Privacy

Your privacy

Our department is committed to protecting user privacy.

We understand and appreciate that visitors to, and users of, this website are concerned about their privacy and the confidentiality and security of information they provide to us.

As part of the Queensland Government, this department has responsibilities under the Information Privacy Act 2009 regarding the collection, use, storage and disclosure of personal information. The Act also provides access and amendment rights for personal information held by the department.

Information about the types of personal information the department holds is contained in our privacy guide (PDF, 195.5KB) . For information regarding your rights under the Information Privacy Act 2009, how to obtain access to a document containing personal information and the process for lodging a privacy complaint please email

Links to other sites

This website contains links to other websites. The department is not responsible for the content, security and privacy practices of these websites.

The department may display information published from other sources where that relates to our functions or services. For example, if you make a comment on another linked platform (such as Google Places) about your National Park experience, the department may re-post your comment.

Community platforms

The department may use public communication platforms to collaborate with other departments or to engage with the community. Please be aware that such collaborative platforms are not controlled by the department. As such, you should read the privacy policy provided, and ensure you understand how your personal information may be collected, used, stored and disclosed.

Social media

The department actively uses a number of social media applications, for example Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn, to provide information about our services and communicate with the public. The department will not collect, maintain or disseminate personal information from individuals who visit its social media pages. It will however, read, review or rely upon information that individuals make available to the public or to the department on social media, including comments on pages created by the department.

Although used by the government, these applications and websites are controlled by third parties and are not government owned. By accessing and using these pages, you may be providing non-government third parties with access to your personal information.

You should also be aware that you have little to no control over what will happen to information you have posted on these sites. If someone decides to re-publish your content, it may end up with people and in places that you would not have chosen.

Personal information is increasingly a valuable commodity and can be used for criminal purposes such as identify theft, fraud and harassment. Be aware of this potential when you post your or others’ personal information. Consent is a strong privacy permission and you should not assume that other people would necessarily consent to your choice to post their personal information online.

You are advised to read the privacy statements of all social media platforms prior to posting personal information.

Third party systems

The department stores information in web based systems provided by contracted third party service providers.

We may ask you to provide information that includes personal information, which we store in a third party system, for example, if you:

  • request a service, submit an enquiry or seek feedback
  • attend one of our events or meetings (e.g. we may ask you to leave a business card or sign an attendance register)
  • respond to one of our surveys
  • apply to participate in our grant or subsidy programs.

We will only request your personal information for the purposes of:

  • meeting your needs (e.g. providing a requested service)
  • seeking to better understand your needs (e.g. collecting feedback and information on issues impacting you or for assessing the quality of our services to you)
  • establishing a register of our customers for the purpose of initiating future contact with you for a directly related service.

Website analytics

We use Google Analytics (including Display Advertising Features) on our website to gather anonymous information about visitors to our website. When you visit our webpages, your browser automatically sends anonymous information to Google. Examples of the information include the web address of the page that you're visiting, your IP address and demographic information. Google may also use cookies.

We use this data to analyse the pages that are visited, to improve your experience and make sure our website is useful. No attempt will be made to identify you and your browsing activities, unless we are lawfully required to do so for investigation or law enforcement purposes.

You can read more about how Google uses data. You can choose not to allow Google to collect your information by opting out of Google Analytics or specifically opt out of Google Analytics Display Advertiser Features.

Cookies

A cookie is a message given to a web browser by a web server. The browser stores the message in a text file called cookie.txt. The message is then sent back to the server each time the browser requests a page from the server.

The main purpose of cookies is to identify users and possibly prepare customised web pages for them. When you enter a website which is using cookies, you may be asked to fill out a form providing such information as your name and interests. This information is packaged into a cookie and sent to your web browser which stores it for later use. The next time you go to the same website, your browser will send the cookie to the web server. The server can use this information to present you with custom web pages.

This website uses cookies to store information only. If you have configured your browser to reject all cookies you will still be able to generally browse through the site.

Third party tracking

We may also use cookies, pixels, web beacons and other storage technologies from third parties (including Facebook), which collect or receive information from our websites and elsewhere on the internet and use that information to provide measurement services and targeted advertising. You can choose not to allow companies to track your activities in this way.

Opting out from your browser

Visit Webchoices Browser Check and follow the instructions to opt out from receiving targeted advertising from participating companies.

Opting out from your device

On your iPhone, iPad or Android, you can change your device settings to control whether you see targeted advertising. This is usually under ‘Privacy’ or ‘Advertising’ in settings.

How the sites handles email correspondence and feedback information

This is a Queensland Government website. Email correspondence sent to email addresses on this site, or information submitted via web forms on this site, will be treated as a public record and will be retained as required by the Public Records Act 2002 and other relevant legislation. It will also be subject to the provisions of the Right to Information Act 2009 and the Information Privacy Act 2009.

Your name and address details will not be added to a mailing list nor will we disclose these details to third parties without your consent (except for correspondence to public email lists) unless required by law. Email messages may be monitored by our information technology staff for system trouble-shooting and maintenance purposes.

Obtaining access to your personal information

If you want to access your personal information that is in the custody and control of the department, please email Right to information Services at

Making a privacy complaint

Individuals who are concerned that their privacy has not been dealt with in accordance with the Information Privacy Act 2009 can submit a complaint in writing to the department. The complaint should outline the basis for the complaint in as much detail as possible and include an address to which notices and correspondence may be sent during the complaint process. Privacy complaints should be sent to:

Department of Environment, Science and Innovation
Level 31, 400 George Street, Brisbane
GPO Box 2454
Brisbane QLD 4001

If the complaint has not been dealt with satisfactorily, or the department has not responded, you may then make a privacy complaint to the Office of the Information Commissioner. The privacy complaint will then be mediated if deemed appropriate, or may be referred to the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal. A privacy complaint may not be made to the Information Commissioner until at least 45 days after the complaint has been made to the department. The postal address of the Information Commissioner is:

Office of the Information Commissioner
PO Box 10143
Adelaide Street
Brisbane QLD 4001

Contact

If you have any queries about our privacy and security practices, please email