Ausconnex Privacy Policy

Ausconnex supports economic and community growth through the delivery of electrical infrastructure services and equipment. We do this by providing unrivalled expertise through our team’s proven capability in design, construction, maintenance, equipment supply, and consulting services. Our quality focused delivery centres around proactive and collaborative relationships between us and our clients.
Ausconnex is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Endeavour Energy Group which is 50.4% owned by a consortium of private investors. The remaining 49.6% is owned by the Government of NSW. With the support of the partnership structure, Ausconnex has unmatched ability to plan and deliver large scale energy connections to distribution networks nation-wide.
At Ausconnex we are committed to protecting the privacy of our customers, our business contacts and our staff. When we collect and handle personal information, we do so in accordance with Australian privacy laws. These laws protect the privacy of personal information we hold on customers, our staff (other than information that forms part of an employee record) and other individuals with whom we deal.
Ausconnex is bound by the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs). The APPs are set out in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (the Privacy Act) and govern how organisations handle personal information.

 

What personal information do we collect and hold?

Personal details

We collect and hold a range of personal information that is reasonably necessary for the purpose of supplying customers with our services and products. The kinds of personal information we collect for this purpose may include your name, contact information (including your address and telephone numbers) and your requirements for our services and products. We may also collect images of you via CCTV cameras if you visit our premises.
In the case of businesses acquiring our products or services, we usually also collect the name, title and contact details of a contact person in the business.

Projects and customer surveys

As part of our commitment to develop new products and services to meet the needs of our customers, we may undertake projects and pilot studies relating to energy efficiency, demand management and/or smart electricity grid activities. From time to time we may also undertake customer and business surveys to collect statistics about our customers for research and product development purposes.

Sensitive information

Generally, we will not collect sensitive information about you, such as details of your race, political beliefs, religion or health. We will only collect and use such information (if any) for the purposes you have provided your consent.

Non-customer information

Sometimes, we also need to collect personal information about individuals who are not customers. This need will usually arise where we collect the name and business contact details of a person who is the contact in the company or a government agency with which we deal. Our policy is to use personal information collected from non-customers only as permitted under the Privacy Act.

Credit information

Occasionally, we also collect, use and disclose personal credit information or related business credit information about our customers.

Staff information

We also collect information about our staff. There is an exemption under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) for “employee records” held in relation to current or former staff. Therefore, personal information about staff that is an “employee record” is not dealt with in this policy. However, we may hold other types of personal information about staff, which we may use for purposes related to corporate reporting.

Web usage information

When you visit our website, we may collect additional information about your use of the website, which may or may not identify you. For instance, we may collect information about which pages you visit on the website to help us determine which parts of the site you value, so that we can build and develop our website to best meet customer needs. We may also collect information about your internet browser and operating system, the address of the referring site, your internet protocol address and clickstream information. This information helps us to understand how you came to find our website and may also be used for targeted communication of our public safety campaigns.

How do we collect and hold your personal information?

Direct collection of personal information

We generally collect your personal information directly from you. For example, we may collect personal information about you when you deal with us over the telephone, send us correspondence (whether by letter or email), when you have contact with us in person or when you complete a form on our website. If we do not obtain the information requested, we may not be able to provide you with the products or services requested or fulfil another applicable purpose of collection.

Indirect collection of personal information

There may be occasions when we need to obtain personal information about you from a third party. For example, we collect personal information we collect personal information when verifying licences or authorisations. . If you work for one of our service providers or business customers or other organisations with which we do business, we may need to obtain your contact details from them. In some circumstances also, we may need to obtain information relating to you from a credit reporting agency, or from a publicly maintained record. If we collect personal information about you in these ways, we will take reasonable steps to make you aware of the relevant matters set out in this policy. Finally, where a third party provides us with information we have not asked for, we will destroy or de-identify the information unless we would have been entitled to collect it under the APPs.
If you provide personal information to us about someone else (such as one of your employees if you are one of our service providers or business customers, or a member of your household, business or someone with whom you have dealings) you must be entitled to disclose that information to us and make sure that we are entitled to collect it. You should let the person know that they can access this Privacy Policy on our website or by calling us using the contact details set out below. If the information you provide is sensitive information, then you will need to obtain the consent of the person to whom it relates before you provide it to us.

