Privacy

The information contained within this website is the property of Central Highlands Regional Council.

Information may be downloaded, displayed, printed and copied in an unaltered form only.

It is not to be distributed or used for commercial purposes without the written permission of the Chief Executive Officer of Central Highlands Regional Council.

Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, all other rights reserved.

Email correspondence sent to this site may be treated as a public record and retained as required by the Public Records Act 2002 and other relevant legislation.

We collect your email addresses, telephone numbers (mobile and landline), address(es) and, sometimes other contact details, for the purposes of contacting you as a ratepayer or resident, when you log a request with the council or when you subscribe to services.

We use this information for the purpose of communicating with you in regard to council business, such as rates, debts, complaints, for sending you updates on the activities of the particular service, conducting surveys for ongoing research and development of our services, and to administer contact lists.

Your personal information is protected by law.

These laws prohibit any person from accessing, using or disclosing any personal information except in the performance of their duties or in specific circumstances permitted by these laws.

Whilst we provide a secure and reliable system, this site does not provide facilities for the secure transmission of information across the internet.

Users should be aware that there are inherent risks associated with the transmission of information across the internet, and that use of the contact facilities provided through this website is at the risk of the user.

We use cookies and other technologies to record visits to this website. Cookies are small pieces of code that identify and recognise the computer, but not the person using the computer, when you visit our website.

The use of cookies is an industry standard and most major websites globally use them. We use first-party cookies and JavaScript code from website analytics platforms, such as Google Analytics, and from social media platforms, such as LinkedIn and Facebook. The cookie data is used to help us improve the website and each user’s experience. This information is also used to offer you relevant content such as ads.

No attempt will be made to identify users individually except in the unlikely event of an investigation, where inspection of the Internet web server logs is required by law (for example, by a law enforcement agency).

Google Analytics and internet browser settings

If you prefer not to have cookies monitor your website usage, you can change the privacy setting of your browser to disable cookies or to warn you when cookies are being used. Google Analytics offers opt-out tools for the web. For details, visit the Google Analytics opt-out webpage. You can also refer to your internet browser’s ‘help’ information about how to change your cookie preference.

Information is gathered about how visitors use this website. Website usage data may include information such as:

• your device’s internet protocol address (for example, IP address)
• browser type, browser version
• the pages you visit
• the time and date of your visit, including time spent on those pages
• unique device identifiers and other diagnostic.

You can request advice about our information access services and make a formal request to access your personal information via our  how to access council information page. 

If you have concerns about how we have managed your personal information you can submit an enquiry via our  Contact Us page.  

Before making a complaint, please check information on the Office of the Information Commissioner  ‘about privacy complaints’ webpage. 

We only collect your personal information when we need the information to: 

• Conduct local government business, deliver a local government service 

• Support Council compliance with the law and meet our statutory and regulatory obligations 

• Protect your safety 

• Provide a service when you have provided consent for council to collect and use the personal information. 

Types of personal information collected for these purposes includes: 

• Customer or account numbers assigned to individuals by council; 

• Information to confirm your identity including name, date of birth, gender; 

• Contact details including addresses, phone numbers, email addresses; 

• Information to help us assess your eligibility for services/functions (for example, Blue Card, health status, pensioner/concession details); 

• Information generated when you transact with our services; 

• Information from digital photographs, videos, audio-visual, CCTV; 

• Ownership (owner/occupier) of property; 

• Car registration and driver licence details; 

• Permits, licences and applications (for example, building approval, pet registration, planning approvals, details of disputes and complaints); 

• Information in relation to potential employment with Council such as educational qualifications, previous work history; and 

• If you are a Council employee or a contractor, information about your employment with us (training records, payroll, complaints, performance appraisals). 

Before you give us any personal information, we provide you with a privacy notice that informs you about what information we collect, why we need it, what law applies and when we might share this information. 

You can see or hear a privacy notice when you give us your information in person, by phone, or online. 

We may collect your personal information in several ways: 

• Directly from you either verbally, in writing or electronic form 

• When you visit our websites or online services 

• From publicly available sources of information 

• From third parties, for example, if you are a parent/guardian, other government departments and bodies 

• Providing local government, community and commercial services 

• Making assessments, recommendations and decisions in relation to local government and community services 

• Making and receiving payments 

• processing approvals, forming agreements and implementing decisions 

• Dealing with enquiries, requests and complaints to Council 

• Protecting the safety of staff, councillors and the wider community 

• Monitoring and responding to community needs and reviewing Council policies and procedures 

• Procuring goods or services 

• Administering and enforcing relevant legislation recruitment and human resources purposes 

• Reporting purposes, legal compliance and risk. 

We store personal information in managed secure locations and systems. We also take precautions to protect your personal information against loss, and unauthorised access, use, modification, disclosure or other forms of misuse. Some examples of the safeguards we use to protect your personal information include: 

• Password protection and multi-factor authentication on our devices and systems; 

• Restricted access to our employees and facilities; 

• Council policies on access, storage and use of information; and 

• Encryption, antivirus malicious software detection and regular back up of council information. 

For further information, please read our: 

• Information Management Policy 

• Privacy Policy