Privacy

MHL is a division of the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment, and Water (DCCEEW).

This Privacy Policy applies to all the publicly accessible pages on this site located at www.mhl.nsw.gov.au.

DCCEEW does not have any responsibility for the privacy policies or practices of third party sites linked to this site. If you have any questions about this site, or the application of this Privacy Policy or a request for access to information held please contact:

Privacy Coordinator
Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment, and Water
4 Parramatta Square, Locked Bag 5022
Parramatta NSW 2124
Ph: (02) 9860 1440

Users of this site are entitled to expect that any information collected as a result of that use will be treated within the terms of the NSW Government's privacy responsibilities and obligations. The NSW Government's privacy practices are regulated by the New South Wales Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998, the Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002, and the Department's Privacy Management Plan.

What information do we collect?

When you look at the pages on this site, our computers automatically record information that identifies, for each page accessed:

• the IP (Internet Protocol) address of the machine which 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 pages accessed and documents downloaded;
• the previous site visited; and the type of browser and operating system you have used.

Cookies

"Cookies" are small pieces of text data that a web server can store on, and later retrieve from, a user's computer. They do not personally identify you, but do identify your browser. Cookies can be either 'persistent' or 'session' based. Persistent cookies are stored on your computer, contain an expiration date, and may be used to track your browsing behaviour upon return to the issuing web site. Session cookies are short-lived, are used only during a browsing session, and expire when you shut down your browser.
This site uses session cookies.
They record your preferences in relation to your use of the site and provide us with other information about your enquiry that allows us to recognise your browser if you return to this website in the future. This allows DCCEEW to present information that may be most relevant to you based on your previous visits. They also help DCCEEW to understand what parts of the site users find the most useful and improve the effectiveness of the website.
The cookies on this site do not read the information on your hard drive. They do not make your computer perform any actions or make your computer send information to any other computer via the internet. MHL makes no attempt to associate cookies with users' names or identities. Our server cannot find out your name or email address, or anything about your computer, by using cookies.

How do we use the information collected

Neither MHL nor DCCEEW discloses or publishes information which identifies individual computers, or potentially identifies sub-groupings of addresses, without consent or otherwise in accordance with the New South Wales privacy legislation and the Department's Privacy Management Plan.

What exceptions are there to this rule?

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

• unauthorised attempts to access files which are not published MHL 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 or 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 New South Wales or Commonwealth of Australia, or interfere with the enjoyment of the site by other users.

Is the information stored securely?

Yes. Information collected is stored in an appropriately secure format and held by DCCEEW for archival purposes. When the information is no longer required for the purposes for which it was collected, it is deleted.

What will we do with information provided as feedback?

DCCEEW provides feedback facilities on this site to allow users to provide input into the future development of the site and to comment on the provision of service by the Department.

The provision of personal details on feedback is optional.

Users provide personal details for the purpose of receiving a reply to their feedback. This information will only be used for the purpose for which it was provided. We will not add your email address or name to any mailing list.
DCCEEW may publish aggregated information about feedback on the site, to the extent that it does not identify or cannot be used to identify individual users.

Who else has access to information within the Department?

Will this policy be updated over time?

Due to the developing nature of privacy principles for online communication, this policy may be modified or expanded in light of new developments or issues that may arise from time to time. The amended policy will be posted to this site and will operate from the time it is posted.

For further enquiries :