Personal Information Holdings

This Personal Information Holdings statement summarises in general terms the kinds of information held by Council, and how this information is managed.

The various departments and sections of Council collect, use, store and disclose information as required and authorised by law. Personal information is collected only when required to provide a service or to administer a responsibility.

The personal information collected varies according to the types of transactions a person conducts with Council and the services provided. Some of the most common information collected by Council include: names, addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, age and gender information, email addresses, tax file numbers, pension numbers, Australian business numbers, customer or account numbers assigned to individuals by Council, employment details and photographs of individuals.

All personal information is collected in accordance with the Information Privacy Act 2009 and in compliance with the 11 Information Privacy Principles listed in Schedule 3 of the Information Privacy Act 2009.

The information that Council collects is generally stored in Council databases and in hardcopy as well as on computers, external hard drives and mobile devices. We take precautions to protect personal information against loss, unauthorised access, use, modification, disclosure or other forms of misuse.

As a general rule, we use and/or disclose information in order to perform Council functions and activities, to provide services requested by individuals and to comply with our legal and legislative obligations.

Council may collect your personal information so that we can use it for the following purposes:

To review and consider any applications or submissions submitted to Council (for example, development and building applications, applications for licences or permits).
To process any Council-related payments or transactions (for example, animal registration, property rates, an infringement notice, an application fee).
To carry out any Council inspections (for example, building inspections and food or health inspections).
To facilitate and organise Council’s civic, corporate or community events, including citizenship, prizes and awards ceremonies.
To inform you of Council and local news and developments or to notify you of Council-related developments or events which you have requested to be notified of (for example, Council newsletters and notices).
To assess your eligibility to be a Council volunteer, and to administer and co-ordinate Council’s volunteer programs and to communicate with our volunteers.
To answer any search requests submitted by a member of the public for publicly available information (for example, property-related searches).
To register your pets.
To respond to any communications and correspondence you send to us – which includes answering any queries and dealing with any feedback or complaints you have.
If you are a Council employee or have applied for employment at Council – to process employment applications and to process any employment related tasks (for example, to verify employment related matters and information, grant building and IT access and manage salary/wage arrangements).
To investigate any complaints lodged by you in connection with Council, its employees or its functions and activities.
To provide you with any Council information, services or products you have requested or are designed to better serve or promote Burdekin Shire Council.
To assist us to determine your needs and requirements to enable us to provide you with the appropriate Council services and information you have requested (for example, to direct your call or enquiry to the relevant council department).
To maintain any Council information databases, records or registers including those that we are required under Federal or State legislation to maintain.
To administer and enforce any legislation which Council is required to administer and enforce.
To verify any information you have provided to us.
To contact you should we need to.
To take any further action which we are required or authorised by law to take, including any investigative, enforcement and recovery action.

Council collects personal information for these purposes in a number of ways including when people contact Council directly by writing a letter, by telephone, email, internet or other form of electronic communication. When people visit and/or communicate with Council through our websites (for example through an online enquiry form) or social media sites or when people participate in a competition or promotion run by Council, personal information may also be collected.

However, in certain circumstances, we may collect your personal information from a third party for example:

If you are a minor – your parents or guardian
Other government departments and bodies (for example, Department of Communities)
your current or former employer (for example, to obtain a reference check if you are applying for employment with the council)
Council and other databases (for example, to obtain information about your properties in the event of any enforcement action)