Privacy

When used in this privacy policy, the term “personal information” has the meaning given to it in the Privacy Act.

In general terms, it is any information that can be used to identify you and includes your name, address, telephone number, email address and profession or occupation.

If the information we collect identifies you, or your identity can be reasonably ascertained from it, we will treat information as personal information.

Depending on the context in which you deal with us, we may collect a range of personal information about you, including (but not limited to) the following types of personal information:

• name
• mailing or street address
• email address
• telephone contact number
• age or birth date
• profession, occupation or job title
• superannuation details
• Tax File Number
• Australian Business Number, and
• any additional information relating to you that you provide to us through our website or when you contact us or speak with one of our representatives.

Business information provided to us will not ordinarily fall within the definition of personal information under the Privacy Act but it may do so when the business information relates to sole traders and partnerships. Business information may also contain some personal information.

Where we collect information about your vaccination status or whether you are affected by a contagion, we will do so in accordance with the requirements of the Privacy Act. 

We will generally collect your personal information directly from you unless it is unreasonable or impracticable to do so. The ways in which we collect information may include, but is not limited to

• through your access and use of this website (arena.gov.au);
• through completing a form for attendance at an ARENA function;
• subscriptions to ARENAWIRE or other ARENA newsletters;
• during conversations between you and our representatives in telephone, by videoconference or in person;
• through written correspondence with you, including email;
• when you complete an application for funding or contact us with respect to potential funding; or
• as a part of our due diligence processes when considering your application for funding.
• through completing a form for any other purpose, including when you submit a complaint or use the contact form.

If you do not provide us with the personal information described above, some or all of the following may happen:

• we may not be able to consider an application for funding that you (or your related company or other entity) may make to us or correspond with you in relation to that application;
• we may not be able to provide you with information about the funding that may be available to you (or to your related company or other entity);
• if you lodge a complaint or make an allegation of misconduct but do not provide your contact details, we may be unable to contact you to keep you informed of the progress of our investigation (although we will nevertheless investigate your allegation to the extent we are able to do so); or
• we may be unable to tailor the content of our website to your preferences and your experience of our website may not be as enjoyable or useful.

In any other circumstance, we will explain the consequences of not providing us with the personal information in the relevant privacy notice.

We collect personal information about you so that we can perform our functions and activities.

We only use your personal information for the purposes for which you gave it to us and for the related purposes described below. Your personal information will not be added to a mailing list or used or disclosed for any other purpose without your consent.

We collect, hold, use and disclose your personal information for the following purposes:

• to consider and respond to any applications for funding in connection with a renewable energy project;
• to undertake or fund research and development in relation to renewable energy;
• to send communications requested by you;
• to answer enquiries, and provide information or advice about funding or grants that may be available to you (or to your related company or other entity);
• to assist other government agencies in performing their functions;
• to provide you with access to protected areas of our website;
• to assess the performance of our website and to improve the operation of our website;
• to conduct business processing functions;
• to comply with applicable health orders that are in place;
• to update our records and keep your contact details up to date;
• to process and respond to any complaint made by you;
• to publish information on funding and the contracts that we award, but only where we are required by law to do so; and
• to comply with any Australian law, rule, regulation, lawful and binding determination, decision or direction of a regulator, or in cooperation with any governmental authority of any country (or political subdivision of a country)
• to analyse how and where the public are engaging with the dissemination of knowledge relating to renewable energy.

Except as disclosed below or at the time of collection of personal information, we do not share information about you with other government agencies or organisations without your permission, unless it:

• is necessary to provide you with a service that you have requested;
• is required or authorised by law;
• is with our portfolio Department; or
• will prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to somebody’s health.

We may disclose your personal information to:

• our employees, contractors, consultants or service providers for the purposes of the operation of our website or to fulfil our functions (including considering applications for grants or funding);
• other government departments and agencies, government ministers and their staff and advisors, departmental consultants and other advisors, but only where disclosure is consistent with the purpose for which you provided the personal information;
• suppliers and other third parties with whom we have commercial relationships, for business, marketing, and related purposes where such disclosure is consistent with the purpose for which your personal information was provided;
• other third parties where required or permitted by law (such as in response to a Freedom of Information request or as part of a government investigation or independent commission of inquiry); and
• any other organisation or agency for any authorised purpose with your prior express consent.

The third party service providers that we engage may disclose your personal information to web hosting providers, IT systems administrators, spam filtering providers, mailing houses, couriers, payment processors, data entry service providers, electronic network administrators and professional advisors such as accountants, solicitors, business advisors and consultants.

Once we receive personal information from you, the information is maintained in a secure environment. Unless otherwise disclosed at the point of collection, your personal information will not be released unless the law permits it or your permission is granted.

We take reasonable steps to ensure your personal information is protected from misuse and loss and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. We may hold your information in either electronic or hard copy form. Personal information is destroyed or de-identified when no longer needed in accordance with the requirements of the Archives Act 1983 (Cth).

We use Google Analytics to collect information about how people use this website. The information we obtain from Google Analytics is used to help us understand users’ needs so that we can offer a better user experience.

Google Analytics uses ‘cookies’ to collect information about which pages you visit, how long you are on the site, how you got there (for example from a search engine, a link, an advertisement etc) and what you select. Information collected by the cookies (including your IP address) is transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States.

By using this website, you consent to the processing of data about you by Google in the manner described in Google’s Privacy Policy and for the purposes set out above.

You can opt out of Google Analytics if you disable or refuse the cookie, disable JavaScript, or use the opt-out service provided by Google.

