Terms of Use

Mackenzie District Council has made every reasonable effort to ensure that the information on this Website and the Online Services is accurate and up to date.  Your access and use of the Website and Online Services is at your own risk.  To the maximum extent permitted by law, Mackenzie District Council shall have no liability or responsibility to you for:

• Any errors in and omissions from any information available on or through the Website;
• Any direct or indirect, incidental, special or consequential loss or damage arising out of or in connection with your use of the Website (or inability to access or use the Website), the information contained on it, or your use of any Online Services including transaction processing services.

Council does not guarantee, represent or warrant that the content and/or Online Services (including, but not limited to, transaction processing services) available or accessible via this Website and subsidiary websites will be accurate, complete or current, free of errors, defects, faults, viruses or other harmful components or that access to this Website and subsidiary websites will be uninterrupted.

Links and references to other websites are provided as a convenience only.  Council has not reviewed and does not endorse, approve, recommend or assume responsibility for those sites or their content, services or products offered on, or the operation of, any other website.

If you wish to provide a link to the Website from your website or present any page or any part of the Website material on your website, you must do so in such a way that it is clear to users that the pages are part of the Mackenzie District Council Website.  You must not do anything which alters the Website or interferes with how it works. Mackenzie District Council reserves the right to prohibit links to the Website and you agree to remove or cease any link at our request.

This Website, including these Terms, is changed and updated from time to time.  Any changes take effect immediately and you are responsible for ensuring you are aware of the latest Terms.  You acknowledge and agree that by accessing this Website, you are indicating your acceptance of the changed Terms.

Ownership

Mackenzie District Council owns or licences:

• The copyright and other proprietary rights on all content; and
• All trademarks (registered and unregistered) and logos

on this Website, the subsidiary websites and Online Services.

Some content is sourced from third parties and may be subject to third party copyright. Permission cannot be granted by Mackenzie District Council to reproduce any material available on the Website that is owned by a third party.

Some data is supplied under Creative Commons licence and while Mackenzie District Council makes reasonable efforts to ensure such data is correct and regularly updated, errors and omissions in the data may occur.

Copyright

Unless otherwise stated, you may use the content on this Website for personal and non-commercial purposes free of charge provided that:

• You acknowledge it is sourced from Mackenzie District Council;
• It is subject to copyright; and
• The content is reproduced accurately and is not used in a derogatory, harmful or misleading way.

Trademarks and logos

This Privacy Statement applies to personal and other information collected on this Website.

Personal information

You can browse the Website without providing any personal information. The Website does not automatically collect any personal information about you.

Please refer to the Privacy Act requirements section below to see how Mackenzie District Council deals with personal information collected from you and how it is stored and used.

If you wish to view or correct any personal information held by the Mackenzie District Council, please phone 0800 685 8514 or email info@mackenzie.govt.nz.

Site use information

When you visit the Website we automatically log some non-personal information, namely:

• The internet domain and IP addresses from which you accessed the Website;
• The terms you used to search for content on the Website;
• The pages you accessed;
• The date and time you accessed the Website;
• The last site you visited before coming to this Website; and
• The type of browser and operating system you use, and your screen resolution.

This information cannot be used to identify you and will be used only for the purposes of system administration, reporting within the Council, and to audit the use of the Website.

You consent to the collection and use of this aggregate information for the purposes stated above.

Cookies

Mackenzie District Council websites use Google Analytics (a service that provides aggregated reports on website activity) to further understand how the Website can be improved. Google Analytics relies on the use of cookies, which are small files stored on your computer.  For detail on what information is collected via these cookies, and how it is stored and used, see Google's privacy policy.

Privacy Act requirements

The Mackenzie District Council is required to comply with the provisions of the Privacy Act 2020. Personal information is collected, held and used in accordance with the principles set out in the Privacy Act 2020 and is set out in more detail in our Privacy Policy.  In particular, the Mackenzie District Council will:

1. Use personal information only for the purpose for which it is collected;
2. Retain personal information only for as long as is necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected;
3. Release personal information to a third party only when required or permitted by law, or if you have authorised the release or where disclosure is connected to the purpose for which the information was collected.

You may inquire about and seek access to personal information about you or request information under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 by contacting the Mackenzie District Council at 0800 685 8514 or email info@mackenzie.govt.nz.

