We are committed to fulfilling our obligations under the Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014 (Act) to protect your right to privacy when using this website and providing us with personal information. In particular, we will comply with the Information Privacy Principles contained in the Act.

This Privacy Statement sets out how we generally collect and manage personal information via this website, and the steps we take to protect it.

Please read this Privacy Statement carefully before using this website.  By using this website or any facilities or services made available on or through this website, you acknowledge that you have read, understood and agree to be bound by this Privacy Statement and that you consent to the collection and use by us of your personal information according to the terms below.

For information about the broader collection and use of personal information by the City of Boroondara, please refer to our Privacy and Data Protection Policy. 

Central Customer Database 

As digital technologies continue to emerge, the landscape of how we live, the choices and connections we make, and opportunities presented to us continue to change.  Our aim at the City of Boroondara is to utilise these new technologies through providing a connected and personalised experience with efficient delivery of services and provision of information.  This means putting you, the customer, at the centre of every interaction and embedded in every aspect of the organisation.

In order to achieve this, we need to ensure the most relevant customer information is accessible at the point of interaction and consistent regardless of who you are engaging with.  As a result, we hold customer data in a central customer master database, separate to other information systems and databases.  Contact details you provide as part of your use of our website may be matched with other identifying information held for the purpose of managing the central customer database and used by Council to contact you in relation to other Council’s functions and services.

How and why we collect information

In the course of providing services to the community, whether through this website or off-line, we collect personal information in a variety of ways. For example, personal information is collected when you:

  • make a payment to us
  • enquire about the services we provide
  • apply for a permit
  • apply for a job with us
  • supply goods or services to us.

Typical information we collect is your name, email address, home address and phone number. Depending on the purpose for which the information is being collected, we may ask for other details or information.

Information you provide

When using this website, you will usually provide your personal information directly to us, for a specific purpose. For example, when you make an enquiry about our services or request to be placed on a mailing list through this website, we collect your contact details so we can provide you with the information or advice you requested.  When you apply for a job with us, we collect information about your qualifications and we may ask you to undertake certain tests as part of our recruitment processes.  

We may also collect aggregate information which tells us about visitors to this website, but not the identity of those visitors. For example, we may collect information about the dates, times and durations of visits and which pages of this website are most commonly visited. The purpose of collecting this aggregate information is to help us administer and improve the website.  That aggregate information does not contain any personal information and Council cannot identify you from it.

How we use and disclose the information we collect

We use and disclose personal information primarily for the purpose for which it was collected.  As most of our information is collected from you directly, you will normally be aware of the purpose of the collection and when and for what purpose your information may be used or disclosed.

The personal information we collect may be stored in Council’s systems and databases and used to identify you when communicating with Council and for the delivery of services and information.  In particular, the contact details you provide to Council may be used by Council to contact you in relation to other Council functions and services.

If you do not provide personal information to us when we request it, we may not be able to provide you with access to and use of this website, our services or a response to your enquiry. 

The types of organisation to which we usually disclose personal information include:

  • financial institutions for payment processing
  • third parties who support our information technology
  • our contracted service providers (including payment processors) and organisations that carry out activities that assist us to deliver services, including for quality control activities, call centres, mail houses, data entry, data storage, data processing and hosting. In each case, we may disclose personal information to the service provider and the service provider may in turn provide us with personal information collected from you in the course of providing the relevant products or services
  • law enforcement agencies, and other governmental agencies or third parties where authorised, permitted or required by law to do so (for example if required by a court order or regulatory authority)
  • persons as part of any investigation into you or your activities or to protect our website, our products and our technology assets or the rights, property or personal safety or any person. For example, if we have reason to suspect that you have committed a breach of our website terms or conditions of use or another agreement with Council, or have otherwise engaged in unlawful activity (such as fraud or cyber-crime), and Council reasonably believes that disclosure is necessary to the police, any relevant authority or enforcement body, or to relevant internet service providers or network administrators
  • our professional advisers
  • anyone else to whom you authorise us to disclose it
  • to referees whose details are provided to us by job applicants.

Council uses cloud-based infrastructure as part of its website and online form tools, which is supplied by third party service providers that may be based overseas.  Accordingly, your personal information may be placed with or transferred or disclosed to service providers in jurisdictions outside of Victoria. These jurisdictions include the United States of America and the United Kingdom.

We will never sell any personal information we collect about you.

How we protect our information collection

We have implemented technology and security measures to protect the personal information that we collect and we will take all reasonable steps to ensure the security of that personal information.  This involves protecting it from:

  • unauthorised access
  • improper use
  • alteration
  • unlawful or accidental destruction
  • accidental loss.

However, you should be aware that there are risks in transmitting information across the internet. If you are concerned about conveying sensitive material to Council over the Internet, you might prefer to contact us by telephone or mail.

Your personal information is only kept while it is required for the purpose for which it was collected or for a permitted secondary purpose, unless we are required by law to retain it for a longer period.

Cookies

Like many websites, this website may use cookies, or similar mechanisms, to improve our understanding of website traffic, visitor behaviour and responses to promotional campaigns. These are used to supplement our server logs and other methods of traffic and response measurement. 

Information collected through the use of cookies on this website does not contain any personal information and Council cannot identify you from it.

To the extent that this data could make you identifiable, we will not attempt to identify individuals from it unless required by law or to investigate improper activity in relation to this website.

Links

This website privacy statement does not apply to other websites we may link to. We recommend you read the privacy statement when you access another site.

Access and correction

Requests for access to and correction of documents containing personal information are generally managed under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Vic). For information on how to make an application for access to documents containing personal information under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Vic), please refer to Make a Freedom of Information Request

Complaints

Although there is no obligation to do so, we encourage individuals to send written complaints directly to us about a breach, or perceived breach, of privacy in the first instance.

Alternatively, complaints can be directed to the Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner, although that complaint can be declined if you have not first complained directly to us.

The Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner can be contacted:

By post:
Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner
PO Box 24274 
MELBOURNE VIC 3001

By telephone: 1300 006 842

By email: [email protected]

Further information

In the first instance, all enquiries concerning your personal information and privacy should be addressed to Council’s Coordinator Governance.

The Coordinator Governance can be contacted on 9278 4471, by email at [email protected] or by mail to 8 Inglesby Road, Camberwell, Vic, 3124.

More information about our privacy obligations can be found in our Privacy and Data Protection Policy.