Australian Privacy Principle 1 requires that NQ Dry Tropics maintains a clearly expressed and up to date policy about how it manages personal information.
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Personal information we collect
NQ Dry Tropics values the privacy of its clients and stakeholders and will only collect personal information that is necessary for it to carry out its functions and services. Normally, this will include information that identifies you and allows us to make contact, correspond or make a commercial agreement with you and may include details about your property. From time to time, we may take photographs or videos that may identify individuals; such media is managed in accordance with this policy.
In the case of volunteers and employees, we may ask you to disclose any pre-existing health conditions to us so that we can ensure your safety. The provision of this health information to us is entirely voluntary and it will only be used to ensure that only work that you are physically capable of carrying out is allocated to you; or, in the case of emergency, it may be provided to emergency response personnel to assist in your treatment.
How NQ Dry Tropics collects and holds personal information
NQ Dry Tropics will normally only collect personal information from you directly, and with your consent to do so. We will tell you why we are collecting the information, what we plan to do with it and identify any third parties that we might disclose your personal information to. We may use a third party to collect personal information from you; if this is the case, they will advise you that they are collecting information on our behalf.
If we receive your personal information from another source other than you, we will contact you to let you know that we have obtained your personal information, how we have obtained your personal information, what we intend to do with it and seek your consent to deal with it as if we had collected the information from you.
When browsing our website, we may log information about your visit to the site, including the use of cookies. This information is used for statistical purposes and will not be used in an attempt to identify or contact you. If you provide us with other personal information via our website, it will only be used for the purpose for which it was provided and within the terms of this policy.
All personal information is securely stored, either in electronic or hard copy form. Electronically secured personal information is stored in a password-protected environment under security provided by third party data storage providers. Hard copy records are stored securely at our premises, which is protected by security alarm and patrol services.
What NQ Dry Tropics does with your personal information
We will use your personal information for one or more of the following purposes:
- To make contact with you regarding natural resource management issues;
- To create formal service or other business agreements with you;
- To provide information to you about Natural Resource Management topics and issues;
- As content for case studies, reports or newsletters. We will seek your specific permission before publicly publishing any of your personal information.
If you no longer wish to allow us to use your information for these purposes, please notify the privacy officer (address below) of your wishes. If you ask us to stop using your personal information in a particular way, we will take steps to comply with your wishes.
Unless you ask us to delete or otherwise destroy personal information we hold about you, we will keep your information until such point that it is no longer relevant to our functions, services or other business or legal requirements.
Disclosure to third parties
We will only disclose your personal information to a third party if it is necessary for us to carry out the functions and services for which it was collected in the first place. This may include disclosure to contractors working for, or on behalf, of NQ Dry Tropics. It may also include disclosure to investors in the project to which your information relates or to their contractors or representatives for the purpose of reporting, research or analysis required under our funding agreement(s) with them.
We will de-identify your personal information to the extent that it is practical to do so before disclosing it to any third party and we will ensure that, after disclosure, your personal information will be managed in accordance with both the purpose for which it was collected and in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles of the Privacy Act, 1988 (Cth) (“the Privacy Act”).
If personal information is disclosed by us to a government agency in accordance with our funding agreement with it, this information may become subject to further disclosure under freedom of information or right to information laws.
We may disclose your personal information to enforcement authorities if we are legally required to do so.
How to access your personal information
If you wish to access your personal information or find out if NQ Dry Tropics holds personal information about you, you should contact the NQ Dry Tropics Privacy Officer (address below) in writing. We will endeavour to comply with your request, but we may refuse access if we have a legal right or requirement to do so in accordance with the Privacy Act.
If you believe that the personal information held about you is incorrect, you may request that it be corrected. This request should be in writing and be directed to the Privacy Officer (address below). We will endeavour to comply with your request to correct information; if we are unable to comply, we will notify you that we have not made the correction and the reason why.
If you require a copy of your personal information, we reserve the right to charge an administrative fee of $2 per page to provide the copy, regardless of the form (e.g. electronic or paper copy).
Disclosure of personal information to overseas recipients
NQ Dry Tropics utilises internet carriers and third party data centre storage providers to transmit and store documents, databases and other data forms that may contain personal information. In carrying out these transmission and storage functions on behalf of NQ Dry Tropics, these providers may transmit or store personal information in overseas jurisdictions. NQ Dry Tropics will take reasonable steps to ensure that these providers have adequate privacy and security measures in place. Data (which may contain personal information) may be disclosed to specified parties by the service provider (in accordance with their service agreement with NQ Dry Tropics), if the service provider has a good faith and legitimate reason to do so (in the case of law enforcement, for example) within the terms of service that NQ Dry Tropics has agreed to.
We will notify you of any other specific disclosure to overseas recipients prior to the disclosure taking place.
NQ Dry Tropics will make all attempts to satisfy itself that the privacy policies and procedures of all service providers and subcontractors that it engages with meet the requirements of the Australian Privacy Principles to the extent that it is practicable to do so.
How to make a complaint about how your personal information is managed by NQ Dry Tropics
If you are unhappy about how your personal information is being managed by NQ dry Tropics, or if you believe that your personal information has been treated other than in accordance with this policy, we ask that you contact us in the first instance. Complaints should be addressed in writing to the Privacy Officer at the address provided below and should detail the nature of your concern(s). We will respond to your concerns within 30 days of it being received by us.
If you are unhappy with the response provided by NQ Dry Tropics, or if you do not receive a response within 30 days (of receipt), you should lodge a complaint with the Privacy Commissioner. Information on making a complaint to the Privacy Commissioner is available at http://www.oaic.gov.au/privacy/privacy-complaints, by calling 1300 363 992 or emailing enquiries@oaic.gov.au.
Notifiable Data Breach
NQ Dry Tropics is required to notify the Privacy Commissioner and affected individuals if an eligible data breach occurs. An eligible data breach is generally defined as unauthorised access to, or disclosure of, personal information and a reasonable person would conclude that this would (or could) be likely to result in “serious harm” to any of the individuals to whom the information relates.
- Where NQ Dry Tropics suspects (but does not yet have reasonable grounds to believe) that an eligible data breach has occurred, we will, within 30 days, carry out a reasonable and expeditious assessment to establish if a breach has occurred.
- If NQ Dry Tropics has reasonable grounds to believe there has been a breach, we will prepare a data breach statement setting out a description of the breach, the kinds of information concerned and recommendations about steps affected individuals should take in response to the breach. A copy of this statement will be provided to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.
- If practical, NQ Dry Tropics will take reasonable steps to notify affected individuals as well as any other at risk individuals of the breach as soon as possible by direct communication. If such direct communication is not practicable, NQ Dry Tropics will publish the statement on our website and take reasonable steps to publicise it.
Contacting NQ Dry Tropics
All privacy-related correspondence with NQ Dry Tropics should be in writing and be addressed to:
The Privacy Officer
NQ Dry Tropics
PO Box 1466
TOWNSVILLE QLD 4810
Email: Privacy@nqdrytropics.com.au
Phone: (07) 4799 3500
Page updated Oct 2018