Privacy

Privacy Statement

Council collects and manages personal information in the course of performing its activities, functions and duties. We respect the privacy of the personal information held by us.

The way in which Council manages personal information is governed by the Information Privacy Act 2009 (Qld) (the Act).

This Statement describes generally how Council, as a whole, manages your personal information.

What is personal information?

Personal information is any information or opinion (including information or an opinion forming part of a database) about an individual whose identity is apparent or can reasonably be ascertained from the information or opinion - whether the information or opinion is true or not, and whether or not the information or opinion is recorded in a material form.

Collection and use of personal information

We are authorised or required under various legislation to collect your personal information.

We collect your personal information so that we can use it for the following purposes:

to review and consider any applications or submissions you have submitted to Council (e.g. development and building applications, applications for food or entertainment permits, grant applications);
to process any Council-related payments or transactions which you make with us (e.g. payment of your Council rates), and to identify you and protect you from unauthorised access to your personal or Council account information;
to carry out any Council inspections (e.g. building inspections and food or health inspections);
to facilitate and organise Civic and Council's community, cultural, corporate, local, national and international events, functions, forums and programs (including citizenship, prizes and awards ceremonies), and where necessary to check your eligibility and record your attendance at such events;
to inform you of Council and local news and developments or to notify you of Council-related developments or events which you have requested to be notified of (e.g. Council newsletters and notices);
to assess your eligibility for any Council community or health assistance or services that you have requested or applied for (e.g. Home & Community Care (HACC));
to assess your eligibility to be a Council volunteer, and to administer and coordinate Council's volunteer programs and to communicate with our volunteers;
to answer any search requests submitted by a member of the public for publicly available information (e.g. property-related searches);
to register your pets and animals;
to respond to any communications and correspondence you send to us (which includes answering any queries, and dealing with any feedback or complaints you have);
to seek your views or feedback on how Council is performing its functions and delivering its services;
if you are a Council employee or have applied employment at Council - to process your employment application, and to process any employment related tasks at any time (e.g. to verify employment related matters and information, grant you building and IT access, to manage your salary arrangements);
to investigate any complaints lodged by you in connection with Council, its employees, or its functions and activities;
to provide you with any Council information, services or products you have requested or are designed to better serve or promote the Bundaberg region;
to assist us to determine your needs and requirements to enable us to provide you with the appropriate Council services and information you have requested (e.g. to direct your call or enquiry to the relevant Council department who can assist you);
to maintain any Council information databases, records or registers including those that we are required, under Federal or State legislation, to maintain;
to administer and enforce any legislation which Council is required to administer and enforce;
to verify any information you have provided to us;
to get in touch with you should we need to;
to take any other further action which we are required or authorised by law to take, including any investigative, enforcement and recovery action;and
to otherwise perform our functions, duties and activities. This includes but is not limited to any statutory duties we have, including those to other government bodies.

The kinds of personal information we collect may include your:

name;
residential address;
postal address;
date of birth;
gender;
telephone numbers;
email address;
photo and video images (e.g. from security cameras at Council-controlled venues);
addresses of your property whether owned or leased by you;
credit card information;
bank account details;
driver licence details;
passport details;
details of your eligibility for child related employment (e.g. details of your "blue card" and related correspondence) whether as employee, volunteer orotherwise
your vehicle description and registration details;
details of your assets and liabilities, property, your interactions with the Council (including Council officers, application forms, decisions by the Council and enforcement actions by the Council affecting you, your property;
details of any pets or animals owned by you or registered in your name and any of your interactions with the Council regarding such pets or animals;
if you have requested Council to provide you with certain health-related services (e.g. Home & Community Care) - medical history, employment history, educational qualifications, family history, assets and liabilities
copies of correspondence exchanged between Council and you, including Council records of any interactions Council has had with you; and
if you are a Council employee - your Council employee file.

As far as possible, we will collect personal information directly from you (e.g. during personal meetings, phone conversations, from the Council's website or social media or during Council's interactions with you including by correspondence or when considering your enquiries, complaints or applications).

