DVA Logo - Click to return to the Home PageDVA homepage Spacer Image
Spacer ImageWhat's new on this siteDVA factsSearchFeedbackContact usLinksHelpSpacer Image
Department of Veterans' Affairs
ADF IssuesPensionsHealthHousingCommemorationBusinessMedia CentreStatesSpacer Image
Spacer Image
Spacer Image

 

Website legal and policy statements


On this page:

Disclaimer | Copyright | Privacy | Email | Accessibility | Interactive applications | Contacts

DISCLAIMER

The information on this website is intended as a general reference. The Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA) makes information available on the understanding that the Commonwealth is not thereby engaged in rendering professional advice.

DVA will make every reasonable effort to maintain current and accurate information. Users should carefully evaluate the accuracy, currency, completeness and relevance of this information for their purposes before relying on the material in any important matter. Users should always obtain any appropriate professional advice relevant to their particular circumstances.

DVA encourages you to check with us if you have any concern about the information on the website or if you require official printed copies of information from the website.

Links to other sites are provided for readers' convenience. DVA does not accept responsibility for information on any web site beyond our own. In some cases the material may incorporate or summarise views, standards or recommendations of third parties. Such material is assembled in good faith, but does not necessarily reflect the considered views of the Commonwealth, or indicate a commitment to a particular course of action.

To link your website to any part of the DVA web site you can request permission by contacting the Internet Manager.

Back to top


COPYRIGHT

© Commonwealth of Australia 2000

This website is copyright. You may download, display, print and reproduce this content in unaltered form only (retaining this notice) for your personal, non-commercial use or use within your organisation. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, all other rights are reserved.

Requests for permission to reproduce Commonwealth of Australia copyright material can be sent:

  • electronically on the copyright request form on the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts (DCITA) website
  • in a letter that contains the same information as in the form
  • by email
  • by telephone or facsimile.
Request form: Copyright request form is available on the DCITA website
By letter: Commonwealth Copyright Administration
Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts
GPO Box 2154
CANBERRA   ACT   2601
By email: Use a contact form on the DCITA website
By telephone: +61 2 6271 1351
By facsimile: +61 2 6271 1633

Back to top


PRIVACY

In accordance with the Guidelines for Federal and ACT Government World Wide Websites issued by the Australian Privacy Commissioner, the Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA) provides the following privacy statements.

Security of your information

DVA seeks to comply with the Information Privacy Principles under the Privacy Act 1988 (the Privacy Act) in the collection, storage, use and disclosure of personal information in its possession. The Privacy Act provides for specific rights and remedies of individuals in the event of a breach by the department of its duties under the act.

DVA provides a secure environment and a reliable system. However, you should be aware that there may be inherent risks associated with the transmission of information via the internet.

DVA Secure Web Services is designed to minimise these risks as much as possible, and provide a secure mechanism when seeking or providing personal information.

If you are seeking or providing information of a personal nature and you are not using DVA Secure Web Services, DVA suggests that you use over-the-counter, postal, facsimile or telephone services. Contact details for these services can be found on this website.

Some interactive services on this website may request personal information as part of the provision of the service. DVA encrypts all data transmitted between your computer's web browser and DVA's computers when you make use of any of these services. The encryption process used by DVA is secure socket layer (SSL). For SSL encryption to work, your browser must support SSL. Freely available browsers that support SSL include Netscape (version 3 or higher) and Microsoft Internet Explorer (version 4 or higher).

Note: External sites that are linked to this site are not under the DVA's control and you are advised to review their privacy and security statements when visiting those sites.

Back to top

Site visit data

DVA makes a record of your visit and logs the following information for statistical purposes:

  • the user's server address
  • the user's top level domain name (e.g. .com, .gov, .au, .uk etc.)
  • the date and time of the visit to the site
  • the pages accessed and documents downloaded
  • the previous site visited
  • the type of browser used.

DVA will not make any attempt to identify users or their browsing activities except, in the unlikely event of an investigation, where a law enforcement agency may exercise a warrant to inspect the internet service provider's logs.

Back to top

Cookies

A cookie is a collection of information, usually including a username and the current date and time, stored on the local computer of a person using the World Wide Web, used chiefly by websites to identify users who have previously registered or visited their site.

Cookies can be 'persistent' or 'session-based':

  • persistent cookies are stored on your computer, contain an expiration date, and may be used to track your browsing behaviour upon returning to the website from which the cookie was issued
  • session-based cookies are short-lived, are used only during a browsing session, and expire when you close your browser.

