Privacy statement

 General Privacy Policy

The New South Wales Government's privacy practices are regulated by the New South Wales Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 (the Act). For more information contact the Office of the NSW Privacy Commissioner (www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/privacynsw)

NSW Department of Industry 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 the effectiveness of our services. The department will not collect any more information than is necessary for it to fulfil these functions.

The department will not disclose your personal information to anyone without your consent unless legally required to do so.

Anyone engaged to collect, store or use personal information for the department will be required to comply with the Information Protection Principles of the Act as part of their terms of engagement.

Storage of private information

The department takes all reasonable steps to protect the security of any personal information held, be it stored in electronic or hard copy format. Except in the circumstances set out in the Act, you may request access to your personal information held by the department. Access can be arranged by contacting:

Governance & Information Access Unit
NSW Department of Industry
Box K348
HAYMARKET NSW 1240
Phone +61 2 9934 0657
9934 0655

E: privacy@industry.nsw.gov.au

Email addresses

Email addresses are recorded when an email message is sent to the department or when a user subscribes to an online mailing list.

These email addresses are stored electronically in accordance with standards and authorities under the New South Wales State Records Act 1998. An email address is only used for the purpose for which it is provided and is not added to any unauthorised mailing list or disclosed to other organisations unless you request that this to be done.

If you have subscribed to one of the department's online mailing lists, you can easily remove your email details from the list by unsubscribing. Each mailing list provides clear instructions on how to unsubscribe.

Cookies

A cookie is a small text file that is sent back to your computer's hard drive from a host web site. Cookies record your preferences in relation to your use of a site and provide other information that allows us to recognise you in the future. The cookies on the listed websites do not read the information on your hard drive nor do they make your computer perform any unauthorised actions or make your computer send information to any other computer via the Internet. Cookies do not personally identify you, only your computer.

The listed websites may utilise cookies to enhance the user's experience of the site. Cookies may also be used in conjunction with pixel tags to determine pages that have been visited on our sites and show more relevant advertising on third party websites. Configuration and opt out options for these advertising-based cookies are available from Google's Ads Settings page.

You can set your browser to notify you when you receive a cookie, giving you the chance to decide whether or not to allow it. However, if you decide to not accept cookies, some of the department's web pages may not display properly or you may not be permitted to access certain information.

Online transactions using credit cards

The department understands the security concerns surrounding online financial transactions and has developed a safe and secure environment to address these concerns.

The department does not store credit card details from the listed websites in its computer systems.

The department uses encryption software to protect credit card information and to provide transaction security. This means that all personal information, including name, address and credit card number, cannot be read as a transaction travels across the internet from your computer to the department's computers, or from the department's computers to a bank.

Information received via feedback

The department may provide feedback facilities on their sites to allow users to provide input into the future development of the sites and to comment on the provision of service by the department. The provision of personal details on feedback is optional.

Users may provide personal details for the purpose of receiving a reply to their feedback. This information will only be used for the purpose for which it was provided. We will not add your email address or name to any mailing list.

The department may publish aggregated information about feedback on the site, but will ensure that this aggregated information cannot be used to identify individual users.

Logging of visits

When you access any of the pages on the Listed Websites, we automatically record information that identifies, for each page accessed:

• the IP (Internet Protocol) address of the machine which 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 pages accessed and documents downloaded
• the previous site visited and
• the type of browser and operating system you have used.

The information collected during each visit is aggregated with similar logged information and published in reports in order for the department to manage its website services and identify patterns of usage of the sites. This will assist us in improving the department's sites and the services offered on them.

The department will not disclose or publish information that identifies individual computers, 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.

Exceptions

The department will collect, use and disclose more extensive information than stated above in the following circumstances:

• unauthorised attempts to access files which are not publically available
• unauthorised tampering or interference with files on the listed websites
• unauthorised attempts to index the contents of the listed websites
• attempts to intercept messages of other users of the listed websites
• communications which are defamatory, abusive, vilify individuals or groups or which give rise to a suspicion that an offence is being committed and
• attempts to otherwise compromise the security of the web server, breach the laws of the State of New South Wales or Commonwealth of Australia, or interfere with the use of the listed websites by other users.

The department reserves the right to make disclosures to relevant authorities where the use of the listed websites raises a suspicion that an offence is being, or has been, committed. In the event of an investigation, the department will provide access to data to any law enforcement agency that may exercise a warrant to inspect our logs.

The department may initiate proceedings in relation to any loss or damage suffered as a result of unauthorised use of information or any of the above circumstances.

Disclosure may also occur where it is lawfully authorised or required under any act, other law or statutory agency or foreign body.

Linked Websites

The department does not have any responsibility for the privacy policies or practices of third party sites linked to from the listed websites.