Privacy Policy

APN Newspapers Pty Ltd respects your right to privacy. We are sensitive to the concerns that our clients, customers and online users may have with regards to the confidentiality, security and use of their personal information, and would like to reassure you of our position on this matter. The purpose of this Privacy Statement is to tell you what type of information we collect, how we may use that information, whether we disclose it to anyone, and the opportunities you have to access and correct the information we hold.

We encourage you to check the APN Newspapers Pty Ltd Privacy Statement regularly as this Privacy Statement may change from time to time. If you have any suggestions or concerns that are not addressed in this Privacy Statement, please contact us.

Please take some time to read through this statement and understand our position on privacy, by clicking the links below:

Our commitment to privacy

Aside from the contents of this statement, the conduct of APN Newspapers Pty Ltd is governed by the Privacy Amendment (Private Sector) Act 2000 and in particular the following National Privacy Principles.

APN Newspapers Pty Ltd subscribes to the Privacy Standards of the Australian Press Council. For more information, please click here.

National Privacy Principles

Principle 1: Collection of information

Personal information will only be collected to the extent necessary, by lawful and fair means, and for specified purposes which are relevant to the operations of APN Newspapers Pty Ltd. When personal information is collected directly from the individual to whom it relates, the purpose of collection will be identified and it will only be collected with the person's consent.

Principle 2: Use and disclosure of information

Personal information will only be used for:
a) a purpose for which it was collected or for a reasonably expected related purpose;
b) the derivation of anonymous or aggregated information;
c) the prevention or lessening of a threat to the life or health of the individual concerned or another person;
d) purposes permitted, required or authorised by or under law;
e) the enforcement of the criminal law or of a law imposing a pecuniary penalty or for the protection of public revenue, where the use is reasonably necessary, or;
f) any other purpose, where the person concerned has consented to its use for that purpose.

Personal information will not be disclosed to a third party unless:
a) the person concerned has consented to the disclosure;
b) it is the usual practice of APN Newspapers Pty Ltd to pass information to a third party and the individual from whom the information was collected was notified of this practice at the time of collection;
c) there are reasonable grounds to believe that disclosure is necessary to prevent or lessen a threat to the life or health of the individual concerned or another person;
d) the disclosure is permitted, required or authorised by or under law; or
e) the disclosure is reasonably necessary for the enforcement of the criminal law or a law imposing a pecuniary penalty, or for the protection of public revenue.

Principle 3: Data quality

Prior to the use and disclosure of personal information, reasonable steps will be taken to ensure that personal information is relevant and to the extent necessary, accurate, complete and up to date for the purpose for which it is to be used.

Principle 4: Data security

Reasonable steps will be taken to protect personal information we hold against misuse and loss, against unauthorised access, alteration, destruction, and disclosure and all attempts will be made to destroy or de-identify personal information if it is no longer needed.

Principle 5: Openness

APN Newspapers Pty Ltd has clearly expressed policies on its management of personal information and these will continue to be readily available. APN Newspapers Pty Ltd will take reasonable steps to let individuals know, generally, what sort of personal information it holds, for what purposes, and how it collects, uses, and discloses that information.

Principle 6: Access and correction

Where APN Newspapers Pty Ltd holds personal information about an individual, it will provide the individual with access to the information on request, in a form or manner suitable to the individual's reasonable needs, except to the extent that:

a) providing access would pose a serious and imminent threat to the life or health of any individual; or
b) providing access would have an unreasonable impact upon the privacy of other individuals; or
c) the request for access is frivolous or vexatious; or
d) the information relates to existing or anticipated legal proceedings between APN Newspapers Pty Ltd and the individual, and the information would not be accessible by the process of discovery in those proceedings; or
e) providing access would reveal the intentions of APN Newspapers Pty Ltd in relation to negotiations with the individual in such a way as to prejudice those negotiations; or
f) providing access would be unlawful; or
g) denying access is specifically authorised by law; or
h) providing access would be likely to prejudice an investigation of possible unlawful activity; or
i) providing access would be likely to prejudice:
(i) the prevention, detection, investigation, prosecution or punishment of criminal offences; or
(ii) breaches of a law imposing a penalty or sanction
(iii) the enforcement of laws relating to the confiscation of the proceeds of crime;
(iv) the protection of the public revenue;
(v) the prevention, detection, investigation or remedying of seriously improper conduct; or
(v) preparation for, or conduct of, proceedings before any court or tribunal, or implementation of its orders; by or on behalf of an enforcement agency; or
(j) an enforcement agency performing a lawful security function asks APN Newspapers Pty Ltd not to provide access on the basis that providing access would be likely to cause damage to the national security of Australia.