Website collection

When you visit our website, we may collect additional information about your use of the website, which may or may not identify you. For instance, we may collect information about which pages you visit on the website to help us determine which parts of the site you value, so that we can build and develop our website to best meet customer needs. We may also collect information about your internet browser and operating system, the address of the referring site, your internet protocol address and clickstream information. This information helps us to understand how you came to find our website.

Staff information

We may collect information about injuries sustained by staff through workers compensation claims or through our “MySafe” portal.

Website collection – cookies and pixel tags

We may use third party cookies, pixel tags or other similar technologies to collect or receive web usage information from our website and elsewhere on the internet. Cookies are small pieces of information which may be stored on your computer by our website server, to remember your browser (not you personally).

To find out more about cookies, including how to manage them, see https://www.choice.com.au/electronicsand-technology/internet/internet-privacy-and-safety/articles/how-browser-cookies-work.
Pixel tags are a form of online identifier that can be used to track the online movements of website users through social media accounts. Ausconnex does not obtain personally identifiable information from the pixel tag. However, the social media account provider may store your information and connect it with your social media account. For example, if you have a Facebook account, the Facebook pixel may associate web usage information collected through a pixel tag with your Facebook account.
More information about Facebook’s use of data is contained in the Facebook Data Use Policy. You can opt out of Facebook’s use of cookies and other storage technologies through the settings on your Facebook account.

Storage of personal information

We take reasonable steps so that personal information held by us is secure from such risks as loss and interference, or unauthorised access, destruction, use, modification or disclosure. Our IT systems are password protected and we use firewalls and encryption (security measures for the internet). We also maintain physical security over our paper files, data stores and premises, including locks and security systems. Access to personal information is restricted to our authorised personnel, who need to access those records as part of their job.
We may engage third party data storage providers to store and secure our data, including personal information of our customers on the basis that the information is properly secured and protected.

Retention and destruction of personal information

We take reasonable steps to destroy or de-identify personal information that we no longer need.

For what purposes do we collect, hold, use and disclose personal
information?

We collect, hold, use and disclose personal information for the purpose of providing you with services and products, or with other information you have requested, and for purposes related or ancillary to this. To carry out those purposes, we may need to use and disclose personal information to establish and maintain any necessary accounts or records, credit checks, invoicing and billing systems,debt recovery and market research, and to develop new and better products and services. We will use your personal information only for the purpose for which it was collected, unless we have your consent, or the different use is permitted under the APPs.

We also collect, hold, use and disclose information about injuries sustained by our staff as part of our workers compensation scheme and we may use this information for the purposes of corporate reporting and related functions. By providing information to us, staff are taken to have consented under their employment arrangements to this information being used for corporate reporting purposes.

Direct marketing

We may also collect, hold, use and disclose personal information for the purpose of telling you from time to time about our services, products or promotions. If at any time you no longer wish to be told about our new services, products or promotions, please contact us on 133 229 or by email at:- contact@ausconnex.com.au

Web usage information

Web usage information is collected to assist us to build and develop our website to best meet customer needs and for targeted communication of our public safety campaigns on social media platforms. We will not disclose any web usage information that is personally identifiable.

Will we give your personal information to anyone else?

We do not sell personal information to third parties. However, in the circumstances described below, we may disclose your personal information to other people or entities. We may make additional disclosures where you provide consent or where such disclosures are otherwise permitted under the Privacy Act.

(a) Outsourcing and advice
We may disclose personal information that we collect to third parties to which we contract out specialised functions, such as mailing houses, printing companies, data storage companies, information technology providers, legal, accounting and auditing services. If we do disclose personal information to third party contractors or advisers under outsourcing or contracting arrangements, we do all we reasonably can to maintain control over their use of such information, and we prohibit disclosure of the information by them so that those contractors:

• comply with the APPs when they handle your personal information; and
• are authorised only to use personal information in order to provide the services or to perform the functions required by us.

