Your privacy

Information on submissions, personal information collection, cookies and Internet privacy statement.

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Council collects, stores and uses a broad range of information. A significant part of that information is the personal information of residents and ratepayers, as well as users interacting with various Council-owned websites.

This information is held in correspondence, files, public registers and reports, and may be stored in hard copy or electronic form. 

Personal information held by council can only be used for the purpose for which it was collected as part of Council’s lawful and proper functions. It may be available to and read by Council officers, Councillors, consultants, lawyers (on behalf of Council), objectors, and applicants and their representatives.

Council is bound by various Acts relating to the collection, use, storage, and disclosure of information. The personal information of individuals is managed in accordance with the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act (PPIPA) and Council’s Privacy Management Plan. To view the Privacy Management plan visit Public Policies and search for the term 'privacy'.

For more information about privacy, the NSW Information and Privacy Commission web site contains detailed information on all aspects of this legislation.

If you have specific concerns or questions please contact council via the methods described below.

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Submissions

Submissions to documents on public exhibition are public documents and may be viewed by the public and published on Council's website, listed on Council’s Application Tracker and/or included in Council meeting reports and agendas.

In accordance with the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009, submissions made to DAs and applications for modifications to a DA are published to Council’s Application Tacker or you can use our online Development Application Submission Form

If you do not want your submission to be made publicly available, a written request for confidentiality will be required.

Council may determine a submission is not suitable for public viewing or publication. This could be because it contains personal, private or defamatory material, contains unrelated information or is missing contact information.

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Internet Privacy Statement

What information we collect

The personal information we collect via Council-owned websites may include:

• the content of any electronic forms you submit, documents you provide or transactions you make via these websites;
• messages or comments you submit to us via these websites or to email addresses displayed on these websites;
• information submitted if you participate in an online survey;
• personal information such as name, address, email address and telephone number, and any other information specifically collected within the online forms provided on the websites;
• the Internet Protocol (IP) address of the machine that accessed it;
• your top-level domain name (for example .com, .gov, .au);
• the address of your server;
• the date and time of your visit;
• the pages accessed, documents downloaded and other sites visited as a result of a link from our websites;
• the type of browser and operating system used;
• the type of device on which the websites were viewed.  

How we collect personal information

When you conduct a transaction on our websites, as part of the process, we collect personal information you give us such as your name, address, email address, telephone number etc. Your personal information will be used for the specific reasons stated below only.

How we use information collected  

Personal information you provide to us will generally only be used and disclosed for any Council purpose, in emergencies, with your consent to another use or as 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 Privacy Statement indicates which third parties we might share your information with. In addition to providing services to you and carrying out your requests, we may use or disclose personal information that we collect for purposes including:

• the main purpose that we have collected the information;
• purposes connected with the administration, development, enhancement and delivery of Council services, including these websites;
• purposes of informing, engaging and consulting with you in future;
• monitoring the performance of our websites
• gauging engagement in the services/information offered through the websites
• refining and maintaining contemporary, relevant website content
• monitoring our websites for violations of the terms of use
• any other purposes required or authorised by law.

Who we share infromation with

Council may share your information within Council and also with third parties as and when required. These third parties may include, but not be limited to :

• service providers engaged by us from time to time to assist us in delivering our services 
• other agents or contractors of Council; 
• other public sector agencies and statutory authorities;
• any other third party as required or authorised by law.

Publication of content

When you submit content to us for publication you assign us a transferrable, perpetual right to publish and/or commercially use said content without limitation. You also warrant in submitting such content that the content is owned or produced by yourself or you otherwise have permission to assign publication rights to us. Publication rights do not extend to fields specifically marked as private (e.g. your email address), except in cases of clear violations of our terms of use.

Content submitted by you for publication may be disclosed to all visitors of our websites, and/or republished on other websites at our discretion.

If you provide personal information either of your own or of any third party as part of publishable content supplied to Bega Valley Shire Councill, you warrant that you have permission to publish this information and indemnify us against any consequences resulting from the publication of same.

If you find your personal information published on our websites without your consent, or you suspect any loss or misuse of your personal information please contact us immediately via the methods described below.

Cookies

Council websites may use cookies to improve the user's experience while visiting said websites. Where applicable these websites use a cookie control system allowing the user on their first visit to the websites to allow or disallow the use of cookies on their computer/device .

Cookies are small files saved to the user's computer hard drive that track, save and store information about the user's interactions and usage of the website. This allows the website, through its server to provide the users with a tailored experience within the website.

Council-owned websites use tracking software to monitor site visitors to better understand how they use the sites. This software is provided by Google Analytics which uses cookies to track visitor usage. The software will save a cookie to your computer hard drive in order to track and monitor your engagement and usage of the websites, but will not store, save or collect personal information. You can read Google's privacy policy here for further information.

Opting in/out

You may opt out by turning off cookies in your browser. Please note however that disabling cookies may result in a reduction of available website functionality.

You will be given the opportunity to opt out from receiving further communications from us in accordance with this policy each time we send you information for which you have opted in. This comes in the form of an ‘unsubscribe’ link.

If you receive any communication purporting to be connected with us or our products or services that you believe has been sent to you other than in accordance with this policy, does not include the abovementioned 'unsubscribe' link, or in breach of any law, please contact us immediately via the methods described below.

Managing information

With the exclusion of information supplied for publication, we will take all reasonable steps to ensure that the personal information we hold is not lost, misused, or inadvertently provided to unauthorised third parties.

The security of communications sent by electronic means cannot be guaranteed, and when you provide information to us via the internet, you acknowledge this and do so at your own risk. Bega Valley Shire Council cannot accept responsibility for misuse or loss of, or unauthorised access to, your personal information where the security of information is not wholly within our control.

You are wholly responsible for the the security and confidentiality of any username and/or password used by yourself to access Council-owned websites. You agree that you will be held responsible for all activities which occur under your username and password (including but not limited to publication of illegal or defamatory material or any other unlawful activity).

You agree that we are not responsible for the privacy or security practices of any third party and that the collection and use of your information by third parties may be subject to separate privacy and security policies outside the control of Bega Valley Shire Council.

Your rights to access your personal information

You have the right to seek access to and update or correct the personal information we hold about you. If you make an access request, we will ask you to verify your identity, and a fee-for-service based on cost-recovery may be charged.

If you would like to seek access to personal information we hold about you, please contact Council via the methods described below.

Privacy Statement updates

Bega Valley Shire Council reserves the right to modify this privacy statement at any time. Changes and clarifications will take effect immediately upon their posting on Council owned websites.

Bega Valley Shire Council reserves the right to make disclosures to relevant authorities where the use of these websites raises a suspicion that an offence is, has or will be committed. We will also provide access to data and information, to any government agency that may exercise a warrant to inspect our logs. 

Contacting Council

If you have any questions or complaints about how we collect, use, disclose, manage or store your personal information, or would like to request access or changes to the information we hold, please contact Council.