Privacy Policy

The Treaty Authority (‘we‘, ‘us‘ and ‘our‘) has the role of facilitating fair, effective and efficient dealings between the State of Victoria and First Peoples as they engage in treaty negotiations (‘Treaty Negotiations’). The Treaty Authority is established in accordance with the Advancing the Treaty Process with Aboriginal Victorians Act 2018 (Vic) and the Treaty Authority Agreement entered into pursuant to section 27 of that Act.

This Privacy Policy is designed to tell you what will happen to the information you provide to us, or our agents or contractors. Please be sure to read this entire Privacy Policy before using our website or submitting personal information to us or our agents or contractors.

The Treaty Authority is committed to protecting the privacy of personal information and complying with all applicable privacy laws (including the Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014 (Vic)) (‘Privacy Laws’).

This Privacy Policy should be read together with any other privacy statement, including any Collection Notice that we may provide to you when we collect your personal information.

Indigenous Data Sovereignty and Indigenous Data Governance

The Treaty Authority recognises First Peoples’ data as a valuable cultural resource that should be used to enable their self-determined priorities and aspirations, in line with their values and worldviews.

The Treaty Authority asserts the individual and collective rights of First Peoples to control, own, access, and possess information and knowledge that is about, connected to or may affect them.

The Treaty Authority upholds Australia’s Indigenous Data Sovereignty and Indigenous Data Governance Principles[1], as also described in the Treaty Authority’s First Peoples Data Sovereignty and Governance Framework. This Privacy Policy is subject to the Indigenous Data Sovereignty and Indigenous Data Governance principles to the extent possible having regard to applicable laws.

Personal Information

This Privacy Policy concerns any personal information or sensitive information of yours which is provided to us.

Personal information is information or an opinion (including information or an opinion forming part of a database), that is recorded in any form and whether true or not, about an individual whose identity is apparent, or can reasonably be ascertained, from the information or opinion.

Sensitive information is any personal information about an individual’s racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, membership of a political association, religious beliefs or affiliations, philosophical beliefs, membership of a professional or trade association, membership of a trade union, sexual preferences or practices, or criminal record. We will collect, use or disclose sensitive information about you only as allowed by law, for example where we have received your consent to do so or the collection is required by law.

Your consent

By providing us with your personal information (either directly, through others, or indirectly through your use of our website) you agree with the terms of this Privacy Policy and consent to the collection, use, and disclosure of that information in accordance with this Privacy Policy, any applicable Privacy Laws and any applicable Collection Notice.

How we collect your personal information

We collect personal information that is necessary for our activities and in order to carry out our functions. We may collect personal information in a number of ways, including:

directly from you, when you provide it to us or our agents or contractors, including when you contact us via telephone, email, our website or social media;

from publicly available resources;

by analysing our own records of your use of our website.

We also may collect your personal information when legally required to do so, including for the purposes of performing our functions.

What personal information do we collect and why?

The type of personal information we collect may include:

your biographical details, such as your name, date of birth, gender, occupation and racial or ethnic identification (including whether you identify as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander);

your contact details, such as your address, postcode, telephone number and email address;

information regarding your participation in, or connection to, Treaty Negotiations, including your relationship to any group participating in Treaty Negotiations;

information about how you use our website; and

other information from which you are identifiable or reasonably identifiable.

If we are not provided with the personal information that we request, we may not be able to respond to your request or provide assistance to you.

The personal information you provide us may be used for several purposes connected with our functions and activities, which include:

facilitating and overseeing Treaty Negotiations;

administering the Treaty Negotiation Framework;

providing for the resolution of disputes in, incidental to, or in connection with, Treaty negotiations, in accordance with the Treaty Negotiation Framework; and

carrying out research to support Treaty negotiations and the administration of the Treaty Negotiation Framework.

Your personal information may be used so that we, our agents and contractors can provide you with information about our activities, such as by way of direct mail, and, where you have opted in, by email, SMS and MMS, or to request your feedback. You always have the right to opt-out of receiving such information. You may exercise that right by contacting us as set out below.

We may also use your personal information for purposes related to those described above which would reasonably be expected by you.

We will not use your information for purposes other than those described above unless we have your consent or as required by law.

Sharing your personal information

We may disclose your personal information in certain circumstances, such as where we are required or authorised by law or where you have consented to us doing so. This includes (but is not limited to) the publication of information as required by the Treaty Negotiation Framework.

We also may disclose your personal information to:

others in accordance with a request made by you;

our related entities;

persons engaged in providing us with professional, business, technology and corporate services, when reasonably required.

When making such a disclosure we will take reasonable steps to ensure that the recipient is bound by privacy obligations.

Unless you consent, we otherwise will not disclose your personal information to third parties.

How personal information might be used in research

Your personal information may be used by the Treaty Authority in carrying out research to support Treaty negotiations and the administration of the Treaty Negotiation Framework. The findings or outcomes of that research may be shared publicly.

