Website privacy collection notice

This website is managed by the Department of Home Affairs (the Department). The Department is committed to protecting your privacy in line with our obligations under Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) contained in the Privacy Act 1988. The APPs set out the manner in which we may collect, store, use and disclose personal information and your right to seek access to and correction of that information.

Personal information means ‘information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable: whether the information or opinion is true or not; and whether the information or opinion is recorded in a material form or not’.

In addition to our obligations under the Privacy Act, the information we hold may also be subject to secrecy and non-disclosure provisions, such as those in the Migration Act 1958 and Australian Border Force Act 2015.

This privacy notice tells you why we collect the personal information that we receive through our website and how we will manage it. Further information about our personal information handling practices is available from the Department’s privacy policy, which you can access here.

This website may contain links to other websites. The Department is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of linked websites and those sites are not covered by this Privacy Notice.

Why we collect your information

Gathering information about how you use our website helps us to improve our website and provide you with a better experience. For example, it helps us to discover what information is most and least accessed, identify broken links and locate problems such as congestion points.

You can visit this site without telling us who you are or revealing other personal information, unless you choose to send us a contact or feedback.

How we collect your information

Site visit data

We log the following information when you visit our website:

  • your IP or server address
  • the date and time of your visit to our website
  • the type of browser used
  • your operating system (for example, Windows, MAC)
  • your top level domain name, such as .com, .gov, .au, .uk
  • the address of the referring site (the previous site you visited that linked to ours, typically a search engine)
  • the address of the pages you visited and the documents you downloaded
  • time spent viewing a page
  • the time taken to transmit the information to you.

We only use this information for statistical analysis and systems administration purposes. We make no attempt to identify users or their browsing activities, except in the event that a law enforcement agency or other government agency exercises its legal authority to inspect our internet web server logs for an investigation.

Cookies

Our website, operationredback.com, puts small files (known as ‘cookies’) onto your computer. We use cookies in order to gather information about how you use our website, but also as a tool to keep track of your visit as you navigate different pages of our website and remember your site preferences.

You can change your web browser settings to reject cookies or to prompt you each time a website wishes to add a cookie to your browser. However, if you do this you may not be able to use the full functionality of this website.

We use two cookie types – session cookies and persistent cookies. Session cookies are short-lived, are used only during a browsing session, and expire when you quit your browser. Persistent cookies are stored on your computer, contain an expiry date (usually beyond the termination of the current browsing session), and may be used to track your browsing behaviour upon return to our website.

This information is only used to help you use our website systems more efficiently, not to track your movements through the internet. No personal information is stored within cookies used by our website.

Google Analytics

This website uses Google Analytics, a service which transmits website traffic data to Google servers in the United States. Google Analytics does not identify individual users or associate your IP address with any other data held by Google. We use reports provided by Google Analytics to help us understand website traffic and webpage usage.

By using this website, you consent to the processing of data about you by Google in the manner described in Google’s Privacy Policy and for the purposes set out above. You can opt out of Google Analytics if you disable or refuse the cookie, disable JavaScript, or use the opt-out service provided by Google.

Emails

If you email us personal information or provide it to us through a ‘contact us’ option on this website:

  • we will record your email address and any other information submitted
  • we will use this information for the purpose for which you provide it
  • your email address will not be added to a mailing list unless provided by you specifically for that purpose.

If you fail to provide us with a minimum level of information (usually marked with an asterisk and generally, an email address), we may not be able to respond to you.

Who we disclose your information to

Your personal information will not be disclosed to any other person or third party unless:

  • you give us your consent to do so
  • it is authorised or required by or under an Australian law or a court/tribunal order, or
  • it meets one of the other exceptions in the APPs.

How we protect your personal information

We maintain a range of physical, technical and administrative safeguards to help protect the personal information we collect and hold. For example, we:

  • update and test our security technology on an ongoing basis
  • train our employees about the importance of maintaining the privacy and security of your information.
  • restrict access to your personal information to authorised employees.

For further information about the whole-of-government standards and guidelines that guide our security practices and procedures please refer to the Australian Government Information Security Manual (ISM) and the Protective Security Policy Framework (PSPF).

How you can access or correct your personal information

You can make a request for access and correction of your personal information under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 and the Privacy Act. Our Privacy Policy explains how you can seek access to the personal information that we hold about you, or how can you seek to have this information corrected.

Concerns and complaints

If you believe that the Department has handled your personal information in a way that breaches our obligations in the APPs, our Privacy Policy explains how you can make a complaint and how we will deal with your complaint.

How you can contact us

Full contact details can be found on the Department’s website: www.homeaffairs.gov.au[DB3] 

Alternatively, you can provide feedback by:

  • using the online feedback form
  • writing to:
    • The Manager Global Feedback Unit
      GPO Box 241
      Melbourne VIC 3001 Australia