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Privacy

Queensland has privacy legislation which applies to the Queensland public sector: the Information Privacy Act 2009 (IP Act). The IP Act contains privacy principles which set out how agencies may and must handle personal information. Under the IP Act, "personal information" means "information or an opinion, including information or an opinion forming part of a database, whether true or not, and whether recorded in a material form or not, about an individual whose identity is apparent, or can reasonably be ascertained, from the information or opinion."

Council's Privacy Policy (PDF) sets out details of the types of personal information we hold and how we handle this information. Council will take all reasonable and appropriate steps to protect the privacy of individuals as required by the Information Privacy Act 2009 and the Information Privacy Principles contained in that Act.

Information about the types of personal information that Council holds, and the purposes for which personal information is used, is available here.

Collecting your personal information

When collecting your personal information, Council will:

  • tell you for what purpose we will be collecting the information
  • tell you what information is necessary to access Council's products and services, including payments and transactions
  • tell you when the information needs to be passed on to Council’s contractors and agents who carry out activities on Council’s behalf
  • not ask for or collect any sensitive information about you unless it is necessary to meet legal, public interest or statistical requirements
  • not pass the information on to other entities without your consent unless it is required by law or for public interest.

Using your personal information

When you provide Council with your personal information, Council will:

  • use the information to help you use Council services
  • gather the data for analysis
  • remove personally identifiable characteristics, unless you have given us specific consent to recognise your usage on an individual basis.

Disclosing your personal information

Council will not disclose your personal information to any other person or organisation unless one of the following reasons applies:

  • you have given us your consent to do so
  • Council is required by law or authorised to do so under a law
  • there are grounds to believe disclosure will prevent a threat to life or health
  • that person or organisation is providing a service to Council and is required to maintain the same or similar privacy legislation principles
  • Council is of the opinion that it is unable to assist with your request and that another government agency or authority is more capable of assisting, or has the appropriate jurisdiction to assist with your request.

Security of your personal information

When handling your personal information, Council will:

  • take reasonable steps to ensure that all information we collect, use or disclose is securely stored
  • monitor transmissions sent to or from Council for quality control and systems administration
  • strive to protect your personal information from misuse, loss and unauthorised access
  • operate secure servers to minimise the risk of unauthorised use of your credit card information.

Accessing, correcting or updating your information

For information on accessing, correcting or updating the personal information that you give Council, please refer to our Right to Information & Information Privacy page.

Website privacy & security statement

Council is committed to protecting the privacy of its website users. We understand and appreciate that visitors to, and users of, this website, are concerned about their privacy and the confidentiality and security of information they provide to us.

As a general rule, we do not collect information that can directly identify you when you visit our website. When you visit our website to read or download information, our web measurement tool and Internet Service Providers record the following information only for statistical purposes:

  • your server and IP address
  • the name of the top level domain (for example, .gov, .com, .edu, .au)
  • the type of browser used
  • the date and time you accessed the site
  • the pages accessed and documents downloaded
  • the previous site you visited.

These statistics provide information to assist us to make improvements to the content and structure of our website.

Cookies

Cookies are text files that a website can transfer to your computer when you access information on that website. Cookies allow websites to recognise you as you browse websites.

Council uses Google Analytics to measure traffic to this website, to monitor return visits and to gather statistics about how the website is accessed. Google Analytics uses cookies to gather information for the purpose of providing statistical reporting. The cookies do not collect information that can directly identify you. The information generated by the cookie about your use of the website will be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers located outside of Australia. No personally identifying information is recorded or provided to Google.

Information gathered using the Google Analytics cookie is used for the purpose of determining:

  • the number of visitors to Council's website
  • how visitors arrive at Council's website (for example, did they type the address in directly, follow a link from another webpage, or arrive via a search engine?)
  • the number of times each page is viewed and for how long
  • time and date of visits
  • geographical location of visitors
  • information about what browsers are used to view Council's website and the operating system of the computers or devices
  • whether these browsers support Java and Flash
  • the speed of the user's internet connection.

This information is used to refine and improve Council's online service delivery and in turn the community's online experience. In accordance with our Privacy Policy, Council does not collect or keep any personally identifiable information, nor track visits to any non-Council websites.

You can choose not to have cookies monitor your usage of this site (not recommended). For information on how to do this, you can visit the Omniture website. Alternatively, if you want to block cookies for all websites, you can change the privacy settings of your web browser (not recommended).

For more information, get a Google Analytics example report (PDF)

Your correspondence

Council will only use personal information provided in your correspondence (eg. letter, email or online form) to address the subject matter of your correspondence. This may involve passing on your correspondence to other areas within Council. We will not disclose your personal information to other government agencies, organisations or anyone else unless one of the following applies:

  • you consent to the disclosure
  • you would have a reasonable expectation that your personal information would be disclosed
  • it is required or authorised by law
  • it will prevent or lessen a serious threat to somebody’s life or health
  • the disclosure is reasonably necessary for a law enforcement activity.

Your contact details will not be added to a mailing list. Email messages may be monitored by our information technology staff for system trouble-shooting and maintenance purposes.

Public records

Email correspondence, blog comments and information provided via web forms can constitute public records and can be retained as required by the Public Records Act 2002 and other relevant legislation.

Security

We take strong precautions to protect the personal information we hold concerning you from loss, unauthorised access, use, modification or disclosure, and against other misuse. However, please be aware we do not provide a mechanism for securing the transmission of information across the internet.

Links to other sites

This website contains links to other websites. Council is not responsible for the content and privacy practices of other websites.

Privacy complaints

If you think Council has breached your privacy and confidentiality, you may lodge a complaint with Council's Information Privacy Officer.

To make a privacy complaint, visit Make a complaint

Council will take your complaint seriously, investigate thoroughly and provide you with a response. If you are not satisfied with Council’s response, you may make a complaint to the Queensland Privacy Commissioner.

For more information on our Privacy Policy, contact Council on 07 4034 5700 and ask for the Information Privacy Officer or Records Officer or email records@TSIRC.qld.gov.au.