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 shall handle personal information. Personal information means any information about an identifiable person. The Winton Shire Council's Privacy Statement sets out details of the types of personal information Council hold and how Council will handle this information.
PERSONAL INFORMATION
Personal information is defined as any information that would allow a person to be identified and may include your name and address, signature, date of birth, current and previous addresses, contact phone numbers, email address, bank account or credit card information. The information does not have to clearly identify a person. It need only provide sufficient information to lead to the identification of a person. It covers information held in paper or electronic records, including images and sounds. If you choose not to provide certain information, we may not be able to provide you with the services you require.
HOW WE COLLECT PERSONAL INFORMATION
We collect personal information in a number of ways:
- Directly from you in either verbal, written, or electronic form
- When you visit our websites
- From other government agencies
- From publicly available sources of information
HOW WE USE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION
Any personal information you chose to provide will only be used for the purpose for which it was provided and will not be disclosed to other persons or organisations without your prior agreement or if required by law.
ACCESSING YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION
If you want to get access to your personal information, you should contact Council to see if this can be accessed administratively without the need to apply for it under the IP Act. If not, you will have to make a formal application for access under the legislation. There is no charge for applying, but there may be costs associated with copying documents or retrieving information.
WEBSITE PRIVACY AND SECURITY STATEMENT
Winton Shire Council is committed to protecting the privacy of its website users. Council 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 Council. As a general rule, Council do not collect information that can directly identify you when you visit our site. When you visit the site to read or download information, web measurement tools and Internet Service Providers record the following information 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 Council to make improvements to the content and structure of the website. Council collect personal information via online forms or by email communications for the purposes of, for example:
- Subscriptions to electronic mailing lists
- Registrations for training or an event through the websites
EMAIL CORRESPONDANCE
Your email address details will not be added to a mailing list nor will Council disclose these details to third parties without your consent, unless required by law. Email messages may be monitored by our information technology staff for system trouble-shooting and maintenance purposes.
COOKIES
Cookies are text files that a website can transfer to your computer when you access information on that site. Cookies allow websites to recognise you as you browse their website. Winton Shire Council use Google Analytics 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 website
- how visitors arrive at 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 the website and the operating system the computers or devices
- whether these browsers supports Java and Flash
- the speed of the user's internet connection
This information is used to refine and improve Winton Shire Council's online service delivery and in turn the community's online experience.
PUBLIC RECORDS
E-mail 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. Council will only use personal information collected via the website for the purposes for which it was given to us and/or for related, internal management purposes. Council do not disclose your personal information to other government agencies, organisations or anyone else unless one of the following applies:
- you consented 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; and
- the disclosure is reasonably necessary for a law enforcement activity
SECURITY
Council 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 Council do not provide a mechanism for securing the transmission of information across the Internet.
LINKS TO OTHER SITES
Council's websites contains links to other websites. Winton Shire Council is not responsible for the content and privacy practices of other websites.
CONTACT US
If you have any questions, concerns, or complaints in relation to privacy, or wish to have your personal information amended, please contact us on (07) 4657 2666 during business hours or alternatively you can contact us via our website at www.winton.qld.gov.au/contact-us