Privacy Policy

Policy

1. Policy Statement

Unitywater (we, us, our) is a statutory authority established under the South-East Queensland Water (Distribution and Retail) Act 2009 (Qld). We provide water and wastewater services to the Moreton Bay, Sunshine Coast and Noosa local authority areas.

We are committed to protecting the privacy of the Personal Information we collect and receive. Unitywater is committed to complying with the Information Privacy Act 2009 and the Information Privacy Principles.

2. Purpose and Objectives

Unitywater respects the integrity of the Personal Information provided to us.

The purpose of this document is to advise you how Unitywater collects, uses and discloses Personal Information and complies with its obligations under the Information Privacy Act 2009 and the eleven Information Privacy Principles.

3. Policy Scope/Coverage

This Policy applies to any individuals in respect of whom Unitywater currently holds, or may in the future collect, Personal Information.

4. Consent

By providing us with Personal Information, you consent to us collecting, using and disclosing that information (within and outside Australia) in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

5. What Personal Information do we collect and why do we need it?

5.1 General

In addition to any other purposes set out in this Privacy Policy, we collect and use Personal Information to:

process your inquiries
provide our products and services
provide information about our products and services
comply with our regulatory, contractual, insurance, governance and other legal obligations
assess any application you make for a position with us and, if you are successful, for the purposes of your employment with us
process payments
develop, test, maintain and repair our systems and processes
monitor security and criminal activity
monitor health, safety and wellbeing of people at our premises
assist Queensland Health with contact tracing
monitor attendance, performance and conduct of our personnel
protect and enforce our legal rights
protect and defend the rights of our employees and customers
carry out functions for which Unitywater is established or under any legislation, including but not limited to the South-East Queensland Water (Distribution and Retail Restructuring) Act 2009 (Qld), Planning Act 2016 (Qld), and Water Supply (Safety and Reliability) Act 2008 (Qld).

5.2 What information do we collect?

The Personal Information we collect may include your name, address, email address, any medical information you provide to us, telephone numbers, details of the number of people in your household, whether you are entitled to a pensioner or other discount, residential status and credit card (including expiry dates) and bank details.

6. How do we collect the Personal Information?

6.1 Generally

We aim to collect Personal Information directly from you. However, we may also collect:

from our Associated Third Parties
from debt collection agencies if you default in a payment to us
through our Website and any Social Networking Sites we utilise
from third parties
from publicly available sources of information, or
when we are required to do so by law.

If at any time you supply Personal Information to us about any other person, you represent and we accept that information solely on the basis that you are authorised to do so and that the relevant person has consented to the disclosure to us.

6.2 Cookies

A cookie is a message given to a web browser by a web server. The statistical information collected by cookies when you use our Website includes the:

user's server address
top level domain, e.g. .com, .gov, org, .com.au
date and time of the user's visit
pages and documents accessed
type of browser used
website visited before and after ours.

We also use cookies to track business processes if you transact business through our Website.

The information collected by cookies is generally anonymous. We do not use that information to try to identify users unless we are lawfully required to do so for investigation or law enforcement purposes.

6.3 Disclosing Personal Information

We may disclose your Personal Information to third parties in certain circumstances including:

if you agree to the disclosure
where required for our operational purposes
for the primary purpose for which it was collected, e.g. to provide you with products or services or to facilitate the provision of those products or services to you
to carry out any functions pursuant to or in connection with any legislation, including but not limited to the South-East Queensland Water (Distribution and Retail Restructuring) Act 2009 (Qld), Planning Act 2016 (Qld), or Water Supply (Safety and Reliability) Act 2008 (Qld)
to our Associated Third Parties
to The City of Moreton Bay, Sunshine Coast Council and Noosa Council in accordance with the Participation Agreement those Councils have entered into with Unitywater
to the Queensland Audit Office
where you would reasonably be expected to consent to information of that kind being passed to a third party
where disclosure is required or permitted by law, by court order or to investigate suspected fraud or other unlawful activity
to our Related Entities, or
if disclosure will prevent or lessen a serious or imminent threat to someone's life or health.

If we disclose any Personal Information to an Associated Third Party, we will take reasonable steps to ensure the Associated Third Party is bound to deal with any Personal Information in accordance with section 35 of the Information Privacy Act.

6.4 Marketing

We may use and disclose your Personal Information to provide you with information on offers, products and services offered by us, our Related Entities or Associated Third Parties.

If at any time you no longer wish to receive any additional marketing or survey material from us or do not want your information disclosed for direct marketing or survey purposes, contact our Privacy Officer and we will remove your details from our marketing database.

7. Storing Personal Information and security

7.1 Storage

Depending upon the purposes for which we have collected the Personal Information, we retain it in our record management system, payroll system, financial management system and electronic databases.

We retain Personal Information in paper or electronic media in accordance with the Public Records Act 2023 (Qld) and the general retention and disposal schedule issued by the Queensland State Archives. After that period we may, however, retain Personal Information for as long as is necessary to comply with any applicable law, for the prevention of fraud, for insurance and governance purposes, in our IT back-up, for the collection of any monies owed and to resolve disputes.

When the Personal Information we collect is no longer required, to the extent we can, we remove or de-identify the Personal Information.

7.2 Security

The steps we take to protect your Personal Information include electronic and physical security measures, information security policies and procedures, team member training and use of password protection software. Our employees are also bound by the Public Sector Ethics Act 1994 (Qld) and the principles under that Act.