By signing up to ARENAWIRE, you agree to receive emails from us. ARENAWIRE is the official email newsletter of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) and provides news and energy innovation stories. Signing up to this service is not mandatory.

Frequency
ARENAWIRE is distributed monthly but occasionally, special editions could be scheduled to communicate important energy sector news and stories.

Campaign Monitor
ARENA uses the Campaign Monitor service to distribute ARENAWIRE in your inbox and is bound by these terms of use

Personal Information
You have a right to correct any personal information that we hold that may not be correct.
If there is any personal information we hold about you that is incorrect, let us know via online@arena.gov.au and we will correct it.

Please refer to ‘What personal information do we collect and hold’ tab above.

We reserve the sole right to remove users without notice. We will do so with any user we deem registered with fake data.

Opt out
If you believe that you are receiving ARENAWIRE without consent please contact us to have your details removed online@arena.gov.au OR scroll to the bottom of the ARENAWIRE email you have received and click the “Unsubscribe from all ARENA emails” link.

By signing up to ARENA INSIGHTS, you agree to receive emails from us. ARENA INSIGHTS is a newsletter which shares knowledge and insights directly with renewable energy industry.

Frequency
ARENA INSIGHTS is distributed monthly but occasionally, special editions could be scheduled to communicate energy sector news and stories.

Campaign Monitor
ARENA uses the Campaign Monitor service to distribute ARENA INSIGHTS. We will provide your personal information to Campaign Monitor for the purpose of distributing ARENA INSIGHTS.

Cookies are pieces of information that a website can transfer to an individual’s computer. These can be used to help personalise a website, manage visitor sessions or collect website use data.

Most of our online platforms use sessions and cookies. ARENA uses cookies and other technologies to enhance your online experience. We use cookies to help collect website use and traffic data, record user access preferences and, if selected, to allow you to save your login details (‘Remember me’).

You can change your web browser settings to reject cookies or to prompt you each time a website wishes to add cookies to your browser. The core functionality on these platforms will be largely unaffected if you disable cookies in your browser but you may be unable to access some advanced functions, particularly on sites which require you to log in. No personal information is stored within ARENA’s websites cookies.

In spite of our efforts to reduce the impact, some functionality on the website may be affected by this.

We take reasonable steps to protect the personal information we hold against loss, unauthorised access, use, modification or disclosure, and against other misuse. These steps include password protection for accessing our IT system and securing paper files in locked cabinets. Access to your personal information held by us is restricted to authorised ARENA workers, on a need to know basis.

ARENA’s current records management system, network storages and virtual server environment are hosted by ARENA within Australia and Australian government recommended Five Eye Countries.

ARENA requires any contracted service providers engaged by ARENA to collect, process or store personal information to maintain appropriate security practices.

We take reasonable steps to ensure your personal information is protected from misuse and loss and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. We may hold your information in either electronic or hard copy form. Personal information is destroyed or de-identified when no longer needed.

However, as our website is linked to the internet, and the internet is inherently insecure, we cannot provide any assurance regarding the security of transmission of information you communicate to us. We also cannot guarantee that the information you supply will not be intercepted while being transmitted over the internet.

Accordingly, any personal information or other information which you transmit to us is transmitted at your own risk.

Our website may contain links to other websites operated by third parties. We make no representations or warranties in relation to the privacy practices of any third party website and we are not responsible for the privacy policies or the content of any third party website.

Third party websites are responsible for informing you about their own privacy practices.

You may request access to any personal information we hold about you at any time by contacting us using the details below. Where we hold information that you are entitled to access, we will try to provide you with suitable means of accessing it (such as by posting or emailing it to you). We will not charge you for providing the information to you, or for the costs of making any corrections to your personal information.

There may be instances where we cannot grant you access to the personal information we hold. For example, we may need to refuse access if we are required or authorised to refuse access under a Commonwealth Act of Parliament. If that happens, we will give you written notice of the reasons for the refusal within a reasonable period of our receipt of your request, together with information about how you can complain about our refusal if you wish to do so.

If you believe that personal information we hold about you is incorrect, incomplete or inaccurate, then you may request that we correct it. We will consider whether the information requires correction. If we do not agree that there are grounds for correcting your personal information, we will give you written notice of the reasons for the refusal within a reasonable period of our receipt of your request, together with information about how you can complain about our refusal if you wish to do so.

If you believe that your privacy has been breached, please contact us using the contact information below and provide details of the incident so that we can investigate it. We will treat your complaint confidentially and will investigate your complaint promptly. We will aim to ensure that we contact you and that your complaint is resolved within a reasonable time (and in any event within the time required by the Act, if applicable). Please refer to our web site for details of our complaint handling process.

We will accept anonymous complaints, though it can be difficult to conduct a full investigation without knowing the identity of a complainant. Complaints may be lodged by contacting us through any of the following:

• Read more: Making a complaint webpage
• Make a submission: Online complaint form

Information gathered in conducting an investigation may need to be shared internally with other Commonwealth entities and in certain instances the Police.

If you have any questions about this privacy policy, any concerns or a complaint regarding the treatment of your privacy or a possible breach of your privacy, you can contact us.

We may change this privacy policy from time to time. Any updated versions of this privacy policy will be posted on our website.

In accordance with the Privacy (Australian Government Agencies — Governance) APP Code 2017 (Privacy Code) requirements, ARENA undertakes Privacy Impact Assessments (PIA) to identify the impact that certain projects may have on the privacy of individuals.

• View the ARENA PIA register (PDF 9KB)