Privacy statement

Topics on this page include:

Application of this Privacy Statement
Personal information
Collection of personal information
Surveys using SurveyMonkey or SurveyGizmo
Use and disclosure of personal information
Access to and correction of personal information
Internet user risks
Website usage measurement
Email addresses
Cookies

Application of this privacy statement

This privacy statement applies only to the Victorian Fisheries Authority (VFA) and this particular website. It is consistent with the VFA's privacy policy and applies to all activities of the VFA.

This website contains links to other websites. This privacy statement does not apply to those websites.

The VFAs privacy policy can be requested from the Privacy Officer.

Email: corporateservices@vfa.vic.gov.au

Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014 (Vic): Personal information

In this privacy statement the term 'personal information' has the meaning provided in section 3 of the Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014 (Vic).

Personal information is information or an opinion that is recorded in any form, whether true or not, about an individual whose identity is apparent or can reasonably be ascertained.

This Act is the legislation that regulates our collection and handling of personal information.

Detailed information about the Act is available at the Office of the Commissioner for Privacy and Data Protection.

Collection of personal information

It is intended that this website can be used anonymously. However, for some functions, the collection of personal information is necessary or unavoidable. You will know if the VFA is collecting personal information from you because you will be requested to provide it.

There are two exceptions to this:

When someone else provides the VFA with your personal information. The VFA cannot prevent this. However, you are entitled to access and to correct any personal information about you collected by the VFA
When the VFA collects website visitation statistics using a web analytics service.

For further information regarding this, see the Website Usage Measurement section below.

The statistics in No. 2 may qualify as personal information under the Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014 (Vic). However, these statistics are not used to identify individual web users.

Social media

If you choose to engage with the VFA via social network channels including Twitter, YouTube, Instagram or Facebook you should be aware of the following:

The VFA only collects information that you voluntarily provide via polls, responses, posts, comments, direct messages and tweets.
Your social media profile contact details may be used to contact you for feedback or to engage you in conversation. All contact will be made via the channels you choose to participate in.
Any information you post on social media sites is potentially accessible to anyone else engaging with the same social media
Your individual privacy settings for profiles and accounts on social media networks are your responsibility. The VFA has no control or jurisdiction over these settings.
Each social network has inbuilt privacy settings. We strongly recommend that you regularly check and configure the privacy settings for your profiles and accounts to make sure that you know what information you are making available, and to which audience.
When you choose to join our social networks and/or participate in any way, some of your personal information may be made visible to others. For example, if you choose to: ‘Like’ a VFA post, tweet, comment or update; share a link; follow on Twitter; tweet a mention or retweet a message; or join a Facebook Group, your activity may be made visible to others within these networks.

Social media accounts managed by the VFA include but may not be limited to:

Online Forms

The VFA may request information through online forms. The VFA’s Privacy policy should be made available on the form prior to completion. If completing a form through a third-party provider it’s advised that you examine the Privacy and Security policies. If there is no policy present it is highly recommended you contact the contributing agency or department directly.

If payment services are supported by third-party vendors the VFA will only shares your details with them to assist:

resolution of technical issues; or
detection or prevention of fraud or security issues.

Surveys using SurveyMonkey or SurveyGizmo

In accordance with our privacy policy, the VFA undertakes to treat any personal information provided by you as confidential and only for the purposes indicated.

The VFA uses the services of SurveyMonkey/SurveyGizmo for the collection, aggregation and analysis of some survey data. The information you provide is transferred to SurveyMonkey/SurveyGizmo via a secure URL which has 128 bit/256 bit encryption and is stored in SurveyMonkey's/SurveyGizmo's secure data warehouse. The information collected in these surveys is transmitted and stored securely in the United States and is accessed by the VFA in accordance with SurveyMonkey/SurveyGizmo privacy policy. By completing this survey, you agree to this transfer.

You may decline to provide this information by not responding to these surveys. If you do provide a survey answer you consent to storage of your survey answer offshore (outside of Australia). This means that once you have chosen to participate in the survey the VFA will not have an obligation to take reasonable steps to ensure that SurveyMonkey or SurveyGizmo does not breach the Victorian Privacy Principles in relation to personal information that is given to SurveyMonkey or SurveyGizmo.

You can access SurveyGizmo's and SurveyMonkey's privacy policies:

Use and disclosure of personal information

If you provide personal information, the VFAs privacy policy will regulate its use and disclosure. However, should the VFAs intended use and disclosure of personal information deviate from the VFAs general policy, a privacy statement particular to the circumstances will be made available at the time of collection.

Personal information that is collected by the VFA will be used by, and disclosed to, VFA employees or contractors whose duties require them to use it. Such employees and contractors are required to protect and handle your personal information in accordance with the Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014 (Vic) and any other applicable legislation regulating the collection, use, disclosure, storage and destruction of personal information.

Access to and correction of personal information

You may request access to any personal information that the VFA may have collected about you. Also, you may request correction of your personal information if you can establish that it is not accurate, complete or up-to-date. The Victorian Privacy Commissioner has recommended that the appropriate means to access and correct information held by government departments is pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Vic).

The VFA may be contacted on the details below about access to, and correction of, personal information collected by the VFA or for any questions or concerns you may have arising from this privacy statement.

Email: corporateservices@vfa.vic.gov.au

Internet user risks

The VFA does not warrant that the functions contained in the site will be uninterrupted or without error. In addition, the VFA shall not be responsible for the propagation of computer worms, viruses or other harmful components transmitted from this site and other third-party sites.

The VFA recommends that you ensure that your browser is equipped with updated virus protection software.

Website usage measurement

This website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. (Google). Google Analytics uses cookies, which are text files placed on your computer, to help the website analyse how users use the site. The information generated by the cookie about your use of the website (including your IP address) will be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States. Google will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of the website, compiling reports on website activity for website operators and providing other services relating to website activity and internet usage. Google may also transfer this information to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on Google's behalf. Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google.

You may refuse the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser; however please note that if you do this you may not be able to use the full functionality of this website. By using this website, you consent to the processing of data about you by Google in the manner and for the purposes set out above.

For further information, please visit the Google Privacy Center

Email addresses

Email addresses will only be used to respond to specific user queries and will not be kept or used for any purpose other than stated. Email addresses will not be added to a mailing list unless consent is given, nor disclosed to any other party without your knowledge or consent.

Cookies

This site uses cookies to make your experience of the site easier and more efficient. A cookie is a small data file placed on your hard drive by the web page server. A cookie cannot retrieve any other data from your hard drive, pass on a computer virus, or capture your email address. Note that the cookie will remain on your computer as a record for future visits to this website.

In using cookies the VFA does not record any personal information or collect names or details of commercial transactions. In addition, the VFA does not use cookies as the basis for direct marketing.

You can configure your browser to notify you when you receive a cookie, providing you with the opportunity to either accept or reject it. You can also refuse all cookies by turning them off in your browser or deleting all cookies from your computer if required.