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Privacy Statement

Respecting Your Privacy

Under the Information Privacy Act 2009 and the Right to Information Act 2009 the Department of Community Safety (DCS) is responsible for ensuring personal information holdings are appropriately managed and protected.  Privacy is about protecting the personal information of individuals.  The Information Privacy Act 2009 provides for access and amendment rights for personal information held by the Government.
Obligations about the collection, use, storage and disclosure of personal information are provided in the Information Privacy Principles now included in the Information Privacy Act 2009.

These Information Privacy Principles were originally contained within Information Standard 42 - Information Privacy (IS42). IS42 has now been superseded by the Information Privacy Act 2009.

The 11 Information Privacy Principles established under IS42 have been reworded but retained in Schedule 3 of the Information Privacy Act 2009.

Under the Information Privacy Act 2009, personal information held by Queensland Government agencies must be responsibly and transparently collected and managed (including transfer of personal information held by agencies to other agencies, other levels of Government or the private sector) in accordance with the requirements of the Information Privacy Principles.

Your personal information

Details about the personal information held by DCS are outlined in the Department's Information Privacy Plan.  You can view a copy of this plan online.  The plan details the steps this department will take to address its obligations under the Information Privacy Act 2009.
If you choose not to provide personal information, we may not be able to provide you with the services you require, or as high a level of service.

How we collect personal information

DCS collects personal information in a number of ways, including:

  • Directly from you, when you provide information by phone, when receiving a service from us or in documents such as an application form;
  • From third parties such as other government agencies and service providers, credit reporting agencies or your representatives;
  • From publicly available sources of information;
  • From the organisations described below under "When we disclose your personal information";
  • From our own records of how you use our services; or
  • When legally required to do so.

How we use your personal information

Your personal information may be used in order to:

  • Provide the emergency services you require, including ambulance, fire and rescue and volunteer support services;
  • Administer and manage services;
  • Inform you of ways the services provided to you have been or could be improved;
  • Conduct appropriate checks for credit-worthiness and for fraud;
  • Research and develop our services and emergency infrastructure;
  • Gain an understanding of your information and community safety needs in order for us to provide you with a better service.

When we disclose your personal information

For the purposes set out above, we may disclose your personal information to other organisations. The organisations to which we may disclose information may include:

  • Other emergency services providers;
  • Your representatives (for example your authorised representatives or legal advisers);
  • Government and regulatory authorities and other organisations, as required or authorised by law;
  • Our professional advisers, including our accountants, auditors and lawyers;
  • Organisations involved in managing our corporate risk and funding functions;
  • Outsourced service providers who manage the services we provide to you that may include:
      • Customer enquiries;
      • Systems administration and maintenance;
      • Mailing systems;
      • Information technology services.

When using online services

Personal information provided to DCS when you send us an e-mail message or other electronic format will only be used for the purpose for which you have provided it. Your details will not be added to a general mailing list.  Unless required by law, DCS will not disclose this information without your consent.

Cookies

Cookies are pieces of information that a website can transfer to an individual's computer hard drive.  Most Internet browsers are pre-set to accept cookies.  However, you can usually change the settings on your browser to not accept cookies.
Cookies are used in three limited ways by some services on DCS websites:

  • A cookie is used to determine whether your computer has support for cookies turned on.  This allows us to advise you that you need to enable cookies to be able to use the service.
  • A cookie is used to manage the maximum time to complete your transaction.  It contains the start time of your transaction.
  • A cookie is used to contain the session identifier to enable our web server to manage your session.

The information remains on your computer after the Internet session until the expiry time.  Cookies used on DCS sites do not contain any personal information.  We make no attempt to identify individual users in any way.

Note: External sites that are linked to our websites are not under DCS control and you are advised to review their privacy and security provisions and statements.

What else should you know about privacy?

Security

Separate security arrangements will typically apply, depending on the sensitivity of the information.  For further information refer to the DCS Information Privacy Plan.

Help us to ensure we hold accurate information

DCS takes all reasonable precautions to ensure that the personal information we collect, use and disclose is accurate, complete and up-to-date. However, the accuracy of that information we hold depends to a large extent on the information you provide.
That's why we recommend that you:

  • Let us know if there are any errors in your personal information; and
  • Keep us up-to-date with changes to personal information such as your name or address.

You can access your personal information

You have a right to access your personal information, subject to some exceptions allowed by law. If you would like to do so, please let us know.  You will be required to put your request in writing for security reasons.

How to contact us

If you have any questions in relation to the way DCS handles your personal information, please contact us on
(07) 323 93695 between 9.00am and 5.00pm, Monday to Friday.  Please note that this number is not for general service enquiries.
Alternatively, you can write to:
Manager, Information Rights Unit
Department of Community Safety
GPO Box 1054
BRISBANE   QLD   4001
E-mail privacy@dcs.qld.gov.au
For more detailed information about privacy in DCS please refer to:



Last updated: 27 June 2011