The purpose of this privacy policy is to:

• Clearly communicate the personal information handling practices of the AgriFutures Australia
• Enhance the transparency of AgriFutures Australia’s operations
• Give individuals a better and more complete understanding of the sort of personal information AgriFutures Australia holds, and the way we handle that information.

This privacy policy sets out how we comply with our obligations under the Privacy Act 1988 (Privacy Act). As an Australian Government agency, we are bound by the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) contained in the Privacy Act which regulate how government agencies collect, use, store and disclose personal information, and how individuals may access and correct personal information held about them.

Personal information

Personal information is defined in s 6(1) of the Privacy Act as ‘information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable:

• Whether the information or opinion is true or not, and
• Whether the information or opinion is recorded in a material form or not’.

What constitutes personal information will vary, depending on whether an individual can be identified or is reasonably identifiable in the particular circumstances. For example, personal information could include:

• A name or address
• Bank account details
• Photos or videos
• Information about an individual’s traits, their opinions or where they work.

We may collect and hold a variety of personal information, as included in the table below.

Why AgriFutures Australia collects your personal information

Where AgriFutures Australia collects and holds your personal information, it is collected and held for our business purposes, which are generally to provide services to you.

We collect and hold a broad range of personal information in records relating to:

• Individuals participating in programs and initiatives that we fund
• The management of contracts and funding agreements
• Individuals on our committees or participating in a meeting or consultation with us
• Correspondence from members of the public or organisations to us
• Complaints (including complaints relating to privacy) and feedback provided to us
• Requests made to us under the Freedom of Information Act 1982
• Requests for access to information we hold about you or other information about AgriFutures Australia’s operations
• The performance of our legislative and administrative functions
• Employment and personnel matters for our staff and contractors

We collect personal information for the following reasons:

• To co‑ordinate or fund R&D activities and other programs and initiatives in relation to the primary industries that AgriFutures Australia is responsible for;
• To monitor, evaluate and report to the Parliament, the Minister and its representative organisations on R&D activities that are co‑ordinated or funded, wholly or partly, by AgriFutures Australia; • to disseminate and commercialise, and facilitate the dissemination, adoption and commercialisation of, the results of R&D activities;
• To carry out marketing activities for the benefit of the primary industries that AgriFutures Australia is responsible for;
• To provide customer service support to stakeholders associated with AgriFutures Australia programs, events and/or platforms; and
• For our internal business purposes (for example, to prepare metrics and analytics on AgriFutures Australia’s portfolio of research projects, or to collect website usage and engagement information)

How AgriFutures Australia collects your personal information

We generally collect personal information from you when you communicate with us. We collect personal information through a variety of means including the use of forms (either electronic or hard copy), online portals, other electronic or paper correspondence (including emails and written correspondence) and, at times, verbal conversations or interviews. This may include, but is not limited to, the following means:

• Directly from you in the course of delivering AgriFutures Australia activities or programs;
• When you enter into any agreements with AgriFutures Australia, including Research Agreements or Provider Agreements in relation to AgriFutures Australia’s research activities, or Sponsorship and Exhibition Agreements in relation to AgriFutures Australia’s events and programs;
• When you submit emails or electronic forms to us (either in hard or soft copy) for matters such as signing up to newsletters and updates, registering as a participant for the evokeAG. conference, or registering as a promoter or user in relation to the growAG. website;
• When you attend a committee or panel meeting, or an event run by us;
• When you submit a request or query to us face-to face, in writing or by telephone; and
• Through the use of automated technologies or interactions such as clickstream data, Google Analytics, cookies, server logs and other similar technologies.

In many cases, when we collect your personal information, we will issue you with a collection notice explaining the purpose of the collection, the intended use of the personal information and to whom we may disclose it.

When we collect personal information about you, in the majority of cases, this will be information provided directly from you for the particular function or activity we are carrying out.

A copy of the AgriFutures Collection Notice can be found here.

Other entities that may collect your personal information on behalf of the corporation

As well as collecting personal information directly from you, we may also collect your personal information through other individuals or organisations acting our behalf, including those such as contracted service providers. If this occurs, such collection will be in accordance with the APPs.

We will take all reasonable steps to protect your personal information from loss, unauthorised access, use, modification or disclosure, and against other misuse.  Among other things, we take reasonable steps to safeguard our IT systems against unauthorised access, and ensure that paper-based files are secured. We also ensure that access to your personal information within our systems is only available to our staff that needs such access in order to do their work.

When the personal information that we collect is no longer required, we delete or destroy it in a secure manner, unless we are required to maintain it because of a law, or court or tribunal order.

This situation might arise where the Archives Act 1983 requires that we maintain your personal information because it is, or forms part of, a Commonwealth record. We are also required to maintain records for certain other purposes, including where the National Archives of Australia issues a disposal freeze in response to prominent or controversial issues or events. More information on current disposal freezes is available from the National Archives of Australia website.

Personal information held by third parties

Under the Privacy Act we are required to take measures to ensure that when your personal information is to be held by a third party, that the third party complies with the same privacy requirements applicable to the department.

We have privacy clauses in all of its legal documents, including funding contracts and deeds, services contracts and various other ad-hoc arrangements. This is to ensure third parties we deal with are required to handle personal information in accordance with the APPs.

Use and disclosure of your personal information

The purpose for collecting your personal information is important as it restricts how we can use and disclose your personal information, unless an exception in the Privacy Act applies.

Unless an exception applies, the corporation will:

• Only use or disclose your personal information for the primary purpose it was collected, and
• Notify you of this purpose at the time of collection, or as soon as practicable after collection.

We will only use or disclose your personal information for another purpose if you consent to that secondary purpose, or where you would reasonably expect us to use or disclose it for that secondary purpose (and the secondary purpose is related to the primary purpose).

AgriFutures Australia may disclose your personal information to a third party if the disclosure is necessary to prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to the life, health or safety of you or another person and it is unreasonable or impracticable to obtain your consent.

AgriFutures Australia may disclose your personal information to overseas recipients only in accordance with the Privacy Act. Overseas recipients are likely to be located in numerous countries.

AgriFutures Australia will not otherwise disclose your personal information without your consent unless required or authorised by law.

A privacy impact assessment is a systematic assessment of a project that identifies the impact that the project might have on the privacy of individuals. It sets out recommendations for how we will  manage, minimise or eliminate that impact.

Privacy Impact Assessment: Report 1

Privacy Impact Assessment: Report 2

Privacy Impact Assessment: Report 3

Privacy Impact Assessment: Report 4

Privacy Impact Assessment: Report 5

Privacy Impact Assessment: Report 6

Privacy Impact Assessment: Report 7

Privacy Impact Assessment: Report 8

Privacy Impact Assessment: Report 9

Privacy Impact Assessment: Report 10

Privacy Impact Assessment: Report 11

If you wish to make any comments or suggestions about the privacy policy, you can do so by contacting the Privacy Officer via:

AgriFutures Australia
Building 007
Tooma Way
Charles Sturt University
Locked Bag 588
Wagga Wagga NSW 2650
02 6923 6900
privacy@agrifutures.com.au
Any comments and/or suggestions will be reviewed and considered by our Privacy Officer.