Aim of the policy
This policy aims to ensure that all Council and committee meetings follow clear and standardised rules, promoting fairness and accountability in decision-making.
Have Your Say
We acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which we work and live, the Gathang-speaking people and pay our respects to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who now reside in the MidCoast Council area. We extend our respect to elders past and present, and to all future cultural-knowledge holders.
Contact us
Email: haveyoursay@midcoast.nsw.gov.au
General enquiries - (02)7955 7777
Open Monday - Friday 8.30am to 4.30pm (excluding public holidays)
Full contact information
Connect with us on social media
Our commitments to you
We deliver benefits for our community in a way that adds value and builds trust.
Why we are engaging
We are committed to engaging with our community in a meaningful way to support decision making, plan for projects, and to strengthen our communities.
By inviting your participation, we aim to create a sense of belonging, connection and involvement, and ultimately greater ownership of decisions by the whole community.
Have Your Say is our online tool for dynamic digital community engagement and provides an opportunity to stay informed and share what matters to you.
Privacy Policy
Privacy Policy
This site is owned and operated by MidCoast Council using software licensed from Social Pinpoint. For details on how MidCoast Council collects and protects your personal information, refer to its Privacy Policy below. For details of how Social Pinpoint may access personal information, please refer to Social Pinpoint’s Privacy Policy.
MidCoast Council takes the privacy of the participants using this site very seriously.
This privacy statement applies to Have Your Say MidCoast. For information about the broader collection and use of personal information by MidCoast Council, please refer to our Privacy Policy.
Council has duties to protect personal information and the privacy of individuals in accordance with the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 (“PPIPA”). In order to inform our Community of those obligations we have developed a Privacy Management Plan. Within that Plan there are 12 Information Protection Principles:Site visitor data
Have Your Say MidCoast collects information for statistical and system administration purposes. This includes:
- Your server (or IP) address
- Your rough geographic location
- The day and time you visited our site
- The pages that you access within Have Your Say MidCoast including how long you spend on each
- Your path through Have Your Say MidCoast (the arrangement of pages and other content that you visit)
- The operating system you use
- Any documents, images or videos that you download from the service
- The language of your browser
Have Your Say MidCoast will not attempt to identify individuals from the records the server automatically generates unless necessary to investigate a breach of law or regulation.
Member registration
If you are a registered user, we may, in addition to the above data and depending on the nature of the consultation, collect the following information:
- Full name, gender, post code, address, email address and age bracket
- Username and password for Have Your Say MidCoast
- Subscription by you to other (optional) electronic communications from us
- Topics about which you have indicated an interest in being informed.
User feedback
We collect information that you provide via the Have Your Say MidCoast feedback tools. This includes comments and votes in forums, stories, surveys, interactive maps, quick polls.
Social media
If you register or log in to Have Your Say MidCoast via Facebook we will verify your details with Facebook but will not store your Facebook account information.
Links
Our privacy statement does not apply to other websites we may link to. We recommend you read the relevant privacy statement when you access another site.
When you sign up for a user account you provide:
- publicly available information
- information available to both Have Your Say MidCoast and Social Pinpoint.
Publicly available information
Publicly available information is limited to your username and any comments you leave under that name in the forums or other feedback tools on Have Your Say MidCoast.
Content that you post on the site publicly, will be able to be viewed by everyone who uses the site. Each post will contain your username and may include quotes from participants in forums, surveys and other consultation tools.
Information available to both MidCoast Council and Social Pinpoint includes:
- information from the sign-up form
- survey responses, quick poll responses, map pins
- comments, questions, stories, guestbook posts
- general site activity such as document downloads, videos viewed, images viewed etc.
- information on the technology used to access the site.
Hosting
Regardless of whether you are a registered user, we will retain any communications that you send to us in accordance with MidCoast Council’s Records Management System and disposed of in accordance with current legislation. Your personal information can be accessed and corrected at any time by contacting MidCoast Council.
Where data in Google Analytics and HotJar is stored offsite, we ensure this is depersonalised and cannot be used to identify specific individuals. Where data and information are collected via the site’s servers and tools, this is managed through our data security protocols and processes.
Policy updates
We may update the content of this Privacy Policy from time to time for any reason. The updated version of the Privacy Policy will apply to you as soon as it is posted on the website.
We use the personal information about you to:
- administer the site and manage your account
- identify when you sign into your account
- send you newsletters and information, but only when you have agreed to us sending you this information or when the information is necessary to assist with the administration of the site
- respond to queries that you have contacted us about
- attribute content that you post on the site to you
- analyse use of the site to inform ongoing improvements and enhancements
- inform policy decisions by the MidCoast Council
- for any other purposes that we indicate to you when we request your personal information.
Content that you post on the site publicly, will be able to be viewed by everyone who uses the site. Each post will contain your username and may include quotes from participants in forums, surveys and other consultation tools.
Moderation
By monitoring this information that you provide, we are able to protect the integrity of the discussions from individuals and groups who may attempt to excessively effect the outcomes of a consultation process. For example, we check to ensure each user has a single email account. We also review the site to protect it from spam or trolls.
