Privacy Policy

Purpose

This Privacy Policy (Policy) explains how Horticulture Innovation Australia Limited (ABN 71 602 100 149) (Hort Innovation, we, our or us) collects, stores, uses, discloses and manages your personal information.

Hort Innovation is a not-for-profit, grower-owned research and development corporation for Australia’s horticulture industry. Each year Hort Innovation invests millions of dollars in research and development and marketing.

Hort Innovation will only collect, use or disclose personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act) and this Policy.

In this Policy, the terms personal information and sensitive information have the meaning given to those terms in the Privacy Act.

What personal information does Hort Innovation collect?

The personal information we collect and hold depends on the type of interaction you have with us.

We may collect the following types of personal information:

information relating to your identity including your name, phone number, address and email address, company name and position, photographs and other digital images (for example, video footage from events or digital images from certain areas of our office);
financial information including bank accounts, fee structures, rates and charges, payment details, income payment and performance history;
details of your employment history including projects involved in and prior dealings with us;
information about you and any affiliations and associations, memberships, interests (including any shareholdings and directorships);
your image and/or voice and other personal information collected at events or via CCTV surveillance systems installed at our premises;
your device ID, device type, geo-location information, IP address, browsing information and any personal information that you may provide to us directly or indirectly via our websites, Wi-Fi services, mobile applications; and
any other personal information that may be required in order to facilitate your dealings with us.

Does Hort Innovation collect sensitive information?

In some instances, we may also collect and hold certain sensitive information, to provide services or assistance to you, such as information about any special attention you may require and/or your membership of a professional or trade association.

If you are an employee we will also hold employment records about you (for example salary information, health information, superannuation details, TFN, criminal records, qualifications and areas of expertise), your next of kin and CCTV footage from some areas of our office.

How Hort Innovation collects personal information

We generally only collect personal information from you:

if you choose to provide your details directly to us;
indirectly, anytime you communicate or interact with us, whether this is by phone, email, face to face meeting, online or social media interaction;
when you use our websites, applications, feedback forms or our Wi-Fi services;
through our voting process;
when you participate in our surveys, competitions, loyalty programs or promotions;
when you visit our premises through our CCTV systems; and
through our recruitment process when you apply for a position with us.

We may also collect your personal information from third parties, such as:

from government entities (including the Department of Agriculture, agencies and departments), other research and development corporations and law enforcement;
marketing agencies, data collection and research organisations, share registry providers and through media monitoring and search engines; and
other individuals (for example employment references or other Hort Innovation members).

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What happens if we cannot collect personal information?

You are not required to provide personal information to us. If you wish to deal with us anonymously or you decide not to provide us with the personal information described above, we may not be able to provide or tailor our services or information to you, either to the same standard or at all (for example certain functions of our website may not function properly if you disable cookies).

The purposes for which Hort Innovation collects, store, use and disclose personal information

We collect, hold, use and disclose personal information for the purposes for which it was provided to us. Such purposes may include:

responding to your enquiries and providing you with our services;
managing your membership with Hort Innovation;
processing forms or questionnaires you have completed either in hard copy, online, through 3rd party providers or on our websites;
processing payments;
considering applications for awards, such as scholarship awards, competitions and project funding;
to evaluate or respond to a job application that you have submitted;
creating and managing our internal credit rating system for each service provider;
verifying email and IP addresses;
providing you with information about developments in the industry, events and projects that we are involved in (if you opt-in to receive such information);
organising and coordinating our forums and events (including meeting dietary requirements, arranging flights, confirming speakers, etc.);
to personalise the way online content is presented to you;
to carry out obligations arising from contracts entered into with you and to manage our contractual relationship;
to evaluate or respond to a submission, articles or correspondence that you have made or sent;
reporting, evaluation and monitoring;
forecasting future needs of our services and general quality assurance and training purposes;
injury management, accidents, incident investigations and workplace health and safety; and
any other purposes identified at the time of collecting your information.

We will only use or disclose your personal information for the purposes for which it was initially collected, the purposes listed above, other related purposes and purposes to which you otherwise consent.

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Direct marketing materials

We and/or our third-party service providers may send you direct marketing/communications and information about developments in the industry, events and projects that we are involved in, and products and services that we consider may be of interest to you.

These communications may be sent in various forms, including mail, SMS, email or telephone in accordance with applicable laws, such as the Privacy Act and Spam Act 2003 (Cth).

