Privacy

Overview (Privacy Statement)

Information given by a client to the Housing Appeals Committee will not be disclosed to members of the public. It will be kept confidential.

Information about a client may be passed between employees of the Housing Appeals Committee where it is required in the normal course of their duties.

The Housing Appeals Committee will only provide an individual's personal information to external organisations where there is a lawful reason to do so or, where an exemption has been granted and is documented in the Housing Appeals Committee's 'Privacy Code of Practice' or, there is a current signed authority. The Housing Appeals Committee’s privacy practices are regulated by the New South Wales Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1988 and the Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002.

What information do we collect?

When you look at the pages on the Housing Appeals Committee’s website, our computers automatically record information that identifies, for each page accessed:

  • the IP (Internet Protocol) address of the machine which 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 pages accessed and documents downloaded;
  • the previous site visited; and
  • the type of browser and operating system you have used.

How do we use the information collected?

The information collected during each visit is aggregated with similar logged information and published in reports in order for the Housing Appeals Committee to identify patterns of usage of the site. This will assist us in improving our site and the services offered on it.

What exceptions are there to this rule?

The Housing Appeals Committee will collect, use and disclose more extensive information than stated above in the following circumstances:

  • unauthorised attempts to access files which are not published the Housing Appeals Committee pages;
  • unauthorised tampering or interference with files published on the Housing Appeals Committee site;
  • unauthorised attempts to index the contents of the Housing Appeals Committee site by other sites;
  • attempts to intercept messages of other users of the Housing Appeals Committee site;
  • communications which are defamatory, abusive, vilify individuals or groups or 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 New South Wales or Commonwealth of Australia, or interfere with the enjoyment of the Housing Appeals Committee site by other users.

The Housing Appeals Committee reserves the right to make disclosures to relevant authorities where the use of the Housing Appeals Committee’s site raises a suspicion that an offence is being, or has been, committed.

In the event of an investigation, the Housing Appeals Committee will provide access to data to any law enforcement agency that may exercise a warrant to inspect our logs.

Is the information stored securely?

Yes. Information collected is stored in an appropriately secure format and held by the Housing Appeals Committee for archival purposes. When the information is no longer required for the purposes for which it was collected it is deleted. 

Who else has access to information within the Housing Appeals Committee?

The Housing Appeals Committee captures this information on its own computers. Access to the raw data is restricted to a limited number of officers in the Housing Appeals Committee for the purpose of analysis and to report on the success of the Housing Appeals Committee in meeting its communication and access objectives.

Staff may disclose an individual's personal information in joint meetings with other agencies where a Service Agreement, Memorandum of Understanding or similar document is in place and the 'Privacy Act' or 'Code' permits the disclosure, or when seeking the professional opinion of another staff member. However, they will withhold personal information that is not relevant to the matter being discussed.

Will this policy be updated over time?

Due to the developing nature of privacy principles for online communication, this policy may be modified or expanded in light of new developments or issues that may arise from time to time.


QUICK LINKS