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Privacy

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Application of this Privacy Statement

The Victorian Department of Innovation, Industry and Regional Development (DIIRD) hosts this website on behalf of AISES.  Accordingly, this privacy statement applies only to DIIRD and this particular website and is consistent with the Department’s privacy policy.  DIIRD’s privacy policy is available from the Privacy Officer. You can contact the Privacy Officer at the contact details below.

AISES is a joint venture with the New South Wales Department of State and Regional Development (DSRD) and you may be referred to them or their website.  This privacy statement does not apply to DSRD or their website.

It is your responsibility to peruse the privacy statement of DSRD before contacting them or using their website.

Similarly, if you are referred to any other third parties (public or private sector), it is your responsibility to check their privacy precautions.

DIIRD Privacy Officer

Level 31, 121 Exhibition Street
Melbourne, Vic, 3000, AUS
Tel: (+ 61 3) 9651 9749
Fax: (+ 61 3) 9651 9129
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

 

Information Privacy Act (Vic.) 2000: Personal information

In this privacy statement the term 'personal information' has the meaning provided in section 3 of the Information Privacy Act 2000 (Vic.) (the Privacy Act).

Personal information is information or an opinion that is recorded in any form, whether true or not, about an individual whose identity is apparent, or can reasonably be ascertained.

This Act is the legislation that regulates our collection and handling of personal information.

Detailed information about the Act is available at the Office of the Victorian Privacy Commissioner (http://www.privacy.vic.gov.au/).

 

Collection of personal information

This website collects personal information when you:

  • provide feedback using the feedback forms
  • submit an enquiry
  • subscribe to a newsletter
  • submit some  types of forms

Use and disclosure of personal information

If you provide personal information, the Department’s privacy policy will regulate its use and disclosure. However, should the Department’s intended use and disclosure of personal information deviate from the Department’s general policy, a privacy statement particular to the circumstances will be made available at the time of collection.

Personal information that is collected by the Department will be used by, and disclosed to, Departmental employees or contractors whose duties require them to use it. Such employees and contractors are required to protect and handle your personal information in accordance with the Information Privacy Act 2000 (Vic.) and any other applicable legislation regulating the collection, use, disclosure, storage and destruction of personal information.

There are two exceptions when the collection of personal information is necessary or unavoidable:

  1. When someone else provides the Department with your personal  information. The Department cannot prevent this. However, you are entitled to access and correct any personal information about you collected by the Department. See individual types of functionality below
  2. When the Department collects statistics using software techniques such as clickstream data, cookies and web beacons. For an explanation of these techniques, and how they are used, see Internet statistical collection methods and User Risks below

The statistics in No. 2 may qualify as personal information under the Information Privacy Act 2000 (Vic.). However, these statistics are not used to identify individual web users.

Access to and correction of personal information

You may request access to any personal information that the Department may have collected about you. Also, you may request correction of your personal information if you can establish that it is not accurate, complete or up-to-date.

The Victorian Privacy Commissioner has recommended that the appropriate means to access and correct information held by government departments is pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Vic.).

The Freedom of Information Officer may be contacted on the details below about access to, and correction of, personal information collected by the department or for any questions or concerns you may have arising from this privacy statement:

Freedom of Information Officer

Level 31, 121 Exhibition Street
Melbourne, VIC, 3000, AUS
Tel: (+61 3) 9651 9749
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

 

Use and disclosure of personal information in relation to specific actions on this website

Feedback

Feedback submitted using the online form provided will only be used by the most appropriate officer to review your comments and answer any questions.  Any personal details will not be disclosed to any other person.  Your email address will only be used to respond to specific queries and will not be added to any mailing list.

Newsletter subscriptions

Subscription to newsletters can be successfully carried out by either becoming a registered user (see the following) or by submitting a separate form.

In using the separate form you are only required to provide an email address.

You can unsubscribe at anytime and your email will be deleted from our records subject to periodic reviews of the email database.

