Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

Your privacy is important to us. Sunwater Limited (ACN 131 034 985) and its subsidiaries (collectively referred to as Sunwater) are committed to protecting your privacy and complying with the Australian Privacy Principles contained in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act). 

Sunwater may modify or update this policy from time to time by publishing it on the Sunwater website. Sunwater encourages individuals to check the Sunwater website periodically to ensure that they are aware of Sunwater’s current Privacy Policy.

Where this policy refers to a party that may be either an individual or an organisation (such as our customers or service providers), the reference includes individuals who are employees, directors, or principals of an organisation or its associates.

2. Collecting personal information

Set out below are the main types of personal information collected by Sunwater and the main purposes for which it is collected.  If an individual chooses not to provide certain personal information to Sunwater, Sunwater may not be able to provide the individual with the services, information or other arrangement that he or she requires. 

Customers

Sunwater collects the personal information (for example, name and contact details) it needs to provide services  to its customers, personalise such services to meet its customers’ needs, provide information to its customers and to the general community about Sunwater’s services, engage in other dealings (such as property access arrangements and property transactions) associated with Sunwater’s business or infrastructure and to comply with the law.

Hardship

To support our customers if periods of hardship occur, Sunwater may collect information about our customer’s financial circumstances such as employment and income, assets and liabilities.  In certain circumstances, Sunwater may collect sensitive information such as health information, but only if it is relevant to assessing a customer’s financial situation and only where the individual consents to such collection.

Landowner and Occupier Information

Sunwater collects personal information (for example, name and contact details) about landowners and occupiers who are located near Sunwater’s infrastructure. Sunwater uses this information to contact these individuals in accordance with Sunwater’s Emergency Action Plans and other Sunwater business reasons e.g. access to property etc. 

Information Relating to Employees, Contractors and Job Applicants 

When an individual applies for a job or contract with Sunwater, Sunwater may collect certain personal information (including name, contact details, working history and relevant records checks) from the individual, from a recruitment consultant or from the individual’s previous employers and others who may be able to provide information to Sunwater. Sunwater uses this information to decide on whether or not to make the individual an offer of employment or engage the individual under a contract. 

Sunwater may also collect medical information in relation to a job applicant,  work-related injury or other work, health and safety matter directly from an individual or from medical practitioners, specialists, allied health professionals and/or rehabilitation providers, but only where the individual consents to such collection.   

This policy does not apply to acts and practices in relation to employee records of Sunwater’s current and former employees, which are exempt from the Privacy Act.

Information from Individuals Who Contact Sunwater

An individual may choose to provide Sunwater with his or her name or other contact details when he or she contacts Sunwater (whether by phone, mail, email, through the Sunwater website or otherwise). For example:

  • when an individual makes an enquiry using the Sunwater website, he or she will be asked to provide a name, email address, telephone number and other information
  • when an individual enters a competition hosted by Sunwater, he or she will be asked to provide his or her contact details and other information
  • when an individual submits a Right to Information application with Sunwater, certain information about the individual is made available to Sunwater, and
  • when an individual engages with Sunwater via social media, certain information about the individual is made available to Sunwater. 

Sunwater uses this information in order to assist the individual with his or her query or request. 

Information from Public Sources 

Sunwater may collect information about an individual from public sources, such as social media sites, in connection with the operation of its business

Information as Required or Permitted by Law

Sunwater may also collect information about an individual as required or permitted by law.

Information from Google Analytics

Sunwater uses Google Analytics (including display advertising) on our website to gather anonymous information about visitors to our website. When users visit our web pages, the browser automatically sends anonymous information to Google. Examples of the information include the web address of the page that is visited, an IP address, demographic information such as age and gender.

Sunwater uses this data to analyse the pages that users visit to improve their experience and continually improve user’s experience.

If users do not wish for Google to collect their information, they can opt out of Google Analytics.

3. Cookies and IP address tracking

A ‘cookie’ is a small data file transferred by a website to your computer’s hard drive. Sunwater sends cookies when you:

  • view pages on our website;
  • send a request to Sunwater; or
  • register yourself on our website for certain services.

The ‘cookie’ does not give us access to your personal information, but we may use the cookie to identify
your computer. There are two types of cookies; ‘session’ and ‘permanent’ cookies.

  • Session cookies – do not stay on your computer after you leave our website or close your browser.
  • Permanent cookies – remain on your computer. They are used to facilitate registration services.
  • Permanent cookies can be manually removed by the user.

Most browsers automatically accept cookies by default, but you can refuse cookies or selectively adjust your preferences in your browser. If you switch off cookies, there could be features of Sunwater’s website that may not be available to you. When you look at Sunwater’s website, our Internet Service Provider makes a record of your visit and logs the following information for statistical purposes only.

  • The user’s IP address
  • The user’s top level domain name (for example .com, .gov, .au, etc)
  • The date and time of visit to the website
  • The pages accessed and documents downloaded
  • The previous site visited
  • The type of browser used

No attempt is or will be made to identify users or their browsing activities outside this site. In the unlikely event of an investigation, a law enforcement agency may exercise a warrant to inspect activity logs.

4. How Personal Information is Used

In addition to the uses described above, the personal information you provide to Sunwater may be used.

(a) in accordance with your written consent

(b) for a number of purposes connected with our business operations, which include (without limitation), the following: –

  • Identifying you to assist with easier subscription to our website services.
  • Processing your orders or applications.
  • Providing you with products and/or services requested.
  • Dealing with requests, enquiries or complaints and other customer care related activities.
  • Helping Sunwater to better understand your needs.
  • Publishing prices and volumes traded via the site to provide information to water markets.

(c) otherwise in ways that you would expect such as to manage Sunwater’s corporate profile and as permitted or required by law.

