Privacy

• LMW will only collect personal or health information from or about people with their prior knowledge and consent, and in a lawful and fair manner for the purposes of performing lawful functions and activities under the Water Act 1989.

• Personal information is used by and disclosed to LMW employees or contractors whose duties require them to use it. Such employees and contractors are required to protect and handle your personal information in accordance with the Acts and any other applicable legislation regulating the collection, use, disclosure, storage and destruction of personal information.

• LMW will not use or disclose personal information for any purpose not connected with our functions and activities under the Water Act 1989 unless:
  
  o consent for the disclosure has been obtained from the individual;
  
  o it could be reasonably expected that we would use or disclose the information for a secondary purpose;
  
  o the use or disclosure is required or permitted by law;
  
  o in the case of health information, the specific requirements of the Health Records Act apply;
  
  o we believe that the use or disclosure is reasonably necessary to assist a law enforcement agency or an agency responsible for national security in the performance of their functions; or
  
  o denying access would pose a serious and imminent threat to the life or health of any individual.
   
• Should an individual refuse to provide personal information required by LMW, they should be aware that this may impede LMW’s ability to provide the services requested by the individual
   
• LMW takes reasonable steps to ensure that the personal or health information it uses is accurate, complete and up to date.
   
• LMW has implemented technology and security, policies, rules and measures to protect the information under its control from unauthorised access, improper use, alteration, unlawful or accidental destruction and accidental loss.
   
• LMW will remove destroy or permanently de-identify personal information from its system where it is no longer required (except where archiving is required), however health information will be retained unless:
  
  o the deletion is permitted, authorised or required by the law; or
  
  o the deletion is not contrary to the law.
   
• LMW will not use the unique identifiers of other institutions or individuals.
   
• LMW will not disclose unique identifiers that we may use to other institutions or individuals, except for the purposes permitted by privacy legislation.
   
• If it is lawful and practicable, LMW will give individuals the option of not identifying themselves when they contact us.
   
• In the event that LMW may collect sensitive information about an individual we will do so in accordance with legislative requirements and , with the individual’s knowledge and consent.
   
• LMW will allow individuals to access any personal or health information that we hold about them and will provide details of how we collect, hold and use that information, at least to the extent provided for under legislative requirements upon request. The LMW Privacy Officer is the appropriate contact in this regard and for further information on our personal information management practices.
   
• Private information held includes but is not limited to:
  
  o Information about employee health as required for Workcover and OHS purposes;
  
  o Staff records including performance appraisals, qualifications, certificates and personal contact details
  
  o Contractor work references and performance (past and present)
  
  o Contractor company financial details
  
  o Contractor employee qualifications, certificates and licences
  
  o Electronic signatures of some employees
  
  o Work details and personal contact details for Board Directors
  
  o Pecuniary interest documentation of Board Directors and Senior Management
  
  o Subdivision developer details
  
  o Customer information – change of ownership/name/address, notification of disposition/acquisition of property, pension details, occupancy details, direct debit authorisations, payment/financial arrangements
  
  o LMW and its officers will respect the right of privacy conferred on persons under Section 13 of the Charter of Human Rights & Responsibilities Act 2006.
  
  “Charter of Human Rights & Responsibilities Act 2006
  
  Section 13           Privacy and reputation 

• Any changes to LMW’s privacy statement will be published on our internet site www.lmw.vic.gov.au, and copies may be obtained from any of our offices.

• When disclosing information using the LMW website (eg. via email link) an individual is deemed to have consented to LMW collecting, using, disclosing and handling any personal information or health information collected in accordance with our privacy policy.
   
• LMW does not warrant the security of any information transmitted to the LMW website and such information is transmitted at the individual’s own risk in respect of errors in transmission.
   
• Our website home page can be accessed and our site can be browsed without disclosing personal information. The site does not use cookies, nor does it collect clickstream data or use web bugs.