Privacy

General privacy statement

The Centre for Medicinal Cannabis Research and Innovation website is maintained by the NSW Ministry of Health. This Privacy Policy applies to all the publicly accessible pages on the Centre for Medicinal Cannabis Research and Innovation site located at www.medicinalcannabis.nsw.gov.au. The NSW Ministry of Health does not have any responsibility for the privacy policies or practices of third party sites linked to the Centre for Medicinal Cannabis Research and Innovation site. If you have any questions about the Centre for Medicinal Cannabis Research and Innovation site, or the application of this Privacy Policy or a request for access to information held please contact:

Manager, Communications
NSW Ministry of Health
1 Reserve Road
ST LEONARDS NSW 2065

Tel: 02 9391 9000 Fax: 02 9391 9101

Users of the Centre for Medicinal Cannabis Research and Innovation site are entitled to expect that any information as a result of that use will be treated within the terms of the New South Wales Government's privacy responsibilities and obligations. The New South Wales government's privacy practices are regulated by the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1988 (NSW).

What information do we collect?

When you look at the pages on the Centre for Medicinal Cannabis Research and Innovation site, our computers automatically record information that identifies, for each page accessed:

  • the IP (Internet Protocol) address of the machine which has accessed it;
  • your top-level domain name (for example .com, .gov, .edu, .au, .uk etc.);
  • the address of your server;
  • the date and time of your visit to the site;
  • the pages accessed and documents downloaded;
  • the previous site visited; and
  • the type of browser and operating system you have used.

Only sessional cookies are used from the Centre for Medicinal Cannabis Research and Innovation site to collect information. This information is unable to be retained once the user session has ceased.

How do we use the information collected?

The information collected during each visit is aggregated with similar logged information and published in reports in order for the NSW Ministry of Health to identify patterns of usage of the site. This will assist us in improving the Centre for Medicinal Cannabis Research and Innovation site and the services it offers.

The NSW Ministry of Health will not disclose or publish information that identifies individual machines, or potentially identifies sub-groupings of addresses, without consent or otherwise in accordance with the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1988 (NSW).

What exceptions are there to this rule?

The NSW Ministry of Health will collect, use and disclose more extensive information than stated above in the following circumstances:

  • unauthorised attempts to access files which are not published Centre for Medicinal Cannabis Research and Innovation pages;
  • unauthorised tampering or interference with files published on the Centre for Medicinal Cannabis Research and Innovation site;
  • unauthorised attempts to index the contents of the Centre for Medicinal Cannabis Research and Innovation by other sites;
  • attempts to intercept messages of other users of the Centre for Medicinal Cannabis Research and Innovation site;
  • communications which are defamatory, abusive, vilify individuals or groups or which give rise to a suspicion that an offence is being committed; and
  • attempts to otherwise compromise the security of the web server, breach the laws of the State of New South Wales or Commonwealth of Australia, or interfere with the enjoyment of the Centre for Medicinal Cannabis Research and Innovation site by other users.

The NSW Ministry of Health reserves the right to make disclosures to relevant authorities where the use of the Centre for Medicinal Cannabis Research and Innovation site raises a suspicion that an offence is being, or has been, committed. In the event of an investigation, the NSW Ministry of Health will provide access to data to any law enforcement agency that may exercise a warrant to inspect our logs.

Is the information stored securely?

Yes. Information collected is stored in an appropriately secure format and held by the NSW Ministry of Health for archival purposes. When the information is no longer required for the purposes for which it was collected, it is deleted.

What will we do with information provided in Feedback?

The NSW Ministry of Health provides a feedback facility on the Centre for Medicinal Cannabis Research and Innovation site to allow users to provide input into the future development of the site and to comment on the provision of service by the NSW Ministry of Health.

The provision of personal details on feedback is optional. Users may provide personal details for the purpose of receiving a reply to their feedback. This information will only be used for the purpose for which it was provided. We will not add your email address or name to any mailing list. The NSW Ministry of Health may publish aggregated information about feedback on the site, to the extent that it does not identify or cannot be used to identify individual users.

Will this policy be updated over time?

Due to the developing nature of privacy principles for online communication, this policy may be modified or expanded in light of new developments or issues that may arise from time to time. The amended policy will be posted to this site and will operate from the time it is posted.

Privacy of patient information

NSW Health is committed to safeguarding the privacy of patient information, and has implemented measures to comply with its obligations under the Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002 (NSW).

More information regarding the privacy of patient information can be found in the Patient Privacy section of the NSW Health website.

If you have a general privacy enquiry or complaint regarding the NSW Ministry of Health, please contact:

Senior Privacy Officers
NSW Ministry of Health
Locked Bag 2030
St Leonards NSW 1590
Phone: (02) 9424 5925 or (02) 9391 9092
Email: MOH-Privacy@health.nsw.gov.au