This NSW Government website is maintained by Hunter and Central Coast Development Corporation, which operates the website using the name HCCDC. HCCDC sits within the NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure (the Department).
HCCDC is concerned about privacy issues and wants you to be familiar with how we collect, use and disclose information.
This privacy statement sets out how HCCDC complies with the Department's practices regarding the privacy of your personal information. The Department's privacy practices are regulated by the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 (NSW) (PPIP ACT) and the Department's Privacy Management Plan.
The Department will only collect personal information for a lawful purpose which directly relates to our primary function as a NSW Government agency and for obtaining feedback about our services. The Department will not collect any more information than is necessary for it to fulfil these functions.
The Department will not usually disclose your personal information to anyone without your consent, unless legally required or authorised to do so. If there is a specific circumstance when your information is intended to be disclosed, you will be advised at the time of collecting it. Further information about how we use, store, and disclose your information is below.
Anyone engaged to collect, store or use personal information for the department will be required to comply with the PPIP Act and the Department’s Privacy Management Plan.
Note that the Department does not have any responsibility for the privacy policies or practices of third party sites linked to this website.
Personal Information
What is Personal Information?
Your Personal Information relates to you personally and includes any information or opinion made about you. Personal Information includes your name, address, phone number, email address or any information from which your identity can be reasonably ascertained.
Personal Information is information that identifies you, some examples include:
- a written record which may include your name, address, and other details about you
- electronic records, photographs, images, video or audio footage
- biometric information such as fingerprints, blood and records of genetic material.
What is not Personal Information?
The PPIP Act excludes certain information from the definition of personal information. The most significant exemptions are:
- information contained in publicly available publications
- information about a person’s suitability for public sector employment
- information about people who have been dead for more than 30 years
- a number of exemptions relating to law enforcement investigations
- matters contained in Cabinet documents.
Personal Information collected
HCCDC may collect your Personal Information to assist with your enquiry or provide information relating to our projects.
We can collect Personal Information directly from you or someone you authorise on your behalf. We will only ask for Personal Information from another source in the event of an emergency, or if lawfully authorised to do so, such as for investigative purposes.
Personal Information is information that identifies you as an individual, such as:
- name (including title)
- email address
- address
- internet protocol (IP) address (if the submission is made online); and
- any other Personal Information contained in your submission.
We may combine personal information that we collect about you with Personal Information you provide to HCCDC through other sources, such as enquiries, e-newsletter subscriptions or marketing events. We will use the combined Personal Information in accordance with this Privacy Statement for as long as it is combined.
Making a submission of Personal Information is entirely voluntary and you are under no obligation to provide the Department with any of your personal information, except as otherwise required by law.
How we use your Personal Information
We may use Personal Information for the below purposes, to:
- respond to your enquiries and fulfil your requests, such as to send you email alerts
- send you important information regarding the website, changes to HCCDC’s policies and/or other administrative information
- send you marketing communications that we believe may be of interest to you, including information about events
- allow you to participate in sweepstakes, contests and similar promotions and to administer these activities. Some of these activities have additional rules, which could contain additional information about how we use and disclose your Personal Information, so we suggest that you read these rules carefully
- permit you to register and participate in events with HCCDC
- enable HCCDC business purposes, such as data analysis, audits, enhancing the website, developing marketing events, identifying usage trends and determining the effectiveness of HCCDC’s promotional campaigns
- as we believe to be necessary or appropriate:
(a) under applicable law;
(b) to comply with legal process;
(c) to respond to requests from public and government;
(d) to enforce HCCDC terms and conditions;
(e) to protect HCCDC operations;
(f) to protect HCCDC rights, privacy, safety or property, of you or others; and
(g) to allow HCCDC to pursue available remedies or limit the damages that we may sustain.
Your Personal Information will normally be used for the primary reason that it was collected for or a directly related secondary purpose. It may also be used in an emergency situation to help prevent a serious and imminent threat to life or health, or for law enforcement purposes, or where we are authorised or required to do so by law.