If your personal information is used to inform research carried out by the Treaty Authority, your personal information will be de-identified or made anonymous.Where personal information may be identifiable in any research publication of the Treaty Authority, we will seek your prior, informed consent for the publication of that personal information.

Research conducted by or for the Treaty Authority will uphold all applicable ethical standards, such as guided by the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Code of Ethics and the National Health and Medical Research Council National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research. These standards uphold principles of self-determination, leadership, value and impact, sustainability and accountability.

Does my personal information leave Australia?

We will only send your personal information outside Australia:

if we are authorised to do so by law;

for any of the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy (but only to parties that are subject to obligations in relation to personal information no less onerous than those in this Privacy Policy); or

if you have consented to us doing so.

Access and correction

You may request access to any of the personal information we hold about you by contacting us as specified below. We reserve the right to charge a reasonable fee for the costs of retrieval and supply of any requested information.

We will take all reasonable steps to ensure that the personal information we collect, use or disclose is accurate, complete and up to date. To ensure your personal information is accurate, please notify us of any errors or changes to your personal information and we will take appropriate steps to update or correct such information in our possession.

Storage and security

We will take all reasonable precautions to safeguard your personal information from loss and misuse, and from unauthorised access, modification, disclosure or destruction. We may store your information in hard copy and/or electronic formats.

We implement a range of physical and electronic security measures to protect the personal information that we hold. These measures include:

only allowing authorised personnel to access personal information;

keeping hard copy records in locked storage; and

password protecting access to digital records.

You should keep in mind that no internet transmission is ever completely secure or error-free. In particular, emails sent to or from this website may not be secure.

We will only keep your personal information for as long as it is necessary to do so for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law (such as accounting or other legal requirements).

We will destroy or de-identify personal information when it is no longer required for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy, unless we are otherwise required or authorised by law to retain that personal information.

Sensitive information

We acknowledge that the personal information you provide to us may include sensitive cultural knowledge or sensitive information that may need specific protection.

You can ask the Treaty Authority to manage the sensitive cultural knowledge or sensitive information that you provide in particular ways.

If you have questions or concerns about how your sensitive cultural knowledge or sensitive information is being managed by the Treaty Authority, we strongly encourage you to contact us at the details below.

Complaints

If you have any questions or concerns about our collection, use or disclosure of personal information, or if you believe we have not complied with this Privacy Policy or the Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014 (Vic), please contact us as set out below. Our Privacy Officer will investigate the complaint and determine whether a breach has occurred and what action, if any, to take.

The Treaty Authority takes any privacy complaint seriously and will aim to resolve it quickly and efficiently. Our target response time is 30 days.

The Treaty Authority expects our procedures will deal fairly and promptly with your complaint. However, if you remain dissatisfied, you can also lodge a formal complaint with the Office of the Victorian Information Commission (OVIC) (which is the primary regulator of the Victorian public sector’s collection, use and disclosure of personal information):

Address: PO Box 24274, Melbourne Vic 3001

Telephone: 1300 006 842 (international callers may call +61 3 8684 7565)

Email: [email protected]

Website: ovic.vic.gov.au

How to contact us

If you wish to exercise your right to opt-out of receiving our direct mail materials, or you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy or our information practices, please contact us at:

Privacy Officer

Treaty Authority

Email: [email protected]

Telephone: 1300 133 033

Address: Level 7, 51 Langridge Street, Collingwood Vic 3066

Changes to this Privacy Policy

Our Privacy Policy may change from time to time as updated on this website. Before providing us with personal information, please check this Privacy Policy on our website for any changes.

Treaty Authority Website Privacy Collection Statement

Passive information collection

As you navigate through this website, certain information may be passively collected (that is, gathered without you actively providing the information) through various technologies, such as cookies, internet tags or web beacons and navigational data collection.

Why we collect your personal information

The Treaty Authority (‘we’, ‘us’ and ‘our’) may use and combine such passively collected anonymous information to:

provide better services to website visitors;

customise the website based on your preferences;

compile and analyse statistics and trends; and

otherwise administer and improve the website for your use.

Such information is not combined with personally identifiable information collected elsewhere on the website unless you have consented.

Who will access your information

We may share your personal information with our contracted service providers that we use to perform services on our behalf. Any such providers will be required to agree to confidentiality and, where appropriate, relevant ethical obligations in respect of that information before they can access your personal information.

You are entitled to access any of your personal information collected and held by us.

Links to other websites

This website may contain links or references to other websites to which this Privacy Policy may not apply. You should check the privacy policies of those websites before providing your personal information to them.

Further information and contact us

Our Privacy Policy contains further information about how we handle personal information generally, including how you can contact us, seek access to or correct any personal information we hold about you, how you can make a privacy complaint and how we will deal with a privacy complaint.

Date

This Privacy Policy and Website Collection Notice was last updated on 30 August 2024.

[1] Maiam nayri Wingara Indigenous Data Sovereignty Principles 2018; Maiam nayri Wingara Indigenous Data Governance Principles 2023.