Where providing access would reveal evaluative information generated within APN Newspapers Pty Ltd in connection with a commercially sensitive decision-making process, APN Newspapers Pty Ltd may give the individual an explanation for the decision, rather than direct access to the information.

Wherever direct access by the individual is impractical or inappropriate, APN Newspapers Pty Ltd and the individual should consider whether the use of mutually agreed intermediaries would allow sufficient access to meet the needs of both parties.

If APN Newspapers Pty Ltd levies charges for providing access to personal information, those charges:
a) will not be excessive; and
b) will not apply to lodging a request for access.

If APN Newspapers Pty Ltd holds personal information about an individual and the individual is able to establish that the information is not accurate, complete and up-to-date, APN Newspapers Pty Ltd will take reasonable steps to correct the information so that it is accurate, complete and up-to-date.

If the individual and APN Newspapers Pty Ltd disagree about whether the information is accurate, complete and up-to-date, and the individual asks APN Newspapers Pty Ltd to associate with the information a statement claiming that the information is not accurate, complete or up-to-date, APN Newspapers Pty Ltd will take reasonable steps to do so.

APN Newspapers Pty Ltd will provide reasons for denial of access or correction. .

Principle 7: Identifiers

APN Newspapers Pty Ltd will not adopt as its own identifier an identifier that has been assigned by a government agency (or by an agent of, or contractor to, a government agency acting in its capacity as agent or contractor).

Principle 8: Anonymity

Whenever it is lawful and practicable, individuals will have the option of not identifying themselves when dealing with APN Newspapers Pty Ltd.

Principle 9: Transborder data flows

APN Newspapers Pty Ltd will not transfer personal data outside Australia unless:
(a) APN Newspapers Pty Ltd reasonably believes that the recipient of the information is subject to a statute, binding scheme or contract which effectively upholds principles for fair information handling that are substantially similar to these rules; or
(b) the individual concerned consents to the transfer; or
(c) the transfer is necessary for the performance of a contract between the individual concerned and APN Newspapers Pty Ltd, or for the implementation of pre-contractual measures taken in respect to the individual's request; or
(d) the transfer is necessary for the conclusion or performance of a contract concluded in the interest of the individual concerned between APN NewspapersPty Ltd and a third party; or
(e) the transfer is for the benefit of the individual concerned; and
(i) it is not practicable to obtain the consent of the subject of the information to that transfer; and
(ii) if it were practicable to obtain such consent, the subject of the information would be likely to give it; or
(f) APN Newspapers Pty Ltd has taken reasonable steps to ensure that the information which it has transferred will not be collected, held, used or disclosed by the recipient of the information inconsistently with these rules.

What personal information do we collect?

Online Forms
When submitting information on our website, we will collect details such as your name, email and phone number. Some of this information is essential for us to be able to identify accurately who is using the service so that we may be able to respond to your requests and, as such, is indicated by mandatory fields. Mandatory information requirements are clearly identified and are denoted by an asterisk (*). You will also be prompted when submitting a form if mandatory data has not been completed. Other types of information are collected to help us provide better services. Information of this type is optional - you need only fill it in if you wish to do so.

