This Privacy Policy explains how the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) may collect, hold, use and disclose information that identifies you (your personal information) in regard to being a registered user of the Forum as well as how your data is used when interacting with the website itself. 

If you would like to contact us in relation to this Privacy Policy or our use of your information, please email us at [email protected] 

Please read this Privacy Policy carefully. It applies to any personal information that you provide to MSD or authorise us to collect. By providing MSD with personal information, you authorise us to collect, use and disclose your personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

1. How does MSD use your information as the Forum Registered User?

What Information is Collected?

We will collect information directly from you. If you register for the forum or a newsletter, join a discussion group, provide feedback to us, you may be asked to provide personal information such as your name and e-mail address. 

By participating in an online forum, the personal information you have volunteered may be seen by other participants. For open discussion groups, this information will be public. 

Storage of Information 

Your personal data is stored on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) ‘cloud’ server based in Sydney, Australia, which adopts all mandatory security measures imposed by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Opting out and changing your information

At any time, you can cancel or modify your information by logging into your account and changing the information there.

You may opt to receive communications such as newsletters. If you do, you will have the opportunity to stop receiving such communications at any time by logging into your account on the site and editing your contact preferences or by clicking the unsubscribe link at the bottom of the emails.

If you decide that you would no longer like data used or provided by your account on the platform you can delete your account (and associated data) at any time. Just go to "settings" and select "cancel account". 

How long is your information kept

Your data is retained for at least 14 days and may be retained for up to 12 months. 

Additional Rights and Obligations

This Privacy Policy applies in addition to, and does not limit, our rights and obligations under the Privacy Act 2020 (as amended or replaced from time to time) (Privacy Act) or any specific authorisation that you provide to us when you interact with us or use our Forum.

You are not required to provide us with any personal information that we request.  However, if you do not do so, we may not be able to provide certain services to you. 

Updates to Privacy Policy 

We may update this Privacy Policy at any time by posting an updated version of this Privacy Policy on our website.  The updated version of this Privacy Policy will take effect immediately upon publication (or, if applicable, on the date specified in the updated Privacy Policy) and will apply to all personal information that we hold about you.  If the changes are material, we may also take additional steps to bring the changes to your attention, including by notifying you directly. We will update you of any material changes as required by law. You are responsible for reviewing this Privacy Policy regularly to ensure that you are aware of any updates.

2. How does MSD use your information when you’re using the website?

Anonymous website usage

Your information will be recorded in Google’s own servers. Authorised Google staff may see the data as detailed in their privacy policy. 

We and our website providers use anonymous data to help us meet the needs of website users and improve our digital services, content and user experience.

We may share unidentifiable and aggregated data with public sector agencies and other organisations and individuals that work to prevent and reduce family and sexual violence. Aggregated data is summarised data about our website visitors and does not give details about any one person.

A more detailed explanation of how Google keeps this personal information safe can be found at the following link: How Google uses data from our site

How is personal information shared?

We and our website providers may use the personal identifiable data to:

• contact you – either in response to a query or suggestion
• confirm your registrations on the site
• retain your online profile and preferences for future visits to the site;
• help you quickly find information that is relevant to you based on your interests and help us tailor the site contents most relevant to you.

More detailed information about this from the Office of the Privacy Commissioner website can be found here: See your privacy rights

Who can access your information?

We collect data about your visit to our website to help us improve it. This kind of data does not identify you. We use Google tracking products and cookies to understand how people use our website.

Google Analytics

Google Analytics collects and analyses details about how people use our website. The data Google Analytics collects includes the:

• IP address of your device – a unique address your internet network automatically gives your device when you use the internet
• Search terms you use to find content
• Pages you visit on our site and the links you select
• Date and time you visit the site
• Referring site – the website you were on just before visiting our website
• Operating system of your device – for example, Windows 10 or Mac OS Big Sur
• Web browser you use – for example, Chrome or Mozilla Firefox
• Device information such as screen resolution and the language setting.

More detailed information can be found here: See how to opt out of Google Analytics cookies & Read the Google Privacy Policy & Google Tag Manager

Google Tag Manager collects data from snippets of code added to our website. This code does not include user IP addresses or any information that could be linked to any person. Google Tag Manager does not set cookies.

More detailed information can be found here: See Google Tag Manager Terms of Service & Look at the Google Privacy Policy

Cookies

A cookie is a piece of code that creates a tiny file on your computer to track your activity on our website. This website creates persistent session cookies so we can see how people use our website. Persistent session cookies are stored on your device so it’s quicker and easier for you to use our website next time. For example, cookies remember your login details or favourites.

The cookies do not collect personal information, and automatically expire. You can disable cookies or clear them out of the web browser you are using to view this site.

Contact us

If you have any questions or requests relating to this Privacy Policy or personal information that we may hold about you, please contact us using the [email protected] email.