This information is analysed and interpreted by MidCoast Council staff and selected consultants to help inform the construction of improved projects, plans and policies.
Third Parties
We may also reveal personal information to third parties, and you consent to us disclosing your personal information, for the following purposes:
- consultants of MidCoast Council who perform various services for and on behalf of MidCoast Council.
- other local governments and State government departments, in accordance with the Privacy Policy.
Access and correction
Requests for access to and correction of documents containing personal information and held by MidCoast Council can be addressed to the:
MidCoast CouncilPO Box 482
Taree NSW 2430
Terms of Use
The following Terms and Conditions govern the use of Have Your Say (“the site”). The software platform is owned by Social Pinpoint Pty Ltd and operated by us, MidCoast Council.
By accessing and using this site, you are choosing to accept and comply with the Terms presented throughout this agreement as well as the Privacy Policy and Moderation Policy. These Terms apply to all visitors and users of this site. Linked sites, affiliated services or third party content or software have their own Terms that you must comply with. If you disagree with any of the Terms presented in this agreement, you may discontinue using the site immediately.
If you are under 18 years old, please ensure that your parent or guardian understands and accepts these Terms and Conditions (including the Privacy Policy and Moderation Policy).
What are the conditions with a user’s account?
While using the site, you must not violate any applicable laws and regulations. It is our duty to protect the confidentiality of content you provide on our site in accordance with our Privacy Policy. When you create an account with us, you must always provide us with accurate information. Failure to provide accurate information violates the Terms, which may result in immediate termination of your account on our service. You are responsible for protecting your own password you use for this site and for any activities done under that password. Unauthorised use of your password or account must be immediately reported to us. In some cases, we or our agents may require access to your user accounts to respond to technical issues.
We are not responsible for the content on the site that has been provided by the users of the site. Any content posted by you is subject to the rules of our Moderation Policy. Your contribution to the site may be edited, removed or not published if we consider it inappropriate (refer to Moderation Policy). Contributors should also be aware that their posts may remain online indefinitely. Where practical, you may choose not to identify yourself, deal with us on an anonymous basis or use a pseudonym.
What do we require from our users?
You must understand and agree that, without limitation:
- all information, data, images and other materials are the sole responsibility of the person from whom the content originated;
- you are prohibited from advertising or offering to sell or buy any goods and services
- you cannot transmit Content that contains software viruses or programs designed to change or destroy the functionality of any computer software or hardware; or
- you cannot collect or store personal data about other users of the site
- you cannot impersonate any person or entity, including without limitation to a MidCoast Council representative
- you cannot interrupt or interfere with the site or servers or networks connected to the site
- you cannot attempt to gain unauthorised access to the site or other use accounts
Can your account be suspended or terminated?
We may terminate or suspend access to your site and/or account immediately, without prior notice, including without limitation if you breach the Terms. We may immediately deactivate or delete your account and all the related files and information in your account. After your account has been terminated, the content you have posted may also remain indefinitely on the site.
If you want to terminate your own account, please send an email to haveyoursay@midcoast.nsw.gov.au.
Governing Law
These Terms shall be governed in accordance with the laws of NSW, Australia, without regards to its conflict of law provisions.
Indemnification
MidCoast Council, its subsidiaries, affiliates, officers, agents, licensors and other partners are not responsible for any loss, liability, claim, or demand, including legal fees, made by any third party due to or arising from a breach of this agreement and/or any breach of your representations and warranties set forth above.
What content do we own?
This website contains the copyrighted material, trademarks, patents, trade secrets and other proprietary information (“Intellectual Property”) of MidCoast Council and its suppliers and licensors. MidCoast Council owns and retains all proprietary rights in the intellectual property. All intellectual property in the content of this site including without limitation to text, software, source code, pages, documents and online graphics, photographs, sounds, audio, video and other interactive features are owned by or licensed to us.
Any original content that you submit or post on our site may be made available to the public and allows users to share your content (with the end user acknowledging your contribution) under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Australian License.
Except for Intellectual Property which is in the public domain or for which you have been given written permission, you may not copy, alter, transmit, sell, distribute any of the Intellectual Property on this site.
We are not responsible for your communications or dealings, including payment and delivery of goods or services, with a third party found via our website. Any loss or damage incurred from those communications or dealings are solely between the user and the third party.
Disclaimer and Warranties
Users must agree that you use of the site is at your own risk. We make no warranty that the site will meet your requirements or be uninterrupted or error-free. Any material that the user downloads through the site is done at their own risk and are responsible for any damages to their computer system or loss of data.
What happens if these Terms change?
We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to modify or replace these Terms at any time without notice. The most recent version of the Terms can be seen on this page. By continuing to access or use our site after those revisions become effective, you agree and will comply to the revised terms. If you do not agree to the revised terms, please discontinue using our site.
Contact Us
If you have any questions about these Terms, please contact us at haveyoursay@midcoast.nsw.gov.au.
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