Privacy Policy

Purpose

The Information Privacy Act 2009 and the Queensland Privacy Principles set the rules for how Queensland government agencies, including the Office of the Queensland Parliamentary Counsel (OQPC), handle personal information.

This policy explains how we manage personal information, including:

1. the kinds of personal information we collect and hold, how we collect and hold that personal information, and the purposes for which we collect, hold, use and disclose personal information

2. how you may complain about our handling of your personal information, and how we deal with the complaint.

Scope

This policy applies to all Office of the Queensland Parliamentary Counsel and authorised Department of the Premier and Cabinet (DPC) staff.

OQPC is an agency under the Right to Information Act 2009 and the Information Privacy Act 2009. The Parliamentary Counsel as principal officer of OQPC delegates decision-making powers under those Acts to the Director-General DPC.

OQPC is attached to DPC for the full suite of corporate support services such as people and culture, finance, legal, information management, information and communication technology including cybersecurity, right to information and privacy, corporate governance, audit and assurance, and procurement. DPC has permanent budget funding for delivery of these services.

How we collect and receive personal information

OQPC collects, uses, stores and discloses a range of personal information to support the functions of the Queensland Parliamentary Counsel under the Legislative Standards Act 1992.

This includes personal information about OQPC employees, instructing officers and other public service employees, members of the public, stakeholders, and persons attending meetings, functions and events organised by the Office.

We may also receive sensitive information (see Definitions). We will generally only collect sensitive information with consent, or otherwise in accordance with the Act.

We collect personal information directly from individuals who access our services and indirectly from third parties as part of carrying out our functions. 

 

Receiving unsolicited personal information

We receive personal information from individuals without directly asking for it. Personal information may be received when you email us, write to us by mail, contact us by telephone, or when you interact with us through our website.

Personal information may also be provided to OQPC by DPC when you correspond with DPC about a matter relating to our functions.

We take reasonable steps to ensure individuals providing unsolicited personal information to OQPC understand how the information may be used or disclosed, including by publishing this policy, providing a privacy statement on the Office of the Queensland Parliamentary Counsel websites [ www.legislation.qld.gov.au and www.oqpc.qld.gov.au ] including a privacy statement in automatically generated responses to emails. 

 

Remaining anonymous

You are able to use a pseudonym and remain anonymous when interacting with us unless:

• we are required or authorised under an Australian law, or a court or tribunal order, to deal with individuals who have identified themselves, or
• it is impracticable to deal with you if you have not identified yourself or are using a pseudonym.

We will inform you if you are not able to remain anonymous or use a pseudonym when dealing with us.

 

Information collected through OQPC’s website	As a general rule, we do not collect personal information about you when you visit this website. When you read or download information, our Internet Service Providers record anonymous information only. This website uses Google Analytics to gather statistical information about the use of the website. This information provides information to help us make improvements to the content and structure of the website. Further details about the information collected by Google Analytics can be found in the section on cookies below. We may collect personal information that you choose to give us via requests, surveys, comments or email, for example, when you register to participate in a website survey or access copyright information.
Google Analytics	This website uses Google Analytics to gather statistical information about how the website is being accessed. Google Analytics uses cookies to gather information for the purpose of providing statistical reporting only. The information generated by the cookies about your use of this website will be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers located outside Australia. No information that identifies users personally is recorded or provided to Google. Information gathered using the Google Analytics cookies includes— the number of visitors to this website how visitors arrive at this website, for example, by typing the address directly, following a link from another webpage or by using a search engine the number of times each webpage is viewed and for how long the time and date of visits to this website the geographical location of the visitor to this website information about what browser was used to view this website, the operating system of the device and its screen size the referring Internet Service Provider the speed of the user's internet connection.
Surveys	We may collect personal information that you choose to give us via requests, surveys, comments or email, for example, when you register to participate in a website survey or access copyright information.
Information and Assistance	OQPC collects and holds personal information about people who contact OQPC (legislation queries) by phone, post, or email. This information may include names, contact details, and the enquirer’s circumstances which led to or are relevant to their enquiry; this can include sensitive personal information, opinions about other people, and expressions of dissatisfaction.  OQPC may also collect and hold information about reasonable accommodations required by an enquirer.

