Privacy

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Application of this Privacy Statement

This privacy statement applies only to the www.vic.gov.au website and not to any websites to which www.vic.gov.au provides a link.

Use and Disclosure of Personal Information

www.vic.gov.au only requests you to provide personal information for the purposes of responding to your feedback. The purpose for collecting personal information is to provide feedback and answer queries that you have in respect of a particular site or the information you are trying to obtain and www.vic.gov.au will only use and/or disclose the information for these purposes. It is possible to provide feedback without providing your personal information although if you do this, we are unable to respond to you about your feedback or your query.

Personal information that is collected by www.vic.gov.au will be used by and disclosed to Victorian Government employees or contractors whose duties require them to use it. Such employees and contractors are required to protect and handle your personal information in accordance with the Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014 (Vic).

www.vic.gov.au uses a secure system to transmit your personal information via our feedback form. This means that any data you transmit using this form is encrypted and unable to be read by anyone outside our secure system.

Access to and Correction of Personal Information

You may request access to any personal information that www.vic.gov.au may have collected about you. Also, you may request correction of your personal information if you can establish that it is not accurate, complete or up-to-date.

The Manager, vic.gov.au may be contacted about access to, and correction of, personal information collected by www.vic.gov.au or for any questions or concerns you may have arising out of this privacy statement,

Should you wish to gain access to, or correction of, your personal information held by the department, please contact us by emailing contact@dpc.vic.gov.au.

Collection of Personal Information

It is intended that www.vic.gov.au can be used anonymously.

However, for some functions of www.vic.gov.au the collection of personal information is necessary or unavoidable.

You will know if www.vic.gov.au is collecting personal information from you because you will be requested to provide it. There are two exceptions to this.

The first exception is where someone else provides www.vic.gov.au with your personal information. www.vic.gov.au cannot prevent this. However, you are entitled to access and correct any personal information about you collected by www.vic.gov.au.

The second exception is where www.vic.gov.au collects statistics using software techniques such as web server log file analysis, clickstream data, cookies and web beacons. For an explanation of these techniques, and how they are used on www.vic.gov.au, see Web measurement services used by www.vic.gov.au below. Such statistics may qualify as personal information under the Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014 (Vic). However, these statistics are not used to identify individual users of www.vic.gov.au.

Internet Use Risk

You should be aware that there are risks in transmitting information across the Internet. However, www.vic.gov.au takes reasonable steps to protect any personal information from unauthorised access once that personal information comes into its possession.

Linking

This website contains hyperlinks to pages contained on external government and non-government websites (third party websites). Unless otherwise indicated, www.vic.gov.au:

• does not endorse or authorise the content of any third party website;
• is not affiliated or associated with the owner or operator of any third party website; and
• assumes no responsibility or liability for the condition or content of any third party website or for the operation or function of any service or facility offered on any third party website.

You should be aware that if you access another website through a link we provide, you are subject to the privacy policy of that website.

Web measurement service used by www.vic.gov.au

www.vic.gov.au currently uses one web measurement service provider. This is Google Analytics.

Google Analytics - Use of Cookies

Google Analytics uses a first-party cookie and JavaScript code to collect information about visitors to vic.gov.au. Google Analytics anonymously tracks how our visitors interact with this website, including where they came from, what they did on the site, and whether they completed any transactions on the site such as newsletter registration.

Please also read the Google Privacy Policy.

How to Opt Out or Disable Cookies

Cookies used by www.vic.gov.au are enabled by default because of their integration into the website. If you do not wish to have cookies placed on your computer, you can disable them using your web browser. You will need to customise each web browser you use to turn off cookie tracking.

Google have also provided the "Google Analytics Opt-Out Browser Add-On" utility for the following web browsers:

• Microsoft Internet Explorer,
• Google Chrome,
• Mozilla Firefox,
• Apple Safari, and
• Opera.

If you want to prevent your browsing data from being collected by Google Analytics, please install the relevant addon for your browser.

If you opt out of using cookies, you will still have access to all information and resources at www.vic.gov.au.

Data Collection

While the anonymous statistical data www.vic.gov.au collects may be aggregated and used in broader statistical analysis by the State of Victoria, at no time can we personally identify you as the source of that data.

Victorian Government Directory

The Victorian Government Directory aims to assist citizens to find relevant services, websites or contacts within the Victorian Government.

To ensure privacy is being managed effectively and to report any possible breaches there are several feedback loops in place. On the Victorian Government directory website there is a link to a feedback form for the general public to alert www.vic.gov.au to errors or omissions in data for resolution or referral. The Victorian Government Contact Centre phone number is displayed to allow for verbal feedback.

Social Media Websites and Applications

In addition to www.vic.gov.au, The Victorian Government uses social media websites to share information and to engage with the public. For example, www.vic.gov.au embeds a Twitter feed listing tweets from various Victorian Government departments and agencies on our home page. Our intention is to provide a seamless visitor experience to enhance our website visitor's ability to access information and communicate with the Victorian Government.

Some social media websites and applications may make personally identifiable information available to the public. www.vic.gov.au will not collect, maintain, use, or share any personally identifiable information that becomes available through the use of social media websites or applications.

Please be aware that privacy policies provided by social media websites may not be the same as the privacy policy described here.

Also we advise that personally identifiable information or other information you share via social media or applications may be accessible by non-government third parties.

Family Safety Victoria

In addition to the privacy and security statement above, the following is applicable to Family Safety Victoria.

Family Safety Victoria endorses fair information handling practices and uses of information in compliance with its obligations under the Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014 (Vic) and the Health Records Act 2001 (Vic).

Family Safety Victoria collects your information to enable it to undertake its functions and activities. Any personal information and health information (being information capable of identifying you as an individual) that you provide to Family Safety Victoria will only be used or disclosed in accordance with relevant laws, including the Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014 and the Health Records Act 2001. This privacy statement explains how your information will be treated when you engage with Family Victoria Safety. The practices outlined in this privacy statement should be read subject to any rights Family Safety Victoria may have to handle your information in accordance with law.

Family Safety Victoria may disclose your personal and health information to other organisations for the purposes of undertaking its functions or activities and for the purposes of reporting to the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services (the DHHS) as required. The types of organisations to which Family Safety Victoria may disclose your information for the purposes of undertaking its functions or activities include the DHHS, Victorian health services, other Victorian service providers, or other administrative offices established in relation to the DHHS.

Family Safety Victoria may also disclose your personal or health information to the DHHS for the purposes of seeking corporate support services (including but not limited to in relation to the handling of privacy complaints) from the DHHS.

This page was updated 21 July 2017.