Commonwealth government employment police checks in Australia

The Commonwealth of Australia comprises six states (New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania, and Western Australia) and two territories (Northern Territory and the Australia Capital Territory). Its national government is called the Australian government or the commonwealth government. As of 2022, there are approximately 254,000 employees in the commonwealth government, ranging from law enforcement to administrative employees.

The commonwealth government employment process is held to very high standards because government employees must be great ambassadors of Australia in words and deeds. That's why a background check is crucial to the recruitment process. Police checks, in particular, are used in the hiring process to determine the applicants' criminal history. This information is evaluated against the specific job description to determine if the candidate is suitable for the role.

Are you looking to get a job in the commonwealth government? Obtaining a police check may be a required step.

A police check - formally referred to as a nationally coordinated criminal history check (NCCHC) - reveals an individual's disclosable court outcomes (DCO).

The results provided on a check will outline whether the applicant has No Disclosable Court Outcomes (NDCO) or Disclosable Court Outcomes (DCO):

• NDCO means there is:
• no police information held against the applicant
• no police information that can be released according to the purpose and category of the police check, and the application of relevant spent convictions legislations and/or information release policies.
• DCO means there is:
• police information that can be released.

A check result with a DCO may list the following police information:

• charges
• court convictions, including penalties and sentences
• findings of guilt with no conviction
• court appearances
• good behaviour bonds or other court orders
• matters awaiting court hearing
• warrants and/or warnings
• traffic offences.

The process for obtaining a police check is as follows:

First, you must apply for a police check through an accredited ACIC body or an Australian police agency. Most applications are submitted through an online form, where you'll fill in your name, date of birth, and other personal details. You'll also upload identification documents. Police checks are not free, so you'll have to pay. ANCC, an accredited police check provider, charges a base fee of $52.90 + GST per check.

After applying through an accredited body or a police agency, they first verify your identity. After that, they upload your details to the National Police Checking Support System (NSS), ACIC's national IT system. This system runs a name-matching algorithm to generate criminal records of a list of potential matches.

This list is sent to the appropriate police agency for further processing. The police agency assesses this list. A ‘No Disclosable Court Outcome' is returned if the applicant does not match any criminal records. On the flip side, the police agency produces a Disclosable Court Outcome if there's a match.

Before releasing the final police check result, the police agency assesses the results and determines which can be released under the spent conviction legislation and their information release policies. This is called the vetting stage.

Once this step is complete, the accredited body or police agency requesting the check on the applicant's behalf can retrieve the check result, after which the applicant is notified of the result.

After you've been notified of the result, you can obtain the police check certificate. If you apply through a police agency, you will receive a National Police Certificate (NPC). Conversely, ACIC-accredited agencies can customise the branding of the check result (as approved by ACIC).The document released by ACIC-accredited agencies is titled a nationally coordinated criminal history check.

Most (about 70%) of checks are processed within 24 hours. The others are referred for manual processing and may take longer than 10 working days.

NCCHCs are point-in-time checks, meaning they only reveal criminal offences up until the check date. The employer typically sets a permissible time-frame based on their risk assessment and operational requirements.

Are you looking to obtain a police check for Commonwealth government employment? You can get one through our:

This is ideal for individuals that need quick and efficient police check service. The application typically takes 15 minutes.

HR managers in government agencies can now easily manage bulk police checks for applicants through ANCC's business portal. This portal makes it easy to track and manage the results of multiple applicants. You can set up an account and start conducting bulk police checks after the organisation has been approved as a legal entity customer.