The following privacy statement by the Australian Education Union is in response to the requirements of the Privacy Act (Cwth)1998 and the Information Privacy Act (Vic) 2000.

Application and Ownership

This privacy statement applies to the web site known as the Australian Education Union Federal Office web site, with a home page address of http://www.aeufederal.org.au. The Australian Education Union is the sole owner of the information collected on this web site.

Purpose of the Privacy Statement

The purpose of this statement is to let you know what information is collected about you when you visit the Australian Education Union web site, how this information is used, to whom it is disclosed, and your ability to have any incorrect personal information amended.

Our goal is to provide you with a satisfying experience while allowing you to control your privacy and to give you a means to voice any questions or concerns you may have.

This statement has been prepared in accordance with the Privacy Act (Cwth)1998 and the Information Privacy Act (Vic) 2000.

Commitment to Privacy

The Australian Education Union is strongly committed to protecting your privacy while interacting with our site.

Information is collected from you primarily to make it easier and more rewarding for you to use our services. Depending on the service you are accessing, you could be asked to provide information such as your name, email address, address, phone number etc. It is entirely your choice whether to respond to these questions or not.

The Information Collected

The Australian Education Union web site collects two types of information.

The first type is anonymous information. The web server makes a record of your visit and logs the following information for statistical purposes

* the user's server address,
* the user's top level domain name (eg. com, .gov, .net, au, etc.),
* the date and time of the visit to the site,
* the pages accessed and documents downloaded,
* the previous site visited, and
* the type of browser used.

No attempt will be made to identify users or their browsing activities except, in the unlikely event of an investigation, where a law enforcement agency may exercise a warrant to inspect the internet service provider's logs. The second type of information that the Australian Education Union web site collects is personal information. Personal information is requested in order to provide personalised and enhanced services that are not available to anonymous users.

Personal information requested in this site includes:

Email Address

We will only record your e-mail address if you send us a message, subscribe to an email newsletter, or complete an online form. If subscribing to an email newsletter you may "unsubscribe" at any time from the newsletter mailing list. Email addresses will not be added to any other mailing lists. We will not disclose your e-mail address without your consent unless required to by law.

Physical Address, Phone Number etc

This information may be requested on various forms within the site to enable the Australian Education Union to communicate with you by mail and phone. We will not collect or solicit personal information via this site which would be unlawful, unnecessary or unrelated to the functions or activities of the Australian Education Union web site, or unfair or unreasonably intrusive.

Discussion Groups

When interacting with the Australian Education Union web site, using applications such as the discussion groups, we suggest that you use your discretion and exercise caution when providing your personal information.

Note that whenever you post personal information in publicly accessible places, such as on discussion groups, this information becomes available to anyone with access to the internet. If you post personal information online that is accessible to the public, you may receive unsolicited messages from other parties in return. Therefore, we recommend that you refrain from posting any information that you do not want seen in these public areas.

Use of Cookies

A cookie is a piece of data stored on the user's computer tied to information about the user. Cookies are not used on this site.

How information is Used

We will only use the personal information you have chosen to provide us for the purpose for which you provided it. We will not use it for any other purpose without your consent.

We will only publish personal information on this site if it has been collected for this purpose with your knowledge or if you have consented to the disclosure. You should be aware that information published on this site (in areas such as the dicussion groups) is accessible to millions of users from all over the world and may be indexed by search engines. It may also be copied and used by any web user. This means that, once the information is published on this site, we will have no control over its subsequent use and disclosure.

Under no circumstances will the Australian Education Union sell or receive payment for licensing or disclosing your personal information.

Commitment to Data Security

We will take reasonable steps to ensure that all information we collect, use or disclose is accurate, complete, up-to-date and stored in a secure environment accessed only by authorised persons.

Unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. While we strive to protect your personal information from misuse, loss and unauthorised access, we cannot guarantee the security of any information you transmit to us or receive from our web site. These activities are conducted at your own risk. Once we receive your transmission, we make our best effort to ensure its security.

How Users can Access and Correct their Personal Information

If the Australian Education Union web site holds your personal information the Union will where possible provide you with access to the information. We will take reasonable steps to correct the information so that it is accurate, complete and up to date.

To request any corrections please contact Susan Hopgood, General Secretary at aeu@aeufederal.org.au or, contact us by telephone or postal mail at the contact information listed below.

Links to other sites

This Privacy Statement applies only to the Australian Education Union web site and not to other companies' or organisations' web sites to which it is linked, including web sites of branches and associated bodies. We encourage you to read the privacy statements of each and every web site that collects personally identifiable information.

How to Contact Us

If you have any questions or suggestions regarding our privacy policy, please contact the Australian Education Union at:

Tel: (03) 9693 1800
Fax: (03) 9693 1805
Email: aeu@aeufederal.org.au