While we take active steps to protect Personal Information we hold from misuse, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure, no system is completely secure against cyber attack. You should contact us immediately if you believe that someone has unlawfully gained access to your Personal Information or you consider that we have breached our privacy obligations to you in any way.

7.3 Third party websites

We are not responsible for the content, privacy or security practices or the content of any third-party websites accessed from our Website. You must therefore read the third party's privacy policy and satisfy yourself as to the content and appropriateness of that policy.

8. How you can update, correct or delete your Personal Information

8.1 Updating, accessing or deleting Personal Information

If any of your Personal Information changes or you believe it is inaccurate, please email Unitywater customer service or log into your MyAccount online to update your details.

You may request access to your Personal Information by contacting Unitywater customer service. For security purposes we will ask you to provide us with evidence of your identity before we make any disclosure.

Personal data can be deleted when there is no longer a legitimate reason to retain that data. A request to erase your personal data can be made by contacting Unitywater customer service.

8.2 Exclusions

The Information Privacy Act and the Right to Information Act 2009 (Qld) outline circumstances under which we may deny access to some or all of your Personal Information. In such cases, we will give reasons for our decision.

Access may be denied where Personal Information:

relates to a disclosure or an investigation under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 2010 (Qld) or the Crime and Corruption Act 2001 (Qld)
relates to situations where the authority to collect, use, store or disclose the Personal Information has an overriding statutory base, or
is contained in generally-available publications such as annual reports, the Queensland Government Gazette, newspapers, newsletters, books or magazines.

9. Changes to our Privacy Policy

Periodically we may review this Privacy Policy and amend it to reflect changes in the law, advice from the Information Commissioner or to reflect changes in our procedures. Once amended, we will post the updated Privacy Policy on our Website.

You should review our Privacy Policy whenever you access our Website or provide us with Personal Information. Upon request, our Privacy Officer will also provide you with a copy of our Privacy Policy.

10. Contact information

You should contact Unitywater customer service if:

you would like any further information on our Privacy Policy or our handling of Personal Information
you have a privacy related complaint
you have any concerns over the protection of the Personal Information you have given to us or that we have collected from others
you wish to apply for access to your Personal Information or to amend your Personal Information
you believe someone has gained access to your Personal Information, or
we have breached our privacy obligations or your privacy rights in any way.

10.1 Contact Details

Unitywater customer service:

Email: customer.service@unitywater.com Phone: 1300 086 489

Unitywater Privacy Officer's contact details are:

Information Privacy Officer PO Box 953, Caboolture Queensland 4510

If you do not consider that we have dealt with your request satisfactorily, you may make a privacy complaint to the Office of the Information Commissioner at:

Mail: PO Box 10143, Adelaide Street, Brisbane, Queensland 4001 Email: administration@oic.qld.gov.au Telephone: (07) 3405 1111

11. Roles and Responsibilities

Position title	Roles and responsibilities
Chief Financial Officer	As Document Owner responsible for: Conducting and/or delegating regular reviews to ensure this policy and related resources (e.g. procedures, forms, website content) remain fit for purpose, consistent and current. Approving this policy for publication. Ensuring all relevant stakeholders and team members have been consulted and feedback is captured and actioned (where applicable). Ensuring appropriate communication and/or training is provided to relevant team members when implementing a new, amended or obsolete document (where applicable). Monitoring compliance with internal/external requirements (e.g. monitor legislation changes and assess/update this policy when required).
Team members	Working in accordance with this policy. Advising the Document Owner if this policy is not consistent with current practices. Where possible, minimise printing and/or avoid creating duplicate copies of this policy. Ensure current versions are sourced from the Document Centre.

Position title

Roles and responsibilities

Chief Financial Officer

As Document Owner responsible for:
- Conducting and/or delegating regular reviews to ensure this policy and related resources (e.g. procedures, forms, website content) remain fit for purpose, consistent and current.
- Approving this policy for publication.
- Ensuring all relevant stakeholders and team members have been consulted and feedback is captured and actioned (where applicable).
- Ensuring appropriate communication and/or training is provided to relevant team members when implementing a new, amended or obsolete document (where applicable).
- Monitoring compliance with internal/external requirements (e.g. monitor legislation changes and assess/update this policy when required).

Team members

Working in accordance with this policy.
Advising the Document Owner if this policy is not consistent with current practices.
Where possible, minimise printing and/or avoid creating duplicate copies of this policy. Ensure current versions are sourced from the Document Centre.

12. Definitions

The meaning of any general language is not restricted by any accompanying example and the words ‘includes’, ‘including’, ‘such as’, ‘for example’ or similar words are not words of limitation.

Term	Meaning
Associated Third Parties	individuals, companies and other entities with whom we work to provide products and services (for example, companies offering products related to our services, plumbers or other service providers).
Information Privacy Act	the Information Privacy Act 2009 (Qld).
IPP	the Information Privacy Principles under Schedule 3 of the Information Privacy Act.
Personal Information	‘information or an opinion, including information or an opinion forming part of a database, whether true or not, and whether recorded in a material form or not, about an individual whose identity is apparent, or can reasonably be ascertained, from the information or opinion’ (section 12 Information Privacy Act).
Privacy Policy	this document, as amended from time to time.
Related Entities	has the same meaning as under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth).
Social Networking Site	any social networking sites operated or utilised by us.
Website	www.unitywater.com