However, in certain circumstances, we may collect your personal information from a third party, e.g.:

if you are a minor - your parents or guardian;
other Government departments and bodies (e.g. the Department of Communities);
your current or former employer or relevant person (e.g. to obtain a reference check if you are applying for employment with the Council); and
Council and other databases (e.g. to obtain information about your properties in the event of any enforcement action).

Disclosure of personal information

In accordance with the Act, we will not disclose your personal information unless:

we have obtained your express or implied consent;
we are required or authorised by law to do so;
the information is necessary for the Council or a law enforcement agency to perform its functions, duties and activities (including, but not limited to, the prevention, detection, investigation, prosecution or punishment of criminal offences);
the disclosure is necessary for research, or the compilation or analysis of statistics in the public interest (in which case your personal information will be de-identified); or
Council believes that the disclosure is necessary to lessen or prevent a serious threat to the life, health, safety of a person, or to public health, safety or welfare.

We may, in carrying out Council's functions, duties and activities disclose your personal information to:

Council's related entities which are controlled by Council;
bodies to which we are authorised or required by law to disclose such information (e.g. law enforcement agencies, the Courts, various Federal and State departments, public sector bodies and government agencies);
other public or private sector bodies who provide funding to Council in connection with certain Council initiatives or with whom Council partners to deliver certain services;
to our professional advisers, contractors or service providers who we have engaged or appointed to carry out, or advise us on, Council's functions, duties or activities;
any parties with whom Council has entered into an arrangement (e.g. a joint venture partner or contractor) for the carrying out of Council's functions, duties or activities;
any specific parties which we have advised you of at the time the relevant personal information is collected;
any other entities, with your express or implied agreement.

The above entities may in turn disclose the personal information Council provides them to:

third parties to which they are authorised or required by law to disclose such information.

Storage of personal information

Council stores the personal information it collects in secure locations and databases. We take precautions to protect your personal information against loss, and unauthorised access, use, modification, disclosure or other forms of misuse. Some examples of the safeguards Council uses to protect your personal information include:

password protection on Council computers;
restricted access to Council offices;
any Council policies on access to information;
Code of Conduct;
regular back up of Council databases; and
Council policies on the use and storage ofdata.

Council also has a document retention program in accordance with the Public Records Act 2002 and related legislation and codes.

Access to your personal information

If you wish to have access to any documents held by the Council which contains your personal information, please contact us. Please note that we may ask you to make your request in writing and provide us with evidence of your identity, and that under some circumstances under the Act or other legislation, we may not be able to provide you with the access you requested.

Complaints

If you have a complaint about how we have handled your personal information, please contact us. Please note that we will ask you to lodge your complaint in writing.

Council will:

within 5 business days of receiving your complaint - acknowledge receipt of your complaint; and
within 45 business days of receiving your complaint - investigate the circumstances of your complaint and provide you with aresponse.

Council Privacy Contact Details

Department: Governance & Legal Services – RTI
Email address: RTI@bundaberg.qld.gov.au
Address: PO Box 3130, Bundaberg QLD 4670
Phone: 1300 883 699

Changes to the Privacy Statement

We may from time to time make changes to this Privacy Statement. If we amend this statement, we will post the amended statement on our website – www.bundaberg.qld.gov.au.

We monitor visits to the Council website to assist in understanding the areas of interest to visitors of our website. For statistical and site design purposes, we make a record of your visit in log files contained on the server. The information we collect about site visits are usually in the form of "cookies".

Cookies are small pieces of information (text) which a website can transfer to an individual's computer hard drive for record keeping. Cookies can reside on an individual's machine for a fixed period of time, or expire at the end of an Internet session.

The information we collect on site visits include:

your server address;
your top level domain name (e.g .com, .gov, .au, .org etc.);
the date and time of your visit to our website;
the pages you accessed and documents you downloaded;
the previous site visited;
your browser type.