In general, you may be asked to provide APN Newspapers Pty Ltd with personal information when you:

Send us your comments or suggestions
Report a technical problem
Request sales and advertising information

APN Newspapers Pty Ltd uses cookies on its website. Cookies are pieces of information that a website can transfer to an individual's computer hard drive for tracking user navigation and customising site information to further improve the user experience. Cookies can make using APN Newspapers Pty Ltd's website easier, for example by storing information about your preferences on a particular website. The use of cookies is an industry standard and you'll find most major websites use them. Typically, cookies involve the assigning of a unique number to the visitor and the information collected through cookies is on an aggregate and anonymous basis. One simple way to prevent the use of cookies it to activate the facility which is available in most web browsers that enables the user to deny or accept cookies.

We also collect personal information in the normal course of business including names, addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses. This information is collected through meetings, phone calls, letters, fax, email, as well as commercial agreements, documents and dealings. This information is subject to all the National Privacy Principles as summarised above and is only used for the purpose for which it was provided. Generally this is limited to the transaction of general business.

APN Newspapers Pty Ltd will not collect sensitive information revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, or details of health, disability or sexual activity or orientation unless:
a) the subject of the information has consented; or
b) the collection is required or specifically authorised by law; or
c) the collection is necessary to prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to the life or health of any individual, where the subject of the information is physically or legally incapable of giving consent; or
d) the collection is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of a legal claim. .

How we use your information

We will only record your e-mail address if you send us a message online. It will only be used for the purpose for which you have provided it, as outlined above and we will not disclose it without your consent. The information and feedback you provide through our website may be used to identify ways of improving the site and how we can make it more effective for your use.

All other personal information provided to APN Newspapers Pty Ltd is only used for the purpose for which it was collected except in the extreme cases outlined in Principle 2 of the National Privacy Principles above.

Is your personal information shared with anybody outside of APN Newspapers Pty Ltd?

Any personal information collected through the website is contained and access is restricted to the authorised personnel of APN Newspapers Pty Ltd and APN Holdings NZ Ltd who is responsible for the maintenance of the website.

Your information may be shared with third parties as explained below:

Related Bodies Corporate
We may share information about you with Related Bodies Corporate so we can provide you with the products and services you request and bring you information about products and services we offer.

Companies who provide Services to us
In some cases we contract with other companies or individuals to provide services for us. Examples of these may include deliveries, market research, public relations, debt collection agencies, legal advisors, auditors etc. We provide them only with such information about you as they need to perform their services and we impose strict requirements of security and confidentiality on them in how they handle your personal information. We make it very clear that they are not permitted to use information about you for any other purpose except to perform the services we have asked them to provide.

Credit Reporting
Credit information about you may be obtained from and provided to credit reporting agencies in accordance with applicable legislation.

All personal information supplied to APN Newspapers Pty Ltd is not shared with any other third parties unless explicitly and expressly communicated when you submit the information, without your explicit consent that any other personal information is passed on or used, or in the extreme cases outlined in Principle 2 of the National Privacy Principles above.

How secure is your information?

Any personal information that you submit to our website is held with the strictest confidence. This information is securely stored and access is restricted to authorised personnel of APN Newspapers Pty Ltd and APN Holdings NZ Ltd as descried above, ensuring that your personal information is protected and safeguarded. The information you submit to APN Newspapers Pty Ltd is used only for the purpose stipulated at the time that the information is collected. Any personal information supplied by other means will also be held in the strictest confidence. The information is securely stored and can only be accessed by authorised personnel of APN Newspapers Pty Ltd.

All personal information will be de-identified where possible.

Contact us

If you have any questions or comments on this Privacy Statement or the privacy policies of APN Newspapers Pty Ltd, if you would like access or correct your personal information, if you would like a hard copy of the Privacy Statement, or if you would like to make a complaint regarding your privacy, then please contact the Privacy Officer at:

Privacy Officer
APN Newspapers Pty Ltd
PO Box 8060
Maroochydore D.C. QLD 4558

Phone: 1300 130 590
Fax: (07) 5456 6924
Email: privacy@ssc.apn.com.au

Disclaimer

APN Newspapers Pty Ltd acknowledges that you will click-through to third party sites from our sites, and thus recommends that you refer to the privacy statement of the sites you visit. APN Newspapers Pty Ltd Privacy Statement is applicable for APN Newspapers Pty Ltd sites only and assumes no responsibility for information and content of third party sites.