Privacy and security

The Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water is committed to protecting your privacy.

Your right to privacy

We must comply with the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 (NSW), which regulates the collection, storage, use and disclosure of personal information. For details see Your privacy.

Information that in some way identifies you may be gathered when you use our website or send us an email.

Transactional services available from this site may use cookies to track business processes. Read the particular service's privacy and security statement before beginning a transaction.

Information collected from web browsing

When you view this website, we collect the following information:

  • your IP (internet protocol) address or host name eg. 123.123.123.12 or xxx.yyy.com.au 
  • the date and time you visited the website 
  • the pages or documents you attempted to view or download, and whether those pages or documents were displayed 
  • the web browser and operating system you are using 
  • the previous site you visited, if you reached our website by clicking on a link 
  • if you have previously visited our website (only if you accept cookies).

The Department uses Facebook remarketing pixels to aid in customised, targeted follow-up advertising.

Information collected from online forms and services

When you submit a form on this website or provide information as part of using an online service, we collect information from this activity. This information may include personal and organisational details such as your full name, phone number, business name and ACN details, email address and street address.

Clicking on the 'submit' button on the form acts as your consent for us to collect the information you have provided. Before you submit this information we will take reasonable steps to inform you of:

  • where applicable, any law that requires the particular information to be collected 
  • which fields are mandatory and which are optional.

Subscription and RSS requests

We offer subscription and RSS services on this website. These services are offered on an ‘opt in’ basis. You can opt out at any time by using the opt out service or contacting us via ‘Feedback’ and we will promptly process your request.

When you subscribe to a newsletter, news alert or RSS service from us, we will use your personal information in order to provide the content to you. We may also use your personal information to tell you about associated services, public information campaigns or web content we think you might be interested in, but only if you have indicated that you are happy to receive this information.

Information collected from email

If you send us an email, we will record your email address so we can respond to you.

 

Information collected from forms, newsletters and email will only be used for the purpose for which you have provided it. We will not use it for any other purpose, nor will we disclose it, unless with your consent or in other circumstances where such use or disclosure is permitted under the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998. For example, we may provide the information you have submitted to another public authority in the course of administering environment protection legislation.

Your personal information (including your email address) will not be automatically added to a mailing list, or sold or otherwise transferred to a third party for commercial purposes.

Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009

The Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (GIPA Act)external link confers on the public a right to access information held by a government agency, including electronic information like transactions through the web. If information is sought by a third party under the GIPA Act that affects your research, business, commercial, professional or financial interests or your personal information, we will seek your views if you are likely to have concerns about the disclosure of the information before making any decision about releasing the information. See also Obtaining information from us.

Access

Under the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 you have the right to access and change personal information we hold about you, such as your address and phone number(s).

Accuracy

We are committed to ensuring that the information we hold is accurate, complete and up to date, so we encourage you to advise us if the information you have given us has changed. If you believe our information is inaccurate, please contact us and we will correct the information.

Retention

We will retain the information you have provided for a period that is appropriate for the purpose for which it was provided. Your information will be archived and disposed of in accordance with our policies, legislative requirements and guidelines based on the NSW State Records Act 1998.

We take reasonable steps to protect information during transfer and storage. Physical measures, such as building and equipment security, are used in conjunction with digital technology, such as data encryption and firewalls, to minimise unauthorised access to information.