It comes after the state's auditor-general found Victorian councils could be doing more to provide workplaces free from incidents.

An inquiry into sexual harassment in local government found councils did not use the tools available to them to prevent incidents to full advantage.

"A lack of comprehensive policies, training and communication means councils rarely engage in meaningful conversations about sexual harassment and its drivers," the auditor-general's report said.

"This creates a culture where victims lack confidence to report their experiences.

"For those who do report, complaint handling is undermined by poor documentation and councils' failure to encourage and support complainants."

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The state's peak body for local government, the Municipal Association of Victoria, said the report was a timely reminder for councils and the communities they served that sexual harassment could not be tolerated.

MAV policy and advocacy director Troy Edwards said there was broad acceptance for the report's recommendations within the local government sector.

He said the association would work with the sector to deliver training for councillors in the new year.

"This will support the work of individual councils in responding to VAGO's recommendations," Mr Edwards said.

The City of Greater Bendigo has not received any complaints of sexual harassment in the past five years.

Director of corporate performance, Andrew Cooney, said the city's executives would consider the auditor-general's 11 recommendations for Victorian councils early in the new year.

Recommendations included introducing standalone sexual harassment policies, and training councillors at least twice a council term.

The City of Greater Bendigo does not have a standalone sexual harassment policy.

Mr Cooney said sexual harassment was covered in both the city's code of conduct and its Discrimination and Harassment Prevention Policy.

"Complaints are treated confidentially and in line with these policies the nature and prevalence of these issues are known by the manager in the organisation's people and culture unit," he said.

"Escalation of these issues is undertaken to ensure the city is appropriately managing risks in this arena."

Sexual harassment was part of mandatory training on the organisation's values and code of conduct, delivered to new employees.

"This is delivered by a suitably qualified external facilitator who references council's policies and procedures in this area," Mr Cooney said.

"We also offer an e-learning course specifically about sexual harassment with a retraining period of two years."

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Both the councillor code of conduct and councillors' discrimination and harassment policy are up for review, in line with the new Local Government Act passed this year.

Mr Cooney said newly elected councillors were trained on the code of conduct and expected standards, under the current policy.

A workshop was planned to review councillors' discrimination and harassment policy, with training to follow in the first 12 months.

Five Victorian councils were audited as part of the investigation into sexual harassment in local government - Ararat, Corangamite, Frankston, La Trobe and Moreland.

The auditor-general's office also conducted a voluntary survey, which all except four of the state's 79 councils participated in.

The City of Greater Bendigo was among the survey's respondents.

If you or someone you know has experienced sexual harassment, help is available:

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