abare.gov.au – Privacy

ABARE places great emphasis on maintaining and enhancing the privacy and security of your personal information.

Collection of information through the ABARE website
ABARE collects a range of information about visits to the ABARE website. The following information is stored for five years:

entry and exit pages
how often the site was used
the time of day the site was accessed
the length of time spent on the site
how much information was downloaded
if the visit is from a company or an individual
if you are browsing from Australia or overseas and
what browser types are being used.
this information is collected for statistical analysis only and no attempt is made by ABARE to identify the user or their browsing activities.

When you send a message to ABARE
You may provide personally identifiable information such as your name, physical address and email address, when you send us a message. Personal information collected by ABARE is protected by the Privacy Act 1988.

Access to information
In the unlikely event of an investigation, a law enforcement agency or other government agency may exercise its legal authority to inspect ABARE's internet service provider's logs.

Use and disclosure of information
Personal information provided to ABARE when you send us a message will only be used for the purpose for which you have provided it.

Cookies
Cookies are pieces of information that a website can transfer to an individual's computer hard drive. The information remains on your computer after the Internet session until the expiry time. Cookies are used to identify registered users of our publications when you log on to our online publications area you can ask for a cookie to remember your password and computer so that you don't need to logon for future sessions.

Security statement
Your personal information is protected by law. These laws prohibit any person from accessing, using or disclosing any personal information in the possession of ABARE unless it is in the performance of their duties or is in accordance with these laws. Penalties apply to those who fail to observe these provisions. While ABARE endeavours to provide a secure internet environment, users should note that there are inherent risks associated with transmission of information via the internet. Please contact ABARE if you wish to use alternative ways to obtain and provide information to ABARE.

Information privacy principles
The Privacy Act 1988 sets standards contained in the 11 Information Privacy Principles that place legal obligations on government agencies, including ABARE, to:

collect information in a lawful way and collect only information which is relevant for the purpose of the collection;
tell people the purpose for which the information is collected, the authority and any circumstances where personal information is usually given to someone else;
collect only relevant, up to date and complete information and collect it in a fair and non intrusive way;
keep personal information safe and secure;
provide a public record of the nature of their personal information holding (this is contained in the 'Personal Information Digest' issued annually by the Federal Privacy Commissioner);
give individuals access to their personal information and allow records to be corrected if they are wrong;
check that personal information is accurate, up to date and complete before using it;
use personal information only for a relevant purpose, and use it only for the purpose for which it was collected, unless specified exceptions apply; and
not disclose personal information to another person or agency except where specified exceptions apply.

Privacy and ABARE’s publications online

In addition to the information collected about your visit to the ABARE website, when you visit or register as a new user for ABARE's online publications or as a current user to browse the products and services that are available through ABARE, we will collect, use and store personal information such as your name, address and contact details. This information will be stored for 5 years from your last purchase or download. If you place an order for a hardcopy publication, we will need you to fill out a form and become a registered user.

This information will only be used to process your order and arrange payment and delivery unless you consent to other uses of that information. If you do not supply this information, we may be unable to process or dispatch your order. In order to provide more tailored service, you can select a range of topics and subscription items that you are interested in receiving email notifications on. You can subscribe from this service anytime. We do not sell our mailing lists.

Privacy complaints
If you believe ABARE has been wrong in the way it has collected or handled your personal information, you can:
contact the Privacy/FOI Officer in ABARE who will conduct an investigation; or
if you are dissatisfied with the investigation, you can contact the Federal Privacy Commissioner who is independent of ABARE.

How do I find out more about privacy?
If you have any privacy or security concerns please:

contact ABARE for advice, or
send an email to ABARE

Personal information

Privacy and your personal information
Where ABARE collects and uses personal information in order to provide services to you, it is bound by the Privacy Act 1988 which is concerned with protecting the privacy of personal information.

Access to your personal information
You may request details of the personal information ABARE holds about you, by writing to or contacting ABARE at any time. ABARE may charge a fee for the provision of this information to cover administrative costs. However, you will be informed of any fee at the time a request is made.

In general, ABARE will allow access to the personal information held about you. ABARE will not deny you access to any personal information following an access request without providing you with a reason for the denial.

Correction of your personal information
If you are aware that any of your personal information is inaccurate, incomplete or out of date following an access request, or because your circumstances have changed, please inform ABARE so that we can update our records. ABARE will correct any incorrect personal information and will not refuse to make a correction without providing you with a reason for the refusal.

However, if ABARE does refuse to make a correction, ABARE will take reasonable steps to place with the disputed information a statement from you claiming that the disputed information in your opinion is not accurate, complete or up to date. If you wish to access or change any personal information held by ABARE please contact +61 2 6272 2222.