(b) Research and surveys

We may disclose personal information to third parties (such as government agencies and research partners) for reporting purposes in connection with the projects and trials we conduct from time to time. Our general policy is to de-identify the information we disclose to third parties for research purposes. However, where personally identifying information is provided to third parties, we will take reasonable steps to make the relevant individuals aware that information about them is being disclosed and obtain their consent to do so where necessary.

(c) Disclosures required by law

For legal reasons, and in special circumstances, we may need to make disclosures of your personal information. We may be required to disclose your personal information to law enforcement agencies, government agencies, courts or external advisors. For example, we may be asked to disclose certain personal information about an individual to assist the police with an investigation into criminal activities.
Our policy is to make such disclosures only in accordance with the Privacy Act. We may also be required to disclose certain information under the energy industry laws and rules (if applicable).
Do we disclose personal information to entities located overseas?
We may disclose personal information to service providers or research organisations located outside of Australia. For instance, we may engage third party data storage providers located overseas to store and secure our data, including our customer information. We may also disclose your personal information (such as your credit card or corporate credit card details) outside Australia if you use a payment method (including a credit card issued overseas), which requires us to communicate information about you internationally (for example, to your bank if it is outside
Australia). If practicable, we will notify you of the overseas country to which disclosure of your personal information may occur.

How can you access and correct the personal information we hold about you?

Under the Privacy Act, you have a right to seek access to personal information which we hold about you. You also have the right to ask us to correct information about you, which is inaccurate, incomplete, out of date, irrelevant or misleading.
If you wish to access the personal information that we hold about you, please contact our Call Centre on 133 229 or via email contact@ausconnex.com.au  so we can explain how we will handle your access request. Once we have verified your identity, we would generally provide you with a summary of the information held about you.
We would assume (unless you told us otherwise) that your request related to our current records about you. Those current records would include personal information about you which was included in our databases and in paper files, and which might be used by us on a day-to-day basis.
To provide you with access to this personal information, we would ordinarily provide you with a print-out of the relevant personal information from our databases, or with photocopies of records which were held only on paper files. Ordinarily, we would not charge you for the cost of providing this type of access to these records.
For legal and administrative reasons, we may also store records containing personal information in our archives. You may seek access to our non-current records, but if you do so, we may charge you for the cost of providing the access.
If you believe that personal information about you is inaccurate, incomplete, out of date, irrelevant or misleading, please provide us with your request for correction. Our policy is to consider any requests for correction in a timely way. If we refused to provide you with access to the information, we would provide you with reasons for the refusal and inform you of any exceptions relied upon under the Privacy Act (unless it is not reasonable in the circumstances for us to do so).

How can you complain about a breach of your privacy and how will we handle your complaint?

If you wish to complain about our handling of your personal information, in the first instance please email our Privacy Officer at  contact@ausconnex.com.au  or phone us on 133 229 . We will make every effort to investigate and respond to your complaint in a timely way (generally within 30 days of our receipt of the complaint).
If you are dissatisfied with the outcome of our investigation, you may take your privacy-related complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC).
For information on making a complaint to the OAIC, please visit the OAIC’s website Privacy Complaints or phone 1300 363 992.

Questions or comments about this privacy policy

If you have any questions or comments about this privacy policy, please contact us by email contact@ausconnex.com.au or phone us on 133 229

Changes to this privacy policy

This privacy policy may change. Changes to the policy will be reflected in the privacy policy on our website from time to time. This policy was last updated in June 2022.

DISCLAIMER

The information and content contained in this site is for information only and does not constitute legal, financial or other professional advice. Ausconnex does not warrant that the information and content will not cause damage, are free from any computer virus or any other defects or errors.

• Ausconnex makes no warranty or representation regarding the quality, currency, accuracy, reliability, performance, completeness or fitness for purpose of any part of the information and content on this site.
• Ausconnex is not liable (whether in contract, negligence or otherwise) for any indirect or consequential loss arising out of the use of the website, including loss of profits.
• Ausconnex is not responsible for the information or content of any site accessed, or linked to, from this site. Ausconnex makes no representations about the accuracy of the information on those websites and is not liable either for the content on those websites or for any virus transmitted from them.