Privacy

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Privacy

Victoria Legal Aid (VLA) is committed to protecting the privacy of your personal information. Your privacy is protected by the Information Privacy Act (Vic) 2000 and the Health Records Act (Vic) 2001. Our policies and processes for dealing with privacy matters are formulated to comply with the ten information privacy principles.

Website privacy

You can access VLA's home page and browse our web site anonymously, without disclosing your personal information. Note VLA's privacy statement does not apply to linked websites, however we do not link knowingly to sites that are privacy-invasive. When you link to another site, we recommend you read the privacy statement of that site to familiarise yourself with its privacy policy.

Collection and use of personal data

VLA is committed to protecting the privacy of your personal information. The VLA site does not collect or record personal information, other than information you choose to provide though our enquiries and email addresses. VLA staff use personal information collected from emails to respond to individuals and discuss their particular enquiries. Email addresses and any other contact details you provide will not be added to a mailing list without your consent. 

Access and correction of personal information

Where VLA holds personal information about a person, the person can gain access to and seek correction of that information by:

  1. Telephoning the Privacy Officer at VLA's Melbourne office on 03 9269 0234
  2. Writing to the Privacy Officer, 350 Queen Street, Melbourne 3000

The request may be handled under the Freedom of Information Act 1982. If the Freedom of Information Act is not applicable, VLA will examine whether access can be given under IPP6, the access principle under the Information Privacy Act.

You can also contact the Privacy Commissioner on 1300 666 444, send an email to enquiries@privacy.vic.gov.au or visit the Privacy Victoria website.

Disclosure

We will not disclose your personal information to a third party without your consent, unless we are required or authorised to do so by law or other regulation. In the event of an investigation into suspected unlawful or improper activity, a law enforcement agency or government agency may exercise its legal authority to inspect the web server's records (e.g. in relation to hacking or abusive messages). 

Collection and use of site visit data

We do use cookies on our site. A cookie is a block of data that is shared between a web server and a user's browser. Cookies give the server information about a user's identity and website visiting patterns and preferences. You can find more information about cookies on sites such as Cookie Central.

The following non-personal information (i.e. clickstream data) is automatically recorded by this site's web server for statistical and system administration purposes only: 

  • your server address 
  • your top level domain name (for example. .com, .au, .gov) 
  • the date and the time of your visit to the site 
  • the pages you accessed and downloaded 
  • the address of the last site you visited 
  • your operating system 
  • the type of browser you are using.

To the extent that this data could make you identifiable, VLA will not attempt to identify individuals from the records the server automatically generates unless it is necessary to investigate a breach of law or regulation. 

The site also uses web beacons. Web beacons, also referred to as a web bug, pixel tag or clear gif are used in combination with cookies to monitor and collect user data such as IP address, session time and type of browser used while visiting the site. 

Transmission of personal information

This website does not provide security for the transmission of your personal information.

Currently personal information, relating to ordering publications and booking seminars, is sent by email directly to a staff member in the Online Services section at VLA. Staff outside this section do not use the information. VLA is confident that this information is being managed securely. VLA does not currently have the technology to secure information beyond this.

The Managing Director and employees of VLA have a statutory duty to deal with your personal information confidentially (Legal Aid Act section 43). However, you should be aware that there are risks in transmitting information across the Internet. If you are concerned about sending private material to VLA over the Internet, you might prefer to contact us by phoning (03) 9269 0234. 

Clarification about this site

If you wish to clarify anything about this site, have concerns regarding your privacy, or our copyright or disclaimer policies, please contact us on (03) 9269 0234.

Please note that our privacy statement does not extend beyond this site.