If you think that the Mackenzie District Council has breached the Privacy Act or if you would like to find out more about Council's obligations, you can contact the Privacy Commissioner on 0800 803 909 or go to privacy.org.nz.

Provision of Information by You

You acknowledge and agree that any information or material which you provide electronically through your access to or use of the Website is not confidential or proprietary, except as may be required under applicable law, and you acknowledge that unprotected communication over the Internet is subject to possible interception, alteration or loss.

You represent and warrant that any information or material (other than personal data) which you provide does not infringe the rights of any person or entity, and that such information and material may be used in whole or in part in any manner by Mackenzie District Council including, but not limited to, reproduction, retransmission or publication of such information or material including any ideas or concepts contained in it.

You agree not to introduce into or through this Website any information or material which may be harmful, derogatory or offensive to others.

About Submissions

Mackenzie District Council regularly seeks feedback, suggestions, ideas and formal submissions from the general public through the Website.

All submissions, including names and contact details that you send to the Mackenzie District Council become public documents and will be made available to Councillors and the public at Council offices and libraries, and a summary of submissions may also be made publicly available and posted on the Council’s website.

Personal information will also be used for administration relating to the subject matter of the submissions, including notifying submitters of hearings and decisions. All information will be held by the Mackenzie District Council with submitters having the right to access and correct personal information.

Submissions may be posted or delivered to:

• Mackenzie District Council, PO Box 52, Main Street, FAIRLIE 7949
• Emailed to: info@mackenzie.govt.nz
• Or using an online form at letstalk.mackenzie.govt.nz.

Submissions not using the online form should include your name, address, telephone number, email address, and should state if you wish to speak to the Council in support of your submission. Please also indicate if you wish to speak in te reo Māori or New Zealand Sign Language.

Mackenzie District Council will contact all submitters who wish to be heard by email or text message to advise the confirmed time, date, and venue of the hearing.

Public Meeting Webcasts

The Mackenzie District Council may from time to time, film and record some of its public meetings and may make the footage available through webcasts. This is in the public interest to have transparent and accessible decision-making at public meetings.

Most of the filming will cover elected members as they speak and debate at the meeting. The filming may also include shots of the public in the background and anyone speaking at the public meeting.

By filming a person or recording their voice, the Mackenzie District Council is collecting personal information.  All personal information will be collected, stored and published in accordance with the Mackenzie District Council’s Privacy Policy.

The webcasts and recordings may be publicly available via the Website.

Mackenzie District Council enables customers to process certain types of online transactions through the Website. Online Services are provided through a secure website using SSL (secure socket layer) encryption. All Online Services are subject to these Terms.

The Online Services are available for your personal and/or internal business purposes provided that:

• You do not remove any proprietary rights notices;
• Do not modify the information or make it available to third parties through a networked computer environment; and
• Do not make any representations or warranties regarding the information.

We use social media to inform, connect and have conversations with our communities. We do this through a number of channels, including Facebook and LinkedIn.

Social media allows us to not only communicate quickly with our communities, but also allows the people in our communities to respond to us directly.

Authenticity, honesty and open dialogue is key to us being successful in our use of these channels. However, it also requires a level of courteous and responsible behaviour from the people in our communities, not only in how they interact with us, but how they interact with others on our channels too.

We accept no liability for any material posted on our channels by the community, nor are we responsible for the content and accuracy of that material.

If you follow us, you can expect to see content covering some of the following:

• Emergency alerts
• Community updates
• Project updates
• Grants and funding
• Competitions
• Reminders
• Invitations to have your say
• Events
• Shared news from partnering organisations and government agencies
• Terms of engagement

We openly welcome your comments and encourage discussion. We ask that you are polite and respectful with your comments and views.

We reserve the right to hide or remove harmful content from our social media channels. This includes but is not limited to:

• Racist comments complaining about the use of te reo Māori
• Swearing, disrespectful, abusive, threatening or harassing language
• Comments that target or disparage any person or group of persons based on ethnicity, race, colour, age, religious or ethical belief, gender, sexual orientation, disability or otherwise
• Personal attacks of any kind
• Disclosure of private information or details of elected members, staff or other Facebook users or individuals
• Objectionable material
• Misleading information
• Hate speech
• Trolling
• Unsolicited advertising, marketing or spam