Surveying and Planning through Electronic Applications and Referrals

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Privacy Statement

Introduction

The Victorian Government is committed to protecting information about you and enacted the Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014 to provide a statutory framework for privacy and to guide government departments in their personal information handling activities.

The Victorian Government values and protects the personal information it collects in the course of undertaking its responsibilities and continues to demonstrate a strong culture of protecting the confidentiality and privacy of clients and members of the community.

In some specific parts of the website, you may be required to submit information, documents or opinions in relation to a given planning or subdivision proposal (or application). In such cases, you may be asked to provide personal information in order to satisfy the requirements of the relevant Act. The Acts of Parliament of relevance are:

  • the Planning & Environment Act (1987)
  • the Subdivision Act (1988)

Collection of personal information and other information

The SPEAR website collects anonymous information through web servers. Information such as the number, date and timing of visits to the website and the pages of the website visited frequently is collected for statistical purposes only to assist us to improve our service.

This website also uses cookies and Google Analytics. These cookies do not collect personal information. They assist us to make your experience of our website easier and more efficient for you. For instance, if you choose to personalise this website, the cookies will enable the site to remember your preferred settings for your subsequent visits.

Where you are asked to supply personal information as part of an application, which may be made available to the public, you will be reminded at that time that such information could be made public. However, if you access other organisations' sites using a link from this web page, please note you will leave the SPEAR website and will be subject to the terms, conditions and circumstances of the site you visit, including the level of privacy protection offered on that site. The SPEAR privacy policy and protections will no longer apply once you leave this site.

Use of collected information

The information (both personal information you supply in the processing of an application and other anonymous information mentioned above) that is collected via the SPEAR website will not be used/disclosed for any purpose other than the purpose for which it is intended and as required by the relevant Act.

All information for any specific SPEAR application will be available to the following organisations as part of the application assessment process:

  1. The Responsible Authority at which the application was lodged.
  2. Any Referral Authority required to comment on a given application, as deemed by the relevant Responsible Authority.
  3. The relevant State Government department or body.
  4. Third parties, who are invited to view a given application by the Applicant Contact.

In addition, other entities may have access to the information within a given application, which is deemed to be active, as follows:

  1. The general public will have access to summaries of all applications lodged in SPEAR. This information includes details of:
    1. The address(es) of the property(s) associated with the application.
    2. The name of the Responsible Authority.
    3. The status of the application.
  2. The general public will have access to the following additional information for all applications requesting a planning permit:
    1. The name of the Applicant Contact person (which may or may not be the same as that of the Applicant or the Owner).
    2. Details of the proposed use of the property(s).
    3. Any specific type of supporting document that the relevant Responsible Authority determines should always be made available to the public.
  3. The general public will have access to the following additional information for all applications requesting a planning permit which the relevant Responsible Authority determines ought to be advertised.
    1. Any specific type of supporting document that the relevant Responsible Authority determines should always be made available to the public during the advertising period.
  4. The general public will have the ability to register with SPEAR, then make comment upon any application requesting a planning permit which the relevant Responsible Authority determines ought to be advertised. In such cases, these opinions may be viewed by all parties associated with the application (as defined in (1), (2) & (3) above).

Notes:
Where the Applicant Contact is not the Owner, the Applicant Contact is responsible for notifying the Owner regarding the SPEAR Privacy Statement agreement. It is important that the Applicant Contact be responsible for and understand that private information provided within the documents which they submit to SPEAR may be distributed to other 3rd parties.

Access to information about you

You have the right to access and correct information about you that is held in SPEAR. In most cases, this is performed by each user via the user's 'settings'. Any other requests for access will be administered through the Freedom of Information process as outlined here.

More information about the DTP Privacy Statement can be found here.