Submitting a form

When an application is submitted electronically the information stored within the form and attachments is:

  • sent to the responsible agency (as specified on the submitting form)
  • saved for recovery, re-transmission, and system maintenance purposes only

System Maintenance

The collection of System Maintenance information is performed on anonymous aggregates and can include:

  • statistics such as, volume of permits submitted
  • number and types of geographical regions (council, state government seat or post code) for form submissions and online payments
  • user types (numbers of registered users versus number of anonymous use)

This anonymous aggregate data may be shared with other government agencies in order to:

  • contact users to collect their feedback on their use of the system
  • maintain technical structures

The information will not be sent to, examined, or used by any other third parties.

Once this information has been received by the responsible government agency, the handling of this information will be governed by that agency's terms of use and privacy policy. For information on the agency's specific policies, please contact the relevant agency as specified on the form.

No other information other than that entered on the form or the attachments is recorded or transmitted to the responsible government agency.

Internet user risks

The Department does not warrant that the functions contained in the site will be uninterrupted or without error. In addition, the Department shall not be responsible for the propagation of computer worms, viruses or other harmful components transmitted from this site and other third-party sites.

The Department recommends that you ensure that your browser is equipped with updated virus protection software.

Information may be provided to service providers contracted by DIIRD (and governed by these privacy constraints) to assist in these activities.

Internet statistical collection methods

Clickstream data and visitor logs

Clickstream data refers to visitor logs and statistics that provide useful information about users’ online experience without identifying individuals. Typical clickstream data collected includes:

  • visitor's computer address (ie Internet Protocol, or IP, address) and relevant domains
  • times and dates of site visits
  • pages accessed (including most visited and least visited) and files downloaded
  • browsers and operating systems used by visitors

Visitor logs are used on this site for statistical purposes only, and no attempt will be made to identify you or your browsing activity. When you visit the site, the Department’s Internet Service Provider (ISP) makes a record of your visits and logs the following information for statistical purposes:

  • your server address
  • your top-level domain name
  • the date and time of your visit to the site
  • the pages accessed and documents downloaded
  • the previous site visited
  • the type of browser used

This information will only be used to update and improve the site.

Web beacons

A web beacon is a small graphic image that is placed on a page or in an email which is used to the behaviour of the user. They are related to both clickstream data and cookies. When the HTML code for the Web beacon points to a site to retrieve the image, at the same time it can pass along information such as the IP address of the computer that retrieved the image, the time the Web beacon was viewed and for how long, the type of browser that retrieved the image and previously set cookie values.

Web beacons are typically used by a third-party to monitor the activity of a site. A Web beacon can be detected by viewing the source code of a web page and looking for any IMG tags that load from a different server than the rest of the site. Turning off the browser’s cookies will prevent Web beacons from tracking the user's activity. The Web beacon will still account for an anonymous visit, but the user's unique information will not be recorded.

Web beacons are used on this site for statistical purposes only, and no attempt will be made to identify you or your browsing activity.

Cookies (General)

This site uses 'cookies' to make your experience of the site easier and more efficient. A cookie is a small data file placed on your hard drive by the web page server. A cookie cannot retrieve any other data from your hard drive, pass on a computer virus, or capture your email address. Note that the cookie will remain on your computer as a record for future visits to this website.

In using cookies the Department does not record any personal information or collect names or details of commercial transactions. In addition, the Department does not use cookies as the basis for direct marketing.

You can configure your browser to notify you when you receive a cookie, providing you with the opportunity to either accept or reject it. You can also refuse all cookies by turning them off in your browser or deleting all cookies from your computer if required.

Web measurement service providers used by the Department

The Department currently uses Google Analytics  as their web monitoring service providers.

Google Analytics

Use of Cookies

Google Analytics uses a first-party cookie and JavaScript code to collect information about visitors to the Department. Google Analytics anonymously tracks how our visitors interact with this website, including where they came from, what they did on the site, and whether they completed any transactions on the site such as newsletter registration.