Privacy Information

Website Privacy Statement

This Website Privacy Statement explains how your personal information (being information capable of identifying you as an individual) will be treated as you access and intereact with this website.
The Privacy and Personal Information Act 1998 NSW (PPIP Act) and the Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002 NSW (HRIP Act) regulate how Griffith City Council collects, stores, uses and discloses personal information held by us.
Council's Privacy Management Plan and Privacy Policy provide more information on Council's obligations under the PPIP Act and HRIP Act and how we will manage your personal information in accordance with the Information Protection Principles and relevant legislation.

This Website Privacy Statement explains how your personal information will be treated when you interact with Council and this website. The practices outlined in this Website Privacy Statement are subject to any rights we may have to handle personal information in accordance with relevant legislation.

Your personal information

Griffith City Council may publish personal information on this website in line with our mandatory proactive release obligations under the NSW Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (GIPA Act). the personal information published may include:

limited personal information such as name and address for applications and submissions received in relation to planning matters
comments and limited personal information such as name and address as part of attachments to Council business papers and meeting agendas.

The personal information we collect via this website may include:

the content of any electronic forms you submit via this website, requesting us to provide services or information, or take actions;
any messages or comments you submit to us via this website or to email addresses displayed on this website, which may include personal information such as name, address, email address and telephone number;
any information submitted if you participate in an online survey / Council feedback or submission forms
name and email address when you subscribe to receive email newsletters from Griffith City Council.

Use and disclosure of your personal information

Generally, any personal information you provide to us will only be used and/or disclosed for Council's purposes, or a directly related purpose, unless you consent to another use or disclosure, in emergencies, or as otherwise required or authorised by law. We may also disclose your personal information to your authorised representative/s or third parties acting on your behalf (e.g. your solicitor, power of attorney, or interpreter).

Where we collect personal information from you, this Website Privacy Statement indicates which third parties we might share your information with (if any). In addition to providing our services to you and carrying out your requests, we may use or disclose personal information that we collect about you for purposes including the following:

for the main purpose that we have collected the information;
purposes related to our research, planning, product and service development, security and testing;
purposes connected with the operation, administration, development or enhancement of our services, including this website;
where we suspect that fraud or unlawful activity has been, is being or may be engaged in;
any other purposes required or authorised by law.
Council is to be regarded as the agency that holds the information. We may share information within Council and with third parties. The types of third parties to whom we may share personal information may include:
service providers engaged by us from time to time to assist us in delivering our services (e.g. community service partners and organisations who may provide archival, auditing, professional advisory, banking, mail house, delivery, recruitment, call centre, information technology, research, utility or security services);
any other agent/contractor of Council;
other public sector agencies and statutory authorities;
any other third party as required or authorised by law.

Applications and Registration Forms

The information that we collect from you via application and registration forms may be personal information for the purposes of the PPIP Act. Council collects this personal information from you in order to process and respond to your application or registration. If you cannot provide or do not wish to provide the information sought, then we may be limited in dealing with your application. When you make an application or registration, it will be forwarded to the appropriate Council officer/s and (if necessary) any other third parties to whom your application relates, or who can assist in processing your application and delivering the service to you. Information provided by you will be used to respond to the specific matter and will not be disclosed to any other party without your knowledge and consent, unless required or authorised by law.

Feedback, information request form and email

We may preserve the content of any feedback form, information request form, email or other electronic message that we receive. Any personal information contained in that message will only be used or disclosed in ways set out in this Privacy Website Statement. Email addresses provided to us will only be used to respond to your specific queries and will not be added to any mailing list nor disclosed to any other party without your knowledge and consent, unless required or authorised by law.