Storage of your Personal Information
We will retain the information you have provided for a period that is appropriate for the purpose for which it was provided. Your information will be archived and disposed of in accordance with the department’s policies, legislative requirements and guidelines based on the NSW State Records Act 1998.
HCCDC and the Department take all reasonable steps to protect the security of any Personal Information held, be it stored in electronic or hard copy format. Physical measures, such as building and equipment security, are used in conjunction with digital technology, such as data encryption and firewalls, to minimise unauthorised access to information.
If you have reason to believe that your interaction with HCCDC is no longer secure, please immediately notify HCCDC of the problem.
We will ensure Personal Information is stored securely, not kept longer than necessary, and disposed of appropriately. How we collect and handle your Personal Information is subject to the NSW Privacy Laws: the PPIP Act and Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002.
Disclosure of your Personal Information
We will not disclose your personal details unless the disclosure is authorised by the PIPP Act and Regulations. Your consent to disclose information for particular purposes may be sought by us or given by yourself for a specific purpose. If appropriate consent is not provided, we may not be able to provide certain products and services to you or your agents.
The Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (GIPA Act) confers on the public a right to access information held by a government agency, including electronic information like transactions through the web. If information is sought by a third party under the GIPA Act that affects your research, business, commercial, professional or financial interests or your personal information, we will take reasonable steps to seek your views if you are likely to have concerns about the disclosure of the information before making any decision about releasing the information.
Right of access to your Personal Information
Under the PPIP Act you have the right to access your Personal Information held by HCCDC without excessive delay or expense. You also have the right to have your Personal Information corrected in certain circumstances (e.g. if it is incorrect).
Should you wish to access or correct your Personal Information please email [email protected]. In your request, please clearly specify:
- what Personal Information you would like to have changed
- if you would like to have your Personal Information suppressed from a HCCDC database
- or the specific limitations you would like to put on HCCDC's use of your Personal Information.
We will respond to your request as soon as reasonably practicable.
Non-personal Information
What is Non-personal Information?
Non-personal Information is any information that does not reveal your specific identity, such as:
- browser information
- information collected through cookies, pixel tags and other technologies
- demographic information and other information provided by you
- aggregated information.
How we collect Non-personal Information
HCCDC may collect Non-personal Information in a variety of ways, including:
- through your browser:
Certain information is collected by most browsers, such as your Media Access Control (MAC) address, computer type (Windows or Macintosh), screen resolution, operating system version and Internet browser type and version. - using cookies:
Cookies allow a web server to transfer data to a computer for recordkeeping and other purposes. We use cookies and other technologies to, among other things, better serve you with more tailored information, to facilitate your ongoing access to and use of the Site, and to provide you with personalised marketing. If you do not want information collected through the use of cookies, there is a simple procedure in most browsers that allows you to decline the use of cookies. Some features of the website may not work properly if you decline the use of cookies. - using pixel tags, web beacons, clear GIFs or other similar technologies:
These may be used in connection with some website pages and HTML-formatted email messages to, among other things, track the actions of site users and email recipients, measure the success of HCCDC marketing campaigns and compile statistics about website usage and response rates. - from you:
Information such as your location, as well as other information, such as your preferred means of communication, is collected when you voluntarily provide this information. Unless combined with personal information, this information does not personally identify you or any other user of the website. - by aggregating information:
Aggregated personal information does not personally identify you or any other user of the website, (for example, we may use personal information to calculate the percentage of HCCDC users who have a particular telephone area code).
How we use and disclose Non-personal Information
Because Non-personal Information does not personally identify you, we may use and disclose Non-personal Information for any purpose. In some instances, we may combine Non-personal Information with Personal Information (such as combining your name with your geographical location).
If we combine any Non-personal Information with Personal Information, e.g., when we combine information you provide upon registration with Non-personal Information to provide you with targeted personalised marketing, the combined information will be treated by HCCDC as Personal Information.
