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Telephone: 1800 677 342

Website Privacy Statement

Consistent with Victorian Government policy and legislation, the Disability Services Commissioner endorses fair information handling practices and uses of information in compliance with its obligations under the Disability Act 2006, the Privacy and Data Collection Act 2014, and the Health Records Act 2001 (Vic). Any information provided, including identification of individuals, will be used only for the purpose/s intended and where the intention includes confidentiality, information will be treated as such unless otherwise required by law.

This Website Privacy Statement explains how your personal information (being information capable of identifying you as an individual) will be treated as you access and interact with this website. The practices outlined in this Website Privacy Statement are subject to any rights the Disability Services Commissioner may have to handle personal information in accordance with law.

The personal information we collect via this website may include:

  • the content of any electronic forms you submit via this Website, requesting us to provide services or information, or take actions;
  • information submitted if you participate in an online survey; and
  • any messages or comments you submit to us via this Website or to email addresses displayed on this Website, which may include personal information such as name, email address and telephone number.

Email addresses provided via this site will only be used to respond to specific user queries and will not be added to any mailing lists, nor disclosed to any other party without users’ knowledge and consent, unless required by law. Where personal information is collected directly from you on our web pages, a specific privacy notification can be viewed by clicking on the ‘privacy statement’ tag at the bottom of the online form.

Web Statistics Data Collection

Pages on the site may be coded with Nielsen//NetRatings software. This is transparent to the user, as the software makes use of a small image at the bottom of the web page. This software stores a cookie in your browser, which contains a unique identifier, and sends information to Nielsen//NetRatings. This enables Nielsen//NetRatings to track the number of unique visitors to the site. In no way does this unique identifier identify a user personally. We do not and will not marry any data collected by Nielsen//NetRatings with any personal information.

While you can browse this website anonymously, without disclosing your personal information, we may not be able to provide the full range of services through this website if we are not provided with the information outlined above.

Use and disclosure of your personal information

Where we collect personal information from you via our website, a privacy disclaimer will indicate which third parties we might share your information with (if any). In addition to providing our services to you and carrying out your requests, we may use or disclose personal information that we collect about you for purposes including the following:

  • for the purpose that we have collected the information;
  • purposes related to our research, planning, product and service development, security and testing;
  • purposes connected with the operation, administration, development or enhancement of this website;
  • where we suspect that fraud or unlawful activity has been, is being or may be engaged in; and any other purposes required or authorised by law.

Security

We have implemented technology and security policies, rules and measures to protect the personal information that we have under our control. However, you should be aware that there are risks in transmitting information across the Internet. So while we strive to protect such information, we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information transmitted to us online and individuals do so at their own risk. Once any personal information comes into our possession, we will take reasonable steps to protect that information from misuse and loss and from unauthorised access, modification and disclosure. If you are concerned about conveying sensitive material to us over the Internet, you might prefer to contact us by telephone or mail. We will remove personal information from our system where it is no longer required (except where archiving is required and in order to fulfil our obligations under the Public Records Act 1973 (Vic)).

Feedback, information request form and email

We may preserve the content of any feedback form, information request form, email or other electronic message that we receive. Any personal information contained in that message will only be used or disclosed in ways set out in this Website Privacy Statement. We will not use that information to add you to a mailing list without your consent.

Links to external websites

This Website Privacy Statement does not extend beyond this website. When following links to other sites from this website, we recommend that you read the privacy statement of that site to familiarise yourself with its privacy practices.

Clickstream data

This website’s web server automatically records non-personal clickstream data. To the extent that any clickstream data could make you identifiable, we will not attempt to identify you from clickstream data unless required by law or to investigate suspected improper activity in relation to the website or to assist in law enforcement.

The following clickstream data are automatically recorded by this website’s web server for statistical and system administration purposes only:

  • your IP address;
  • your domain name (e.g. yahoo.com, hotmail.com, etc)
  • the date and the time of your visit to the site;
  • the pages you accessed and files downloaded;
  • the address of the last site you visited;
  • your operating system;
  • the type of browser you are using

Use of Cookies

What is a cookie?

A cookie is a small piece of data that a website asks your browser to store on your computer or mobile device. The cookie allows the website to “remember” your actions or preferences over time. Most Internet browsers support cookies; however, users can set their browsers to decline certain types of cookies or specific cookies. Further, users can delete cookies at any time.

Why do we use cookies?

We use cookies to learn how you interact with our content and to improve your experience when visiting our website. For example, some cookies remember your accessibility preferences so that you do not have to repeatedly make these choices when you revisit our website.

What types of cookies do we use?

We use only First-Party Cookies. First-party cookies are cookies issued from the odsc.vic.gov.au domain that are generally used to identify language and location preferences or render basic site functionality.

Freedom of Information

For information on making an Freedom Of Information application please click here.

Level 30, 570 Bourke Street,

Melbourne, Victoria, 3000 Australia

Call for enquiries or complaints - 1800 677 342

Email for enquiries or complaints - complaints@odsc.vic.gov.au