The Victorian Asbestos Eradication Agency (VAEA) values and is committed to protecting your privacy.
We handle your personal information in accordance with the Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014 (Vic) (PDP Act), Public Records Act 1973 (Vic) and other applicable legislation.
This privacy statement applies to information collected through the www.vaea.vic.gov.au website. For information about our broader collection, use and disclosure of personal information, please email us at info@vaea.vic.gov.au.
We may update this privacy statement, and changes will be also be updated on this website.
What information do we collect?
Requests to provide information
Information may be collected by the VAEA directly from you, by other government agencies or by contracted service providers acting on behalf of the VAEA. VAEA-contracted service providers are required to comply with the privacy principles contained in Victorian privacy laws.
In most circumstances, you’ll know if we’re collecting personal information from you because you’ll be asked to provide it. For instance, if you submit a form to contact us, we’ll ask for your name and email address.
We may collect personal information that you choose to give us or which may be required to access a particular service (e.g. AIRSystem). This includes information collected via online forms, events and training registration or when subscribing to newsletters. Services providers contracted by us
The information you provide by completing an online form on www.vaea.vic.gov.au is collected by the content management system (CMS) and is stored on the Microsoft Azure infrastructure in Sydney, Australia. There is a process in place to delete this data regularly from the CMS.
Automatic collection by third party software vendors
Third party software (e.g. cookies, Google Analytics) collects information about your interaction with our website. When you visit our website, your web browser automatically sends certain information to these software providers. We use these tools to help us to continuously improve users’ experience of our website.
If you opt out of using cookies, you can still access content presented on this website, though some features may not work as expected.
The information collected by third parties may travel outside Victoria. We try to ensure that when your personal information travels, privacy protections travel with it.
Third party software vendors may alter how they collect and handle personal information.
Information that may be shared to third parties includes:
- network location and IP address
- date and time of your visit to our website
- types of web browser (e.g. Google Chrome, Safari) and operating system (e.g. Windows 10, Mac OS X)
- flash version, JavaScript support, screen resolution and screen colour processing ability
- referring site details (e.g. the URL from which you came to our website)
- page(s) visited and the time spent on each page
- documents downloaded and search terms used
- forms accessed on our website
- unique device identifier
- device information, hardware model, operating system information, app version, app usage, debugging information, browser information
- geolocation information (if enabled by user).
Use and disclosure
Use of web analytics data
Web analytics data are used to analyse, measure and report on data about our website traffic and visits. This information helps us to understand general user trends at an aggregate level, and improve our website, content and user experience.
We may also use this information for security audits to protect against threats from hackers or other security purposes.
We don’t use this information to identify you or match it with any other personal information that we may collect from you, unless required to do so as part of an internal investigation or for a law-enforcement-related purpose, in accordance with the PDP Act.
Your site visit data is collected under the authority of Information Privacy Principle 1.1 of the PDP Act for the purposes stated above.
Disclosure of web analytics data
Apart from the third party tools described in this privacy statement, we don’t disclose your site visit data to third parties without your consent, unless we’re required or authorised to do so by law. In the event of an investigation into suspected unlawful or improper activity, a law enforcement or government agency may use its legal authority to inspect our web server’s records (e.g. in relation to hacking or abusive messages).
Can I opt out of the collection of web analytics data?
You can’t opt out of the automatic collection of information used for analytical purposes, but you may choose to disable cookies or delete any individual cookie. If you disable cookies, the website may not function fully, and your ability to browse, read and download content on our website may be impaired. However, you may still access our services by contacting our office via other methods such as telephone, email or mail.
You can enable a do not track setting on your browser to help protect your privacy. When do not track is enabled, your browser will send a request to the sites you visit and to the third parties whose content is hosted on those sites. However, many websites will still collect and use your browsing data regardless of the do not track request. This depends on individual sites’ privacy practices. Sending a Do Not Track request doesn’t guarantee privacy protection.
You can also opt out of tracking and website analytics using a Google browser plugin.
Social media
We use LinkedIn to share information about our work. We may collect personal information that you provide us via the VAEA LinkedIn account for the purposes of engaging and consulting with the public. Any personal information we collect via LinkedIn will be handled appropriately and in accordance with this privacy statement.
The LinkedIn privacy policy explains what information they may collect.
We encourage people to contact us via email. The VAEA takes reasonable steps to protect your information from misuse, loss and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. If you’re concerned about conveying sensitive material to us over the internet, you might prefer to contact us by telephone or by post.
There are risks in transmitting information across the internet. We endeavour to protect personal information, but we can’t ensure or warrant the security of information transmitted to us online; individuals do so at their own risk.
Non-vic.gov.au websites
This privacy statement doesn’t apply to linked external websites. We’re not responsible for the privacy practices or content of external websites. When you visit other websites, we recommend you read the privacy statements or policies of these websites before providing personal information.
Security of your personal information
Under the PDP Act, we’ve a responsibility to protect your personal information. We take reasonable steps to ensure your personal information is protected from misuse, loss and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. Access to systems, applications and the information we may collect is limited to authorised staff members.
Personal information collected and used for identifying user trends (e.g. IP address) is aggregated and anonymised when generating reports.
Access and correction
You may request access to or correction of documents that contain your personal information that are in our possession. For information on how to make a request for access or correction, please contact us via the details below.
In some cases, requests for access or correction will be handled in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Vic).
Contact us
For further information about this privacy statement or how we handle personal information, please email us at info@vaea.vic.gov.au.
Updated