The Queensland Government has introduced privacy legislation which applies to the Queensland public sector (including local governments from 1/7/2010) —the Information Privacy Act 2009.  The Information Privacy Act contains a number of privacy principles which set out how agencies may and must handle personal information.  Personal information means any information from which your identity is apparent or can reasonably be ascertained.

Gladstone Regional Council has developed this Privacy Statement, which sets out details of how Council handles personal information and the types of personal information it holds in relation to its website. A general information Privacy Policy which does not specifically relate to this website has also been developed.

Collection of personal information

Our policy is to respect and protect the privacy of our website users and, as a general rule we do not collect personal information about you when you visit our site. You are able to visit our site without revealing any of your personal information.

However, you may enter your personal information into forms available on our website to avail yourself of various online facilities. In these cases, your details will only be used and accessed in accordance with the statement provided on the form.

Cookies

A cookie is a small file stored by the web browser software on your computer. Cookies may be used when accessing certain areas of a website. The use of cookies allows information to be transmitted between pages within a website. At the present time Council does not use cookies.

Statistical information

When you view the Gladstone Regional Council website, our web server makes a record of your visit and logs the following information for statistical purposes:

• your server (IP) address
• the type of browser and operating system used
• the date and time of your visit
• the previous site visited
• the pages accessed and the files downloaded, and
• the time spent on individual pages and the site overall

Gladstone Regional Council will not make any attempt to use these statistics to identify individual users.. However, in the unlikely event of an investigation, a law enforcement agency or other government agency may exercise its legal authority to inspect our log files.

We may also record search terms that you enter when using this website’s search engine. These search terms are used to gauge what information is commonly sought and to improve the services that we provide. This information is not associated with any other information that we collect.

Email correspondence

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.

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

Security of information

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.

While 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.

More information 

Gladstone Regional Council’s Information Privacy Policy P-2017-06 sets out Council’s legislative obligations and establishes a framework for the responsible collection and handling of personal information by Gladstone Regional Council