At any time, you may opt-out of receiving communications from us by contacting us (see the contact details below) or by using any opt-out facilities provided in the communications, and we will then ensure that your name is removed from the relevant mailing list.

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Cookies

A cookie is a small piece of data stored on the user's device by the web browser while browsing a website. They can also be used to remember pieces of information that the user previously entered into form fields, such as names, addresses, passwords, and payment card numbers. We use cookies to distinguish you from other users in order to better serve you when you revisit our website.

Please see our Cookies Policy for information about your choices with respect to the cookies we use.

We handle personal information collected by cookies in the same way that we handle all other personal information as described in this Policy.

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Who does Hort Innovation disclose personal information to?

We do not sell your personal information. However, we may disclose your personal information, if appropriate, for the purposes for which it was initially collected (as noted above), other directly related purposes, purposes which are otherwise authorised by law, or purposes to which you specifically consent.

Examples of entities to which we might disclose your personal information include:

any third parties who manage data or provide services on our behalf (for example our third party IT and infrastructure service providers, our third party share registry provider, advertising agencies, legal advisors and auditors);
government entities or industry bodies;
relevant authorities if we have reasonable suspicion of unlawful activity or where disclosure is authorised or required by law;
third parties seeking partners, sub-contractors, co-funding applicants or specialists for a project, where to do so is related to the purpose for which you supplied your personal information, or where we have your explicit or implied consent to do so; and
any other entities identified at the time of collecting your information or to which we are legally required to disclose your personal information.

Some of the third parties listed above to whom we may provide or disclose your personal information are located overseas, such as in China, India, the United Kingdom, the United States and New Zealand. Our contracts with these parties generally include an obligation for them to comply with Australian privacy law, or they may be in jurisdictions with privacy protections equivalent to Australian privacy law.

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Security of personal information

We take reasonable steps (including any measures required by law) to ensure your personal information is protected from loss, misuse, interference and from unauthorised access, alteration or disclosure.

Where we no longer require your personal information for business or legal reasons, we will take reasonable steps to destroy or de-identify it.

Data protection and security measures are never completely secure and, despite the measures we have put in place, we cannot guarantee the security of your information. You must take care to protect your personal information (for example, by protecting any usernames and passwords). You should also notify us as soon as possible if you become aware of any security breaches. We have a procedure to respond to data breaches, and we will notify any affected individuals, as required under the Privacy Act.

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Links to third party websites

Our website may contain links to the websites of other entities. If you click on such links, you will be transferred to the website of these entities. Unless stated otherwise, Hort Innovation has no control over, and is not responsible for, the privacy practices of these entities. We encourage you to read the privacy policy and other terms that apply to those entities.

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Accuracy, access and correction of personal information

We take reasonable steps to ensure that the personal information that we collect and hold is accurate, complete and up-to-date. However, we rely on you to advise us of any changes to your personal information to help us maintain accurate, complete and up-to-date information.

We will, on request, provide you with access to the personal information we hold about you. There may be instances where we cannot grant access to the personal information we hold, for example, if a legal exception applies or where granting access would interfere with the privacy of others or result in a breach of confidentiality. We will notify you of the basis for any denial of access to your personal information.

To request access to your personal information or to update or correct your personal information, please contact our Privacy Officer via the contact details provided below.

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Complaints and concerns about your privacy

If you have any questions or concerns about this Policy or its implementation, or wish to make a complaint, please contact our Privacy Officer at:

Att: The Privacy Officer

Horticulture Innovation Australia Limited

Level 7, 141 Walker Street

North Sydney NSW 2060

Email: privacy@horticulture.com.au

Our Privacy Officer will investigate the issue and determine the steps that we will undertake to resolve your complaint. We will contact you if we require any additional information from you and will notify you in writing of the outcome of the investigation.

If you are not satisfied with our determination, you can contact us to discuss your concerns or contact the Office of the Australian Privacy Commissioner:

Email: enquiries@oaic.gov.au
Phone: 1300 363 992
Post: Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2000

Please visit the OAIC website at www.oaic.gov.au for further information.

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Revisions to this Policy

This Policy may be amended from time to time. The date of the most recent revision will appear at the bottom of this policy. We encourage you to revisit this Policy periodically to ensure that you have the most current version.

Effective date: February 18, 2025