of employees with disability.

All actions have been delivered, including:

• promoting the uptake of special measures specified in the Equal Opportunity Act 2010 for VPS positions
• reviewing and upgrading the accessibility of our intranet
• developing an accessibility checklist for the content and delivery of training and development programs
• updating the reasonable adjustment guide and passport
• developing a formal process to ensure all software and applications are accessible for employees with disability
• ensuring all new construction and major renovations are fully accessible.

CALD Inclusion Action Plan 2023–2024

This action plan details actions to improve the workplace experience of employees of culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds.

Key achievements include:

• implementing a mentoring program for CALD employees, led by the African Employee Network, and sharing what we learn with other employee networks
• strengthening the resources to support applicants with CALD backgrounds.

The next action plan will build on these initiatives to further support CALD employees and future employees.

LGBTIQ+ Inclusion Action Plan 2023–2024

This action plan details actions to improve the workplace experience of employees who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer/questioning and/or asexual (LGBTIQA+).

All actions have been delivered including:

• developing a LGBTIQA+ Liaison Officer recruitment plan
• developing and promoting a LGBTIQA+ Liaison Officer workplace support guide and dedicated training
• developing and promoting a Trans and Gender Diverse Workplace Toolkit containing guidelines and resources to help individuals, managers and allies navigate gender diversity in the workplace.
  

Victoria Police has several diversity and inclusion networks established and run by employees.

These networks provide peer support and advice to inform organisational policy and practices. In 2024–25, we reviewed the employee networks to identify where we could better support them.

The review made 14 recommendations to enhance the function, participation, equitable representation and consistent executive support for the networks. All networks have now been linked with sponsors and champions.

The recommendations will also be used to inform the next integrated Gender Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan.

During 2024–25, several Victoria Police work units made changes to promote diversity and inclusion. A work unit was identified as having multiple barriers to women’s progression, including challenges in both attraction and retention.

As part of an Equal Access Project, the unit was supported to examine its workforce composition, leadership, job structures, workplace policies, and impacts of bias.

Through sustained and visible leadership over a three-year period, and changes to communications, performance standards and accountability mechanisms, the unit has seen improvements.

This was demonstrated by:

• In a workplace survey on a scale of 1 to 10:
  • perceptions of gender equality and inclusion increased from 7.2 to 9.0
  • positive workplace culture increased from 6.5 to 8.9
  • leadership effectiveness increased from 5.2 to 8.5.
• Applications for vacancies increased from 5–10 candidates to 35–50, with strong female representation.
• Hesitancy to join the unit due to reports of negative workplace culture reports reduced by 85 per cent among women and 10 per cent among men.
• All respondents now agree their work team is professional and supportive; 92 per cent of women and 93 per cent of men would encourage women to apply for detective roles.

Another team undertook a similar program of culture change which resulted in initiatives to broaden attraction, recruitment, retention and promotion.

This included the introduction of a negotiator pilot program to provide opportunities for a broader and more diverse group of police officers to develop the skills required to apply for this specialised role.

As part of Victoria Police’s best practice and continuous improvement, we did a comprehensive Gender Equality Health Check of our recruitment processes in May 2025.

The check did not identify any adverse findings. However, it acknowledged that there were gender minority cohorts.

We updated factsheets about merit and unconscious bias which are now used during recruitment processes.

Supportive leadership is key to sustaining gender equality, diversity and inclusion. Consequently, the Gender Equality and Inclusion Division delivered 10 sessions to the Senior Sergeant Development Program and Inspectors’ Development Program, reaching hundreds of emerging leaders across the organisation.

In these sessions, a representative from the Gender, Equality and Inclusion Division leads groups of senior sergeants and inspectors through a 90-minute interactive discussion focused on strengthening their leadership by actively driving gender equality, diversity and inclusion in their workplace.

These sessions evolved significantly in response to participant feedback, contemporary knowledge and organisational priorities.

The Restorative Engagement and Redress Scheme established in December 2019 to provide redress support to former and current employees who had experienced past workplace sex discrimination or sexual harassment closed in April 2024.

The scheme was administered by the Department of Justice and Community Safety and was independent of Victoria Police. In 2024–25, Victoria Police worked with the department’s dedicated team to action the final applications.

Reported incidents increased by 14 per cent from the previous year, to 4342 in 2024–25.

Due to financial constraints, the Victoria Police Health and Wellbeing Hubs were decommissioned in May 2025.

The focus has shifted to maximising our existing wellbeing services and maintaining support for our employees.

^{Notes:
Data in this table is subject to change based on date of extraction due to their dynamic nature. These values are indicative of the numbers as at 30 June 2025. Data for 2024–25 was extracted 14 July 2025.}

^{a) A new additional measure of mental health injury data included, which commenced in the 2024–25 financial year.}

^{b) Data sourced from the Victorian WorkCover Authority. The date the claim was lodged has determined which financial year it is reported in. Due to the dynamic nature of claim data, figures may vary from those reported in earlier financial years.}

^{c) Victoria Police systems do not track return-to-work plans less than 30 days. This data is not available without manually examining every claim.}

^{d) Victoria Police regions and commands conduct quarterly OHS committee meetings, with involvement from their dedicated health and safety representatives. System capability does not extend to recording the number of meetings.}

^{e) Centralised checking of the completion of OHS internal audits has stopped due to staff resourcing constraints.}

^{f) Senior sergeants and above ranks receive OHS training during promotional and mandatory annual leadership training. Recruits also receive foundational training during their induction. We cannot include this specific training data from these groups.}

^{g) Contractors and temporary employees attending a police facility sign-in and complete a station induction program. This local record keeping is not digitised.}

^{h) The percentage of health and safety representatives was not available in 2022–23 as the total number varied. In 2023–24 a process was used to account for this variance}