5. Sharing your personal information

For the purposes described in this policy, Sunwater may disclose or receive personal information about you to/from the following parties:

  • Law enforcement agencies to assist in the prevention of criminal activities
  • Government agencies responsible for compliance matters or the investigation or resolution of disputes or complaints concerning use of Sunwater’s services
  • Emergency services and other entities such as disaster management groups who provide assistance during an emergency event.
  • Our employees, suppliers, service providers, contractors, professional advisors, dealers, agents and related companies for purposes that are related to providing you with a service that would be reasonably expected.
  • Anyone to whom Sunwater’s assets or business (or any part of it) is transferred or offered to be transferred.
  • As otherwise permitted or required by law.

We may disclose personal information to recipients outside of Australia. Such recipients are likely to be located in New Zealand, Canada, India, Singapore, the United Kingdom or the United States of America. We take reasonable steps to ensure such persons and organisations are bound to protect the privacy of that personal information. 

6. How Sunwater handles e-mail correspondence and feedback information

As a Government Owned Corporation, email correspondences sent to Sunwater’s website will be treated as a public record and will be retained as required by the Public Records Act 2002 (Qld) and other relevant regulations.

Your name and address details will not be added to a mailing list, nor will we disclose these details to a third party without your consent unless required by law. However, email messages may be monitored by our website support staff for system trouble shooting and maintenance purposes.

7. Security

Sunwater is committed to protecting the information you provide us. In support of this, all personal information collected is stored in a secure environment protected from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.

The  physical and managerial procedures implemented to safeguard the information we hold, includes:

  • Providing training and awareness to staff on the risks posed to information held by Sunwater
  • Access controls, such as unique, authenticated accounts restricted to authorised personnel
  • Restricting physical access to records and premises to authorised persons
  • Protecting our technology environment with appropriate security measures such as firewalls, encryption and scanning for malicious content.

Please note, however, that the internet is not a secure environment and although care is taken, Sunwater cannot guarantee the security of information provided via electronic means. 

Should we hold multiple records of your personal information, we do not link the multiple instances of your personal information together.

8. Access and correction and complaints handling

Sunwater takes all reasonable steps to ensure that the personal information we collect, use or disclose is accurate, complete, and up-to-date. If you wish to access or update your personal information, please contact Sunwater’s Privacy Contact Officer on the details set out below. We may deny your request in some circumstances. If we do this, we will tell you why. Please note that you may also make an application for access to or amendment of your personal information under the Information Privacy Act 2009 (Qld). See the Office of the Information Commissioner website for further information. 

When you request access, we may need to take measures to verify your identity. If you wish to make a complaint about the way we have handled your personal information (including if you think we have breached the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth)) you may do so to our Privacy Contact Officer in writing, by mail, email or fax to the address, email address or fax number set out at the end of this policy. When you contact us, please include your email address, name, address and telephone number and clearly describe your complaint. Our Privacy Contact Officer will investigate the complaint and respond to you promptly. If you consider that we have failed to resolve the complaint satisfactorily, you can make a complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner. 

9. Credit reporting

Sunwater may provide credit as stipulated in the Privacy Act to our customers in connection with the supply of goods and services. This section sets out how we manage your ‘credit information’ and ‘credit eligibility information’ where this is relevant to you and is our credit reporting policy for the purposes of the Privacy Act.

In addition to the information identified in Section 2 above Sunwater may collect and hold:

(a) the names and addresses of customers who are individuals to whom Sunwater provides credit

(b) the names and addresses of any individuals associated with corporate customers to whom Sunwater provides credit

(c) details of any arrangements between Sunwater and its individual customers for goods and services, including: –

  • the day on which the arrangement is entered into
  • the terms or conditions relating to payment of the account, and the amount
  • the day on which the arrangement is terminated
  • information about payments made by a customer, including any payment defaults, and
  • information relating to arrangements on which any such consumer credit is varied.

Sunwater obtains this information directly from you or during the course of its provision of goods and services to you or from third parties (where such collection is in accordance with the Privacy Act).

Sunwater stores and safeguards your credit information in the same manner as it does ‘personal information’ – see section 7 above.

Sunwater collects and holds your credit information and credit eligibility information in order to manage the credit that Sunwater provides. This includes, but is not limited to, future credit worthiness and suitability as a guarantor.

Should you wish to access or correct errors in any of your credit information or make a complaint, please contact Sunwater using the contact details in section 10 below.

Sunwater will take reasonable steps to resolve your complaint within 30 days of receiving it. Should Sunwater require additional time, we will notify you about the reasons for the delay and seek your agreement to extend the 30-day period.

Sunwater may disclose credit information or credit eligibility information to recipients outside of Australia. Such recipients are likely to be located in those countries set out in section 5 above and we take reasonable steps to ensure such persons and organisations are bound to protect the privacy of that credit information. 

10. Contact details

If you have further queries or would like more information about Sunwater’s privacy and security practices, please contact our Privacy Contact Officer during our business hours of 9:00am and 5:00pm Monday
to Friday:

Privacy contact services

Sunwater Information Services
Level 9, St Paul’s Terrace
Fortitude Valley Queensland 4006
PO Box 15536
City East Queensland 4002
Australia
Phone: +61 7 3120 0000
Fax: +61 7 3120 0260
E-mail: IMPrivacyRequests@Sunwater.com.au

Please note that Sunwater’s website provides links to external websites. However, we do not control these sites or the privacy practices of their operators. The privacy policies applicable to such sites may differ
substantially from this policy and Sunwater advises individuals to read those privacy policies before using those websites.

We do not endorse or make any representation about third party websites and Sunwater will not be liable for any use of those websites.