Privacy

This website is provided and maintained by the NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (the Department) and the National GreenPower Accreditation Program (GreenPower). This privacy statement sets out GreenPower's and the Department's practices relating to the privacy of your personal information. GreenPower's and the Department's privacy practices are regulated by the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 (NSW) (PPIP ACT) and the Department's Privacy Management Plan (PMP). Due to the recent amalgamation of various agencies to create the Department, we are currently developing a new PMP. In the interim, the following PMPs are currently in place.:

The relevant PMP is determined by which PMP applied to the relevant business area prior to 1 July 2019.

GreenPower will only collect personal information for a lawful purpose which directly relates to our primary function as an accreditation program and for obtaining feedback about our services. GreenPower will not collect any more information than is necessary for it to fulfil these functions.

GreenPower will not disclose your personal information to anyone without your consent, unless legally required to do so.

Anyone engaged to collect, store or use personal information for GreenPower and the Department will be required to comply with the PPIP Act and the Department’s Privacy Management Plan.

Please note that GreenPower and the Department does not have any responsibility for the privacy policies or practices of third party sites linked to this website.

Privacy

What is personal information?

Your personal information relates to you personally and includes any information or opinion made about you. Personal information includes your name, address, phone number, email address or any information from which your identity can be reasonably ascertained.

Personal information is information that identifies you, some examples include:

  • a written record which may include your name, address, and other details about you
  • electronic records, photographs, images, video or audio footage
  • biometric information such as fingerprints, blood and records of genetic material.

What is not personal information?

The PPIP Act excludes certain information from the definition of personal information.  The most significant exemptions are:

  • information contained in publicly available publications
  • information about a person’s suitability for public sector employment
  • information about people who have been dead for more than 30 years
  • a number of exemptions relating to law enforcement investigations
  • matters contained in Cabinet documents.

Storage of private information

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 the Department’s policies, legislative requirements and guidelines based on the NSW State Records Act 1998.

GreenPower and the Department take all reasonable steps to protect the security of any personal information held, be it stored in electronic or hard copy format. 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.

Disclosure of your personal information

We will not disclose your personal details unless the disclosure is authorised by the PIPP Act and Regulations. Your consent to disclose information for particular purposes may be sought by us or given by yourself for a specific purpose. If appropriate consent is not provided, we may not be able to provide certain products and services to you or your agents.

The Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (GIPA Act) 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 take reasonable steps to seek your views if you are likely to have concerns about the disclosure of the information before making any decision about releasing the information.

Right of access to your personal information

Under the PPIP Act you have the right to access your personal information held by GreenPower and the Department without excessive delay or expense. You also have the right to have your personal information corrected in certain circumstances (e.g. if it is incorrect), Should you wish to access or correct your personal information contact either:

GreenPower Program Manager at:

GreenPower Program Manager
National GreenPower Accreditation Program
Locked Bag 5022
Parramatta, NSW 2124

Or the Department’s designated privacy officer at:

Public Access to Information & Privacy Unit
GPO Box 39 Sydney NSW 2001
Phone: 02 9860 1440
Email: [email protected]

Website data

To help GreenPower improve its website and provide better services to its users, the program manager makes a record of your visit and logs the following information:

  • the IP (Internet Protocol) address of the machine that has accessed it;
  • your top-level domain name (for example .com, .gov, .au, .uk etc.);
  • the address of your server;
  • the date and time of your visit to the site;
  • the search engine used to locate the site;
  • the pages accessed and documents downloaded; and
  • the type of browser and operating system you have used.

GreenPower and the Department will not disclose or publish information that identifies individual machines, or potentially identifies sub-groupings of addresses, without consent or otherwise in accordance with the PPIP Act.

Cookies and tracking pixels

Some of GreenPower’s sites use cookies and tracking pixels to collect your data, while others do not.

For information on what cookies are, how they work and how to delete them from your computer, you can visit www.allaboutcookies.org.

When website data may be disclosed

GreenPower and the Department will collect, use and disclose more extensive information than stated above in the following circumstances:

  • unauthorised attempts to access files which are not published in the Department’s pages;
  • unauthorised tampering or interference with files published on the site;
  • unauthorised attempts to index the contents of the site by other sites;
  • attempts to intercept messages of other users of the site;
  • communications which are defamatory, abusive, vilify individuals or groups which give rise to a suspicion that an offence is being committed; and
  • attempts to otherwise compromise the security of the web server, breach the laws of the State of NSW or Australia, or interfere with the enjoyment of the site by other users.

GreenPower and the Department reserve the right to make disclosures to relevant authorities where the use of this site raises a suspicion that an offence is being, or has been, committed.

We will take reasonable steps to ensure personal information that we keep is accurate, up-to-date, and relevant to the purposes for which it is to be used.

However, you should note that there are situations where we are required by legislation to disclose your personal information, or may be compelled to provide personal information about you to law enforcement agencies, emergency service agencies and other organisations engaged in the planning and provision of services to the community.

GreenPower may publish aggregated information about feedback, to the extent that it does not identify or cannot be used to identify individual users.

Information collected from online forms and services

When you submit a form on this website (such as via Feedback or Contact us), 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. This information allows us to properly look into an issue you raise, or to respond to your feedback.

Clicking on the 'submit' button on the form acts as your consent for GreenPower and the Department 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.

Email management

If you email GreenPower, we will only retain and use your e-mail address for the purpose for which you have provided it. It will not be added to a mailing list without your consent. These email addresses are stored electronically in accordance with standards and authorities under the State Records Act 1998.

If you subscribe to an electronic mailing list, we will only send you information relevant to the purpose or project for which you have provided it. If you have recently completed a submission we reserve the right to provide you with updates about the project, plan and policy et al for which the submission is for.

If you have subscribed to GreenPower's online mailing list, you can easily remove your email details from the list by unsubscribing.

We operate in accordance with the Spam Act 2003 (the Act) and will not send unsolicited electronic messages unless they are permitted by the Act. Under the Act, a government department may send unsolicited emails if they contain only factual information or if they relate to goods or services provided by the department. For more information about the Act go to Industry ACMA website.

Complaints

If you feel there has been a breach of your privacy under the PPIP Act, you have the right to make a complaint to GreenPower. For more information about your privacy rights, you can visit the Information and Privacy Commission: www.ipc.nsw.gov.au.

More information

For more information about privacy at GreenPower, please contact:

The National GreenPower Program Manager
National GreenPower Accreditation Program
Locked Bag 5022
Parramatta, NSW 2124

For more information about privacy at the Department, please contact:

Public Access to Information & Privacy Unit
GPO Box 39 Sydney NSW 2001
Phone: 02 9860 1440
Email: [email protected]