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This website is provided and maintained by Dams Safety NSW. This privacy statement sets out our practices relating to the privacy of your personal information. Dams Safety NSW privacy practices are regulated by the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 (NSW) (PPIP ACT) and the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment's Privacy Management Plan (PMP).

Dams Safety NSW will only collect personal information for a lawful purpose which directly relates to our primary function as a NSW Government agency and to obtainfeedback about our services. We will not collect any more information than is necessary to fulfil these functions.

Dams Safety NSW 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 Dams Safety NSW will be required to comply with the PPIP Act and the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment’s Privacy Management Plan.

Please note that Dams Safety NSW does not have any responsibility for the privacy policies or practices of third party sites linked to this website.

Privacy

What is personal information?

Your personal information relates to you personally and includes any information or opinion made about you. Personal information includes your name, address, phone number, email address or any information from which your identity can be reasonably ascertained.

Personal information is information that identifies you, some examples include:

  • a written record which may include your name, address, and other details about you
  • electronic records, photographs, images, video or audio footage
  • biometric information such as fingerprints, blood and records of genetic material.

What is not personal information?

The PPIP Act excludes certain information from the definition of personal information.  The most significant exemptions are:

  • information contained in publicly available publications
  • information about a person’s suitability for public sector employment
  • information about people who have been dead for more than 30 years
  • a number of exemptions relating to law enforcement investigations
  • matters contained in Cabinet documents.

Storage of your personal information

We will retain the information you have provided for a period that is appropriate for the purpose for which it was provided. Your information will be archived and disposed of in accordance with Dam Safety NSW's policies, legislative requirements and guidelines based on the NSW State Records Act 1998.

Dams Safety NSW takes all reasonable steps to protect the security of any personal information held, be it stored in electronic or hard copy format. Physical measures, such as building and equipment security, are used in conjunction with digital technology, such as data encryption and firewalls, to minimise unauthorised access to information.

Disclosure of your personal information

We will not disclose your personal details unless the disclosure is authorised by the PIPP Act and Regulations. Your consent to disclose information for particular purposes may be sought by us or given by yourself for a specific purpose. If appropriate consent is not provided, we may not be able to provide certain products and services to you or your agents.

The Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (GIPA Act) confers on the public a right to access information held by a government agency, including electronic information like transactions through the web. If information is sought by a third party under the GIPA Act that affects your research, business, commercial, professional or financial interests or your personal information, we will take reasonable steps to seek your views if you are likely to have concerns about the disclosure of the information before making any decision about releasing the information.

Right of access to your personal information

Under the PPIP Act you have the right to access your personal information held by the Department without excessive delay or expense. You also have the right to have your personal information corrected in certain circumstances (e.g. if it is incorrect), Should you wish to access or correct your personal information contact the Department’s designated privacy officer at:

Information Access & Privacy Unit
4 Parramatta Square, Locked Bag 5022, Parramatta NSW 2124
Phone: 02 9860 1440
Email: privacy@dpie.nsw.gov.au

Website

Website data

To help Dams Safety NSW improve its website and provide better services to its users, the agency makes a record of your visit and logs the following information:

  • the IP (Internet Protocol) address of the machine that 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 search engine used to locate the site;
  • the pages accessed and documents downloaded; and
  • the type of browser and operating system you have used.

Dams Safety NSW will not disclose or publish information that identifies individual machines, or potentially identifies sub-groupings of addresses, without consent or otherwise in accordance with the PPIP Act.

Cookies and tracking pixels

Dams Safety NSW may use cookies and tracking pixels to collect your data.

For information on what cookies are, how they work and how to delete them from your computer, you can visit www.allaboutcookies.org.

When website data may be disclosed

Dams Safety NSW will collect, use and disclose more extensive information than stated above in the following circumstances:

  • unauthorised attempts to access files which are not published in Dams Safety NSW's pages;
  • unauthorised tampering or interference with files published on the site;
  • unauthorised attempts to index the contents of the site by other sites;
  • attempts to intercept messages of other users of the site;
  • communications which are defamatory, abusive, vilify individuals or groups 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 NSW or Australia, or interfere with the enjoyment of the site by other users.

Dams Safety NSW reserves the right to make disclosures to relevant authorities where the use of this site raises a suspicion that an offence is being, or has been, committed.

We will take reasonable steps to ensure personal information that we keep is accurate, up-to-date, and relevant to the purposes for which it is to be used.

However, you should note that there are situations where we are required by legislation to disclose your personal information, or may be compelled to provide personal information about you to law enforcement agencies, emergency service agencies and other organisations engaged in the planning and provision of services to the community.

Dams Safety NSW may publish aggregated information about feedback, to the extent that it does not identify or cannot be used to identify individual users.

Online forms and services

Information collected from online forms and services

When you submit a form on this website (such as via Feedback or Contact us), or provide information as part of using an online service, we collect information from this activity. This information may include personal and organisational details such as your full name, phone number, business name and ACN details, email address and street address. This information allows us to properly look into an issue you raise, or to respond to your feedback.

Clicking on the 'submit' button on the form acts as your consent for Dams Safety NSW to collect the information you have provided. Before you submit this information we will take reasonable steps to inform you of:

  • where applicable, any law that requires the particular information to be collected
  • which fields are mandatory and which are optional.

Email management

If you email Dams Safety NSW, we will only retain and use your e-mail address for the purpose for which you have provided it. It will not be added to a mailing list without your consent. These email addresses are stored electronically in accordance with standards and authorities under the State Records Act 1998.

If you subscribe to an electronic mailing list, we will only send you information relevant to the purpose or project for which you have provided it. If you have recently completed a submission we reserve the right to provide you with updates about the project, plan and policy et al for which the submission is for.

If you have subscribed to one of our online mailing lists or RSS service, you can easily remove your email details from the list by unsubscribing.

We operate in accordance with the Spam Act 2003 (the Act) and will not send unsolicited electronic messages unless they are permitted by the Act. Under the Act, a government agency may send unsolicited emails if they contain only factual information or if they relate to goods or services provided by the agency. For more information about the Act go to Industry ACMA website.

Submissions

When you make a submission to Dams Safety NSW we collect your personal information, including:

  • name (including title)
  • address
  • email (if provided)
  • internet protocol (IP) address (if the submission is made online)
  • any other personal information contained in a political donations disclosure statement (if provided); and
  • any other personal information contained on your submission.

Making a submission is entirely voluntary and you are under no obligation to provide Dams Safety NSW with any of your personal information, except as otherwise required by law.

How will your personal information be used when you make a submission?

We may publish some of your personal information online, including:

  • Your submission.
  • Your name (unless you state that you want your name withheld);
  • Your suburb;
  • Any political donations disclosure statement.

We may publish any personal information you have included in your submission on a proposal. Do not include any personal information in your submission that you do not want published.

We will use your contact details to send you notifications. For example, where there is a statutory requirement to notify submitters that an application has been determined.

Your submission may be published in reports, or other documents that are produced following the exhibition period.