Privacy statement

This privacy statement applies to all aspects of Greater Wellington’s core functions and activities including:

• Biosecurity
• Bulk water supply
• Emergency management
• Environmental management
• Flood protection
• Harbours management
• Pollution control
• Regional parks and forests management  
• Statutory processes
• Transport (including Metlink).

We may collect personal information about you when you use or interact with the facilities, functions and activities we provide. The personal information we may collect includes:

• Identity details, including name and demographic information
• Contact details
• Financial details
• Interactions with us related to our facilities, functions or activities (including applications and call recordings)
• Use of, or participation in, our facilities, functions or activities (including related photos, videos, and CCTV footage)
• Property-related information (including activities undertaken on the property)
• Responses to, and participation in, our proposals, research and surveys, and public consultations
• Entries to competitions we run
• Applications for employment.

We may also collect personal information about you from a third party or a publicly available source, including social media. We work closely with third parties (for example, local councils) and may receive information about you from them. We may combine this information with other information we collect.

If you use or participate in our facilities, functions and activities while logged into the following services, then the related providers will collect information about your browsing as detailed in their privacy statements:

• Facebook
• Google
• Instagram
• LinkedIn
• X (Twitter)
• YouTube.

We collect your personal information when you, or someone acting on your behalf, provide information to us. This may include when you:

• Use, or interact with, our facilities, functions or activities (for example, in person, in writing, by phone or video, online or by other means)
• Apply to use or participate in our facilities, functions and activities
• Participate in one of our events or meetings (these meetings may be livestreamed and/or recorded)
• Subscribe to communications we issue (for example, our newsletter)
• Follow us, message us or post comments on our social media channels
• Apply for employment with us.

In some circumstances, the law requires you to provide specific personal information to us when requested (for example, when asked by a Warranted Transport Officer or an enforcement officer).

In other circumstances, unless otherwise advised, you choose to provide your personal information to us. If you choose not to do so, it may not be possible for us to provide our facilities, functions or activities to you.

We will generally only use or share your personal information for the business purposes for which you provide it. The range of our business purposes includes:

Services or engagement

• In relation to our facilities, functions and activities:
  • Providing these, including where required or as requested by you
  • Managing your interactions with us
  • Improving these based on your feedback
  • Documenting your related actions
• Maintaining and improving the safety of customers, employees, service providers and volunteers
• Responding to your requests, enquiries or feedback and provide customer care-related activities
• Advising you about, and promoting, our news, events, facilities, functions and activities
• Identifying winners of competitions and contacting you to provide prizes.

Compliance or enforcement

• Deterring and investigating potential breaches of the law and incidents
• Complying with and enforcing applicable laws, legal agreements and policies
• Managing and resolving any legal or commercial complaints and issues.

Other

• Contacting you or responding in the event of an incident or emergency
• Recruiting employees, and engaging service providers and volunteers
• Other purposes as specified at the time of collection.

We may share your personal information with:

• Snapper and public transport operators to provide customer services to you
• A third party, where:
  • We are legally required to do so
  • You authorise us to disclose your personal information
  • We choose to, including law enforcement and regulatory bodies, government agencies, local authorities and council organisations, and Crown entities (including tertiary institutions) to the extent necessary for the delivery of their functions
• The Ministry of Justice, credit agencies and nominated referees to allow us to complete pre-employment checks including confirming your criminal history, obtaining your credit rating and checking your references
• Google - where we are using Google Analytics, your information will be disclosed to Google for use as detailed within Google’s Privacy Policy. Google may share this information publicly and with their partners
• The public, where:
  • The law requires, or our processes provide, that certain information is made publicly available (for example, a public consultation or submissions on a resource consent)
  • You voluntarily enter a competition and are a winner, participate in our promotions and events, or we publish material.

In these instances, you will be advised of this sharing at the time of collection.

We do not disclose your personal information to any third party other than as described in this Privacy Statement.

In some instances (for example, research reports), we will provide your information to the public or third parties in an anonymous and/or aggregated form.

We will keep your personal information:

• Until we no longer have a valid business purpose for keeping it; or
• For as long as required by law or our retention and disposal schedule.

The Public Records Act 2005 requires us to retain “protected records” indefinitely. In some circumstances, your personal information may be included within a protected record.

You have rights to:

• Ask us whether we hold personal information about you;
• Access that information; and
• Request correction of that information.

If we refuse your request for correction, you are entitled to request that a statement is attached to the requested information recording the correction that was sought but not made.

If you want to ask what personal information we hold about you, please contact us at privacy@gw.govt.nz.

For further information about this privacy statement and our related information practices, please contact us at privacy@gw.govt.nz.

If you consider we have breached your privacy, or there is a privacy matter that we cannot resolve, first make a complaint to our Principal Privacy Officer at privacy@gw.govt.nz.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you can then complain to the Privacy Commissioner at:

• Phone - 0800 803 909 (Monday to Friday 10am to 3pm)
• Email - enquiries@privacy.org.nz
• Post - Office of the Privacy Commissioner, PO Box 10094, Wellington 6143.

We will update this privacy statement from time to time. Any changes to this privacy statement will be posted on the Greater Wellington website and dated, with a link to previous dated versions.