 

 

How we hold and protect personal information

We take seriously our obligations to protect the personal information held by OQPC and take reasonable steps to protect your personal information against misuse, interference and loss, and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.

These steps include:

• ensuring physical access to the Office is secure
• classifying and storing records securely, including storing physical documents in secure cabinets
• limiting access to information in records systems to appropriate officers
• monitoring system access with controls and authenticated credentials
• regularly updating and auditing our storage and data security systems.

If personal information that we hold is lost, or subject to unauthorised access or disclosure, we will respond in accordance with the Act and our Data Breach Policy. Our priority is to mitigate harm and to provide timely advice to affected individuals if a data breach is likely to result in serious harm.

Our activities – why we need personal information (purpose)

The Office provides advisory, administrative and governance support for the performance of the functions of the Parliamentary Counsel.

Our functions and activities that involve personal information include:

• client and stakeholder engagement
• responding to correspondence
• responding to right to information requests, including requests for access to or amendment of personal information
• supporting business service and governance requirements
• managing employment and human resource matters within the Office.

 

Use and disclosure of personal information

We endeavour to use and disclose personal information only for the purpose for which it was collected and received and not for another purpose (a secondary purpose) unless you consent to the use or disclosure of the information, or it is otherwise consistent with the obligations under the Act.

The information you provide to the Office may be disclosed to DPC to respond to your matter or resolve the issues you have raised. It may also be disclosed to departmental staff or other government bodies to resolve issues you raise with us.

When you engage with us on social media, your personal information may be stored by those platforms in countries outside Australia and will be subject to the platform’s own privacy arrangements and laws in the platform’s jurisdiction. We do not otherwise disclose personal information to entities outside Australia unless we have sought your consent first or an Australian law requires us to disclose the information.

Access to and correction of personal information

In accordance with QPP 12, 13 Schedule 2 Queensland Privacy Principles, Information Privacy Act 2009, Right to Information Act 2009 you have a right to access, and request correction of, personal information we hold about you.

We try to provide individuals with access to their own personal information informally. Where a request is unable to be dealt with informally, you may make a formal application under the Right to Information Act 2009.

The Right to Information and Privacy unit in DPC processes applications on behalf of OQPC. Applications must be in writing and submitted by mail, email or in person as follows:

Email: rti@premiers.qld.gov.au

Mail: Manager, Right to Information and Privacy

Department of the Premier and Cabinet

PO Box 15185

CITY EAST QLD 4002

Further information about how to apply can be found [   Right to Information - Department of the Premier and Cabinet ]

Making a privacy complaint

If you believe we have misused your personal information or did not meet our obligations under the Act to comply with the privacy principles, you can make a privacy complaint to us.

The Department of Premier and Cabinet manages privacy complaints on behalf of OQPC.  Privacy complaints may be submitted directly to DPC either verbally or in writing:

Privacy Contact Officer

Right to Information and Privacy

Department of Premier and Cabinet

PO Box 15185

CITY EAST  QLD  4002

P:  07 3003 9230

E:  privacy.contact@premiers.qld.gov.au

 

Legislation and/or associated documents

9.1 Legislation

Information Privacy Act 2009 - Queensland Legislation - Queensland Government

Right to Information Act 2009 - Queensland Legislation - Queensland Government

Related policies

Office of the Queenland Parliamentary Counsel Data Breach Policy

Definitions

Word or term	Definition
Personal information	Information or an opinion about an identified individual or an individual who is reasonably identifiable from the information or opinion:   whether the information or opinion is true or not; and whether the information or opinion is recorded in a material form or not.   Refer section 12 Information Privacy Act 2009
Sensitive information	For an individual, means the following – information or an opinion, that is also personal information, about the individual’s—   racial or ethnic origin; or political opinions; or membership of a political association; or religious beliefs or affiliations; or philosophical beliefs; or membership of a professional or trade association; or membership of a trade union; or sexual orientation or practices; or criminal record;   health information about the individual; genetic information about the individual that is not otherwise health information; biometric information that is to be used for the purpose of automated biometric verification or biometric identification; or biometric templates. Refer Schedule 5 Dictionary Information Privacy Act 2009