Website data
To help HCCDC and the Department improve its website and provide better services to its users, the agency makes a record of your visit and logs the following information:
- the IP (Internet Protocol) address of the machine that has accessed it
- your top-level domain name (for example .com, .gov, .au, .uk etc.)
- the address of your server
- the date and time of your visit to the site
- the search engine used to locate the site
- the pages accessed and documents downloaded
- the type of browser and operating system you have used.
The Department will not disclose or publish information that identifies individual machines, or potentially identifies sub-groupings of addresses, without consent or otherwise in accordance with the PPIP Act.
Google Analytics
Our website uses Google Analytics, a service which transmits website traffic data to Google servers in the United States. Google Analytics does not identify individual users or associate individual IP addresses with any other data held by Google. We use reports provided by Google Analytics to help us understand website traffic and webpage usage.
For more information about this, see Google's Privacy Policy. You can opt out of Google Analytics if you disable or refuse the cookie, disable JavaScript, or use the opt-out service provided by Google.
The information collected during each visit is aggregated with similar logged information and published in reports so HCCDC can identify patterns of usage of the site. This assists us in improving the site and the services offered on it.
HCCDC will not disclose or publish information that identifies individual machines, or potentially identifies sub-groupings of addresses, without consent or otherwise in accordance with the New South Wales Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998.
Cookies and tracking pixels
Some of the Department’s sites use cookies and tracking pixels to collect your data, while others do not. For information on what cookies are, how they work and how to delete them from your computer, you can visit www.allaboutcookies.org.
Third Party sites
This Privacy Statement does not address, and we are not responsible for, the privacy, information or other practices of any third parties, including any third party operating any site to which the website contains a link. The inclusion of a link on the website does not imply endorsement of the linked site by HCCDC.
Use of website by children
HCCDC is committed to protecting the privacy needs of children and we encourage parents and guardians to take an active role in their children’s online activities. HCCDC does not target the website to children less than sixteen (16) years of age or knowingly collect information from children for the purpose of selling products or services.
Online forms and services
When you submit a form on this website (such as via Feedback or Contact us), or provide information as part of using an online service, we collect information from this activity. This information may include personal and organisational details such as your full name, phone number, business name and ACN details, email address and street address. This information allows us to properly look into an issue you raise, or to respond to your feedback.
Clicking on the 'submit' button on the form acts as your consent for the department to collect the information you have provided. Before you submit this information we will take reasonable steps to inform you of:
- where applicable, any law that requires the particular information to be collected
- which fields are mandatory and which are optional.
If you email HCCDC or the Department, we will only retain and use your email address for the purpose for which you have provided it. It will not be added to a mailing list without your consent. These email addresses are stored electronically in accordance with standards and authorities under the State Records Act 1998.
If you subscribe to an electronic mailing list, we will only send you information relevant to the purpose or project for which you have provided it.
If you have subscribed to one of HCCDC or the Department's online mailing lists or RSS service, you can easily remove your email details from the list by unsubscribing.
We operate in accordance with the Spam Act 2003 (the Act) and will not send unsolicited electronic messages unless they are permitted by the Act. Under the Act, a government department may send unsolicited emails if they contain only factual information or if they relate to goods or services provided by the department. For more information about the Act go to Industry ACMA website.
Privacy updates and exceptions
Updates
Due to the developing nature of privacy principles for online communication, this statement may be modified or expanded in light of new developments or issues that may arise from time to time. The amended statement will be posted to the site and will operate from the time it is posted.
Exceptions
There are a number of exemptions from compliance with the Information Privacy Principles in the PPIP Act. Some of the exemptions include the following:
- law enforcement and related matters
- investigative agencies
- where lawfully authorised or required
- when it would benefit the individual concerned
- Minister being informed of certain matters.
Complaints
If you feel there has been a breach of your privacy under the PPIP Act, you have the right to make a complaint to HCCDC, the Department's privacy team or the NSW Office of Privacy Commissioner. Please note that as the HCCDC operates within the privacy framework of the Department, any complaint information may be forwarded to the Department’s privacy team for action or records keeping purposes.