The DVA website (http://www.dva.gov.au) uses session cookies during a search query of the website. Our internet service provider has assured us that no cookies are employed on the website except for those associated with the search engine. Website statistics for the DVA website are generated from the web logs as outlined above under 'Site visit data'.

Once you have closed your browser, the session cookie set by the DVA website is destroyed and DVA does not maintain any personal information that might identify you should you visit our website at a later date.

The DVA secure website (https://secure.dva.gov.au) uses a session cookie to help manage the secure session. This cookie is set when the user logs into DVA Secure Web Services. Once you have closed your browser, the session cookie is destroyed and DVA does not maintain any personal information that might identify you should you use DVA Secure Web Services at a later stage.

DVA does not use persistent cookies on its websites.

Back to top

Use of email

At the present time, it is not possible to guarantee the security of e-mail forwarded to the Department of Veterans' Affairs via the internet. In order to protect your privacy and the privacy of others, we request that you do not send us personal information by e-mail.

DVA will not forward information of a personal nature by internet email. We will only forward such information by traditional means, such as post, facsimile or telephone, if appropriate.

If you choose to use internet email to request information, please include a postal address, facsimile number and/or telephone number. A DVA representative can then contact you by your preferred method.

Subscription lists

If you subscribe to a mailing list on any of DVA's websites, your email address and any other personal information that you might provide will be maintained on our mailing list. The mailing list is hosted by an external service provider. It will only be used for the purpose for which you have provided it and will not be added to another mailing list without your prior consent, which DVA will seek through a request in writing. We will not use your email address for any other purpose and will not disclose it without your consent.

Back to top


ACCESSIBILITY

The Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA) has a policy for making its website accessible by older users, those with a disability, or those who are technically constrained by their computer equipment or internet service. The Accessibility Policy for DVA Websites (June 2002) can be viewed on this website.

The website accessibility policy has been developed in line with the Government Online Strategy (GOLS) and reflects DVA's commitment to providing appropriate information in an accessible form to those who need it. The policy follows the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 (WCAG 1.0) as recommended by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).

The WCAG 1.0 comprises 65 checkpoints concerned with the correct use of HTML and other code integrated with intelligent design choices. Each checkpoint has been assigned a priority level (Priority 1, 2 or 3) depending on the particular checkpoint's impact on accessibility. Further information about the guidelines and priorities can be found on the W3C website.

The WCAG 1.0 also defines three levels of conformance to the guidelines: Levels A, Double-A and Triple-A. Further information about conformance is available at the W3C website.

DVA's goal is a AA+ (double-A plus) conformance rating for our website home pages, high traffic and high usage sites. We consider that a rating of A (single-A) or AA (double-A) for other pages is appropriate, depending on content of those pages. This approach allows the most effective use of resources to achieve a balance between strict compliance and accessibility of what we consider to be the most sought-after pages.

Where it is not possible, for any reason, to provide an accessible HTML version of a document, we will provide any of a number of options including PDF, MS Word or Excel, rich text format (RTF), and a plain text-only HTML version for those who need it. In addition, information not accessible online will be made available in other formats for those with a demonstrated genuine need.

If there is information on a DVA website that you require that is not in a format you can access, you are welcome to contact the department by any of the following means:

  • phone your nearest Veterans' Affairs Network (VAN) office on 1300 55 1918 (see Note 1 below)
  • send an email to the website feedback mailbox with details about the information you require
  • write to the following address:
Department of Veterans' Affairs
Website Feedback
PO Box 21
WODEN   ACT  2606
AUSTRALIA

Note 1: This number allows you to ring DVA from anywhere within Australia without being charged long distance rates. If you use a mobile phone, calls may be more costly. You are advised to use a normal phone (i.e. a landline phone) when ringing this number.   Back.

Back to top


Interactive applications

Certain applications running on the website might not be accessible to some users. These applications, such as ELMNet, Just in Case, Consolidated Library of Information and Knowledge (CLIK), DVA Facts and DVA Forms, run on platforms that, at this time, are not accessible by some assistive technologies such as screen readers. Additionally, they might not be accessible through a computer "firewall", or with certain browser software/hardware combinations such as Internet Explorer on Macintosh computers.

For users who cannot get online access to these applications, DVA is happy to offer alternative access to the functions and information provided by the applications. Users who require information not accessible online can either send an email to the website feedback mailbox or ring their nearest DVA office.

Back to top


CONTACT DETAILS

Go to a contacts page on this website for details about how to contact the Department of Veterans' Affairs.

Back to top



Copyright © Commonwealth of Australia 2000.

 

http://www.dva.gov.au