Privacy Policy

Information Privacy Policy

The Queensland Government has introduced privacy legislation which applies to Local Government in this state - the Information Privacy Act 2009. The Information Privacy Act contains a number of privacy principles which set out how Councils may and must handle personal information. Personal information means any information from which your identity is apparent or can reasonably be ascertained.

Somerset Regional Council has C015 - Information Management and Security Policy(PDF, 465KB) which sets out details of how the Council handles personal information and the types of personal information it holds.

Website Privacy and Security Statement

Somerset Regional Council is committed to protecting user privacy. We understand and appreciate that visitors to, and users of, our websites are concerned about their privacy and the confidentiality and security of information they provide to us.

Our policy is to respect and protect the privacy of our website users and, as a general rule, we do not collect personal information about you when you visit our sites. You are able to visit our sites without revealing any of your personal information.

Site visit data

If you visit our sites to read or download information, our server records the following information for statistical purposes:

your server or computer address
the type of browser used
the date and time of access
the pages accessed on our site
the documents downloaded from our site
the previous internet address from which you linked directly to our site.

The above information is gathered solely for the purposes of creating summary statistics which allow us to assess the number of visitors to the different sections of our site, to discover what information is most (and least) useful, and to help make our site more useful to visitors.

Links to other sites

Our websites contain links to other websites not controlled by Council. Somerset Regional Council is not responsible for the content and privacy practices of other websites.

Customer Service Request (CSR) Privacy Collection / Use Statement

Somerset Regional Council is committed to handling your personal information in accordance with the Information Privacy Act 2009 (Qld) and the Queensland Privacy Principles (QPPs). QPP 5 obliges us to advise you of certain matters when collecting your personal information. This collection notice sets out those matters, and explains how we will manage the collection, use, disclosure and storage of your personal information. The information collected is necessary to process your request and may also be used to update contact details internally with other Somerset Regional Council teams. Your personal information has been collected under authority of the Local Government Act 2009 and Local Government Regulation 2012. If you choose not to provide your name and contact details, we may not be able to properly investigate or resolve your request as we will not be able to seek further information from you, or respond to your request.

Your personal information may be disclosed to contractors or sub-contractors engaged by Council. Your personal information will not be disclosed outside of Australia.

Our privacy policy explains how you may request access to and/or correction of your personal information. Our policy also explains how you can complain to us if you consider we have breached our obligations to manage your personal information in accordance with the QPPs, and how we deal with privacy complaints.

Email correspondence

Email correspondence sent to Somerset Regional Council may be treated as a public record and retained as required by the Public Records Act 2002 and other relevant legislation.

Your email address details will not be added to a mailing list (unless you so request), nor will we disclose these details to third parties without your consent, unless required by law. Email messages may be monitored by our information technology staff for system trouble-shooting and maintenance purposes.

CCTV Recordings

Somerset Regional Council has installed a number of closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras throughout the region for security, public safety and crime prevention.

The purpose of the CCTV Program is to:

Identify, manage, deter and reduce criminal behaviour, particularly in respect of Council resources;
Provide police with appropriate evidence to prosecute criminal offences;
Provide information about weather events.

Somerset Regional Council has C015 - Information Management and Security Policy(PDF, 465KB) which outlines how information and images from CCTV will be collected, stored, retained, disclosed and disposed of.

Somerset Christmas Lights Competition Privacy Collection / Use Statement

Your personal information may be disclosed to the public for promotions purposes and competition judges engaged by Council. Your personal information will not be disclosed outside of Australia.

Our privacy policy explains how you may request access to and/or correction of your personal information. Our policy also explains how you can complain to us if you consider we have breached our obligations to manage your personal information in accordance with the QPPs, and how we deal with privacy complaints.

If you have questions regarding how your personal information will be handled contact mail@somerset.qld.gov.au or call (07) 5424 4000.