Access and correction

Under privacy legislation, you have rights to apply for access to your personal information held by us, without excessive delay or expense. You have the right to request to have your personal information changed in certain circumstances (e.g. if it is inaccurate). You may also request that we suppress your personal information from a public register. We will consider these applications in accordance with the PPIP Act or other relevant legislation. To access or change your personal information, please contact Council’s Customer Service department on 1300 176 077 email to admin@griffith.nsw.gov.au or visit in person at 1 Benerembah Street, Griffith. Where appropriate you should be able to request access to your personal information directly, without the need to make a formal application under the Government Information (Public Access) Act NSW 2009 (GIPA). However, there are situations where it will not be appropriate to provide direct access to information, and you will be required to make a GIPA application. (For example, where providing direct access would compromise the privacy of another person). For information on making a GIPA application please visit our Information Held by Council page.

Security

We have implemented technology and security rules and measures to protect the personal information that we have under our control. However, you should be aware that there are risks in transmitting information across the Internet. So while we strive to protect such information, we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information transmitted to us online and individuals do so at their own risk. Once any personal information comes into our possession, we will take reasonable steps to protect that information from misuse and loss and from unauthorised access, modification and disclosure. If you are concerned about conveying sensitive material to us over the Internet, you might prefer to contact us by telephone or mail. We will remove personal information from our system where it is no longer required (except where archiving is required and in order to fulfil our obligations under the State Records Act 1988 (NSW)).

NSW Mandatory Notification of Data Breach Scheme

The MNDB Scheme has been established to ensure affected individuals are notified when personal or health information is involved in a data breach and there is a likelihood of serious harm to the affected indiviudals as a result. Notification allows people to take steps to reduce the risks of associated harms, for example by changing a password to online accounts or monitoring for suspicious or fraudulent activity. The Scheme also enhances transparency and accountability around privacy management.

Under the MNDB Scheme, Council is required to notify both the Privacy Commissioner and affected individuals of an eligible data breach. Council will establish and maintain an internal register for eligible data breaches as well as a public notification register for any public data breach notifications Council has issued. Click here to view Council's Public Data Breach Register.

Links to external websites

This Website Privacy Statement does not extend beyond this website. When following links to other sites from this website, including online surveys, we recommend that you read the privacy statement of that site to familiarise yourself with its privacy practices.

Web statistics data collection

Pages on the site may be coded with Google Analytics software. This is transparent to the user, as the software makes use of JavaScript code in the source HTML of the web page. This JavaScript stores a first-party cookie in your browser, which contains a unique identifier, and sends information to Google Analytics. This enables Google Analytics to track the number of unique visitors to the site. In no way does this unique identifier identify a user personally. We do not and will not marry any data collected by Google Analytics with any personal information. While you can browse this website anonymously, without disclosing your personal information, we may not be able to provide the full range of services through this website if we are not provided with the information outlined above.

Cookies

Like many sites, this website may use cookies from time to time. Cookies are small data files that a website is able to place on a user's hard drive to record aspects of that user's experience of the website. For example, we may use cookies to record that a user visited a particular section of the website, that their browsing software was a particular version or to ensure that online applications and transactions do not require you to re-input information when moving between web pages. In this way, cookies can improve the operation of the website, and make the experience more efficient, more enjoyable or more personalised. Importantly, in depositing information on a user's computer and referring to it later in the same session (sessional) or on a subsequent visit (persistent), cookies do not need to identify the user or record any personal information. The default settings of browsers like Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari may allow some or all cookies, but users can easily take steps to erase cookies from their hard-drive, block all cookies, or receive a warning before a cookie is stored. However, some parts of sites may not function fully for users that disallow cookies.

Security
Council has implemented security policies and measures to protect the personal information that we have under our control. However, you should be aware that there are risks in transmitting information across the internet. While we endeavour to protect personal information, we cannot guarantee or warrant the security of any information transmitted to us online and individuals do so at their own risk.

Need more information?

For more information about how we manage privacy and personal information please contact our Privacy Contact Officer:

Phone: 1300 176 077
Post: PO Box 485 Griffith NSW 2680
In Person: 1 Benerembah Street Griffith NSW 2680
Email: admin@griffith.nsw.gov.au

For general information about your privacy rights under the PPIP Act, contact the NSW Information and Privacy Commission enquiries line on 1800 472 679 or visit their webpage at: www.ipc.nsw.gov.au