Information Privacy Policy

The Queensland Government has introduced privacy legislation which applies to Local Government in this state - the Information Privacy Act 2009. The Information Privacy Act contains a number of privacy principles which set out how Councils may and must handle personal information. Personal information means any information from which your identity is apparent or can reasonably be ascertained.

Somerset Regional Council has an Information Privacy Policy which sets out details of how the Council handles personal information and the types of personal information it holds.

Website Privacy and Security Statement

Somerset Regional Council is committed to protecting user privacy. We understand and appreciate that visitors to, and users of, our websites are concerned about their privacy and the confidentiality and security of information they provide to us.

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 sites. You are able to visit our sites without revealing any of your personal information.

Site visit data

If you visit our sites to read or download information, our server records the following information for statistical purposes:

• your server or computer address
• the type of browser used
• the date and time of access
• the pages accessed on our site
• the documents downloaded from our site
• the previous internet address from which you linked directly to our site.

The above information is gathered solely for the purposes of creating summary statistics which allow us to assess the number of visitors to the different sections of our site, to discover what information is most (and least) useful, and to help make our site more useful to visitors.

Links to other sites

Our websites contain links to other websites not controlled by Council. Somerset Regional Council is not responsible for the content and privacy practices of other websites.

Email correspondence

Email correspondence sent to Somerset Regional Council 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.

CCTV Recordings

Somerset Regional Council has installed a number of closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras throughout the region for security, public safety and crime prevention.

The purpose of the CCTV Program is to:

• Identify, manage, deter and reduce criminal behaviour, particularly in respect of Council resources;
• Provide police with appropriate evidence to prosecute criminal offences;
• Provide information about weather events.

Our CCTV policy outlines how information and images from CCTV will be collected, stored, retained, disclosed and disposed of.