The Australian Government Department of Agriculture provides the following privacy statement in accordance with the Guidelines for Federal and ACT Government Websites issued by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.
Personal Information
The Department, through its website, invites people to provide personal information through feedback forms, subscription forms, or for other specified purposes. The information will only be used for those purposes originally intended.
Personal details will not be transmitted to other agencies or used for commercial purposes, and will not be disclosed outside the required area without your consent. No attempt will be made to identify users or their browsing activities.
The only exception will be, in the unlikely event of an investigation, where a law enforcement agency exercises a warrant to inspect the Department log files.
Security
This site adheres to Commonwealth Government Internet security standards, including the Defence Signals Directorate guidelines.
If you choose to pay for a service or product using the secure credit card payment facility available at this site you will be asked to provide your credit card details. Credit card details are encrypted from the moment they are entered into an electronic form on this website. All other information entered into an electronic form will be encrypted upon submission to the Department.
The Department stores credit card details only until the Industry standard charge back period has expired (currently 10 months).
Note: There is an inherent risk associated with the use of an insecure public network such as the World Wide Web. A user's transactions (including emails) may be viewed, intercepted, corrupted or modified by, or otherwise disclosed to, a third party. The Commonwealth cannot guarantee the security or integrity of any transaction over such a network, including personal or other private information transmitted via email to or from a Department email address (X@aff.gov.au). The Commonwealth is not liable in connection with the transmission of any such information (including as a result of negligence).If you prefer to use an alternative means of delivery, you can send the information via the Department's normal communications methods; i.e. mail, phone or fax. If you take this approach, please make it clear which part of the website you are responding to.
Cookies
The Department utilises cookies when you visit our site. A cookie is a piece of information that an Internet website sends to your browser when you access information at a site. Cookies give websites a sense of memory, allowing them to recognize one user from another. Most sites use them to do anything from counting the number of viewers they have, delivering tailored editorial content, or enabling website editors to identify which of their pages are most popular.
Despite common myths, the cookies sent to your PC cannot read your hard drive, obtain any information from your browser or command your computer to perform any action. They are designed so that they cannot be sent to, or be retrieved by, any other site. Upon receipt of the information from the Department site your browser also saves a Department cookie on your hard-disk. Each time you use your computer to access the Department website, the information that was previously received is sent back to the Department site by your browser, this enables us to identify the information that is most important to you and ensure it can be located effectively. Most commonly used browsers support the use of cookies.
You may refuse the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser, however please note that if you do this you may not be able to use the full functionality of some websites. For more information about cookies and instructions on how to adjust your browser settings to restrict or disable cookies, see the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner website or the Interactive Advertising Bureau website.
Clickstream data
the Department makes a record of your visit and logs the following information for statistical purposes: the user's Internet Protocol (IP) address, the date and time of the visit to the site, the web pages accessed and documents downloaded, the previous site visited, and the user' s web browser and operating system.
Google Analytics
In addition to web server logs, the Department website also uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. ('Google'). Reports obtained from Google Analytics are used to help improve the Department website.
Google Analytics uses 'cookies' to help analyse how users use the site. The information generated by the cookie about your use of the website (including your IP address) will be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States.
Google will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of our website, compiling reports on website activity for website operators and providing other services relating to website activity and internet usage. Google may transfer this information to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on Google's behalf. Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google.
By using the Department website, you consent to the processing of data about you by Google in the manner and for the purposes set out above. Please refer to Google's Privacy policy for further information.
Contact the Department Privacy Officer
Telephone: - Switchboard +61 2 6272 3933
Post: Australian Government Department of Agriculture GPO Box 858, Canberra ACT 2601
Email the Privacy Contact Officer.
External sites that are linked to or from the Department's website are not under the Department's control and you are advised to review their privacy statement