Council collects and manages personal information to provide services to the community and to conduct local government functions. The community provides personal information such as name and contact details in order to access services, ask for help, make payments and provide feedback.

Personal information, as defined in the Information Act means “Council information from which a person’s identity is apparent or is reasonably able to be ascertained.” This may include:

• Your name;
• Your date of birth;
• Your address or location at this time;
• Your email address;
• Your telephone number;
• A recording of your telephone call with us;
• Details about your interaction with us;
• Details of your account payable
• Your payment details
• Employment details

Council manage personal information in accordance with the Information Privacy Principles (IPP) of the Information Act. The IPPs are a roadmap for lawful and secure collection, storage, use and disclosure of personal information by Council. We also manage personal information in accordance with the Local Government Act, which requires us to protect our Elected Members and staff from undue intrusion into their private affairs. Please refer our list of Council policies

As part of the #SmartDarwin plan, Council will take additional measures to ensure that Council’s use of technologies not only meets the requirements of the Information Act, but meets best practice. This includes the completion of Privacy Impact Assessments for technologies that involve the collection and handling of personal information.

How we manage personal information

Collection

When we ask you for personal information, it is because we need it to fulfil our business functions; for example, to complete your request, issue a library card or some other permission, or record a payment.

There are a number of ways we may collect your personal information. We generally collect it by asking you directly, but we may also collect it on application forms, statutory declarations and through written or verbal correspondence. Sometimes we might receive your personal information from someone other than you, such as a government body.

It is our preference not to have personal information about you if we don’t need it; therefore, it is our practice to delete or return to you any unsolicited personal information.

Use and Disclosure

We use your personal information in a number of ways, including:

• Maintaining municipal records (e.g. rates assessment records);
• Providing you with information you have asked for;
• Determining and providing the appropriate facilities to meet your needs;
• Dealing with applications and other Council processes (e.g. animal ownership and parking controls); and
• Managing employment applications and recruitment matters.

From time to time, we engage Contracted Service Providers to manage personal information on our behalf. Such circumstances require a strong contractual arrangement where privacy and information security obligations are outlined.

We take reasonable steps not to disclose your personal information outside of Council. However, there are limited occasions where we may disclose your personal information outside of Council; for example, where we have asked you (and you have consented), if there is a court order or if another law requires us to.

If you are concerned about the possible publication of your personal information, please contact Council at the details below for assistance.

Security

We take various physical, technical and administrative steps to ensure your personal information is protected from unauthorised access, use, loss, modification, disclosure or any other misuse. For instance, only authorised staff are allowed access to Council offices and files (and only for limited and specific purposes); our electronic systems apply role-based access and other system-specific controls; and, we apply a series of policies and procedures that are designed to keep personal information safe.

If you are concerned about the security of your personal information, or if you feel that your personal information held by Council has been compromised, please be in touch with Council at the details below.

Seeking access to and correction of personal information

We support your right to access the personal information we hold about you, subject to some limited exceptions in the Information Act.

If you believe the personal information we hold about you is inaccurate, out of date or misleading, please let us know. We will generally be able to correct this for you. In some cases, a correction request may require us to refer to a specific process set out in law other than the Information Act.

Please make your request for access to or correction of (your own) personal information in writing at the details below. You will be asked to provide suitable documentation to verify your identity before your request is processed.

Making a privacy complaint

You have a right to complain to Council if you feel we have handled your personal information in a way that interferes with your privacy; for example, if you feel we have failed to collect and manage your personal information in accordance with the IPPs of the Information Act.

We accept privacy complaints in writing at the details below.

To ensure that your complaint can be actioned, please provide as much detail as possible about the nature of your concern; for example,

• Whether you are complaining about collection, security, use or disclosure of your personal information (or a combination of these);
• The particulars of the concern, such as date, time, the information involved, or a specific incident;
• The detriment you feel you have experienced as a result of the interference; and
• Any other information that you feel will assist us in reviewing and addressing your complaint.

Please note: a failure of Council to provide access to or correction of (your own) personal information in accordance with the IPPs is also something you may complain about.

We will make every effort to acknowledge your complaint within 5 days of receiving it, and to provide you with a response within 30 calendar days. If we need more time to deal with your complaint, we will tell you this in writing.

If you are unhappy with our response to your complaint, you can ask us to review it or you can make a complaint to the Office of the Information Commissioner. The complaints process for that Office is detailed online at https://infocomm.nt.gov.au/complaints-and-appeals/overview or, alternatively, you can contact them as follows:

Office of the Information Commissioner (NT)

Level 12

22 Mitchell Street,

Darwin NT 0800

Phone: 08 8999 1500

Free call: 1800 005 610

Fax: 08 8999 1828

Email: infocomm@nt.gov.au

To find out more about how we manage personal information, to make an access/ correction request or make a privacy complaint, please contact the Information Officer as follows:

Privacy Champion

City of Darwin

Civic Centre

Harry Chan Avenue

Darwin NT 0800

Mail: GPO Box 84, Darwin NT 0801

Phone: 08 8930 0300

Fax: 08 8930 0311

Email: darwin@darwin.nt.gov.au

If you are requesting access to information, please use this Application Form.

If you are requesting correction of (your own) personal information, please use this Correction Request Form.