Complaints

Earth Resources Regulator aims to be an effective and responsive regulator. To support this, all forms of engagement between Earth Resources Regulator and industry participants and community members should be courteous, professional and effective.

What you can expect

Earth Resources Regulator staff will:

• Listen
• Treat you with courtesy and respect
• Respond to your queries in a timely manner and provide updates
• Seek to resolve issues fairly, efficiently and effectively.

If you consider that engagement with Earth Resources Regulator is not in accordance with the principles outlined above, you may:

• Contact a Director or the Executive Director of Earth Resources Regulator
• Contact the Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions (DJPR) complaints
• Use the Earth Resources Regulator online complaints form
• Email us at ERRFeedback@deeca.vic.gov.au
• View the Authorised officer complaints management policy (DJPR)
• Contact the Ombudsman.

How you can help

We expect you to:

• Treat our personnel with courtesy and respect, focussing on the issue, not the person
• Communicate any issues or grievances with honesty and clarity
• Cooperate with us in the resolution of issues, understanding that complex issues may take some time to resolve
• Understand that new information may be required for a decision or an outcome to be changed.

We will cease engagement with anyone who does not uphold the above principles, including:

• Ending a telephone conversation or closing a meeting
• Modifying, curtailing or declining a service
• Undertaking an investigation for serious matters.

Under no circumstances is aggressive, abusive, demeaning or discriminatory behaviour acceptable.

We manage complaints about licensed Earth Resources Regulator sites or about sites operating illegally without approval.

We also manage complaints about the actions or decisions of our employees who are not Authorised Officers.

Complaints typically involve allegations about licence holders not complying with legislation, conditions, work plans or other relevant requirements.

Can I make an anonymous complaint?

No. If you don't give us a way to contact you, we are unable to investigate your complaint further.

We will not disclose your name or personal details when investigating a complaint. When submitting a complaint you must include one of the following so we can contact you:

• email address
• telephone number
• street address.

Complaints we don't manage

We don't manage complaints about:

• department or government policies
• matters that fall under the jurisdiction of the Victorian Mining Warden
• authorised officers and other public servants.

In Earth Resources Regulator an inspector is an authorised officer who carries out regulatory duties under legislation administered by the department.

Learn more about our authorised officer complaints management policy.

You can lodge a complaint using our online form or by using the details below.

Phone: 1300 366 356
Emil: ERRFeedback@deeca.vic.gov.au

Earth Resources Information Centre
Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action
GPO Box 4509
Melbourne VIC 3001

We will manage your complaint by:

• Letting you know we have received your complaint
• Assessing the nature of your complaint.
• Classifying and identifying the priority of your complaint.
• Reviewing the complaint against public safety, environmental and legislation requirements.
• Investigating your claims against compliance requirements using a variety of methods that may include inspections and audits.
• Closing the complaint.
• Advising you of the outcome.

Vexatious complaints

All complaints are assessed equally.

We don't investigate trivial or vexatious complaints or those that lack substance or credibility eg. complaints that don't provide contact information or information that cannot be verified.

Closing a complaint

We will close your complaint, if after several attempts, we are unsuccessful trying to contact you to advise the outcome.

If you want information about the status of your complaint in the future, you will need to contact us and open a new complaint.

When will we contact you?

We will try to respond to you within two business days to acknowledge your complaint if your contact details were provided.

The way we manage your complaint depends on the:

• method you use to contact us
• complexity and classification of your complaint
• quality of the information you provide us with.

If you're not satisfied with the outcome

If you're unsatisfied with the outcome of your complaint, you can discuss your concerns with the Director, Stakeholder Relations and Strategy or Executive Director, Earth Resources Regulator.

Seeking independent advice

For further advice you can contact the Victoria Mining Warden or Victorian Ombudsman.

The Victorian Mining Warden

The Victorian Mining Warden oversees the resolution of disputes between mining licensees and other parties.

The Victorian Ombudsman

The Victorian Ombudsman manages complaints about decisions, actions or inactions by a:

• state government department
• statutory authority
• local council private agency that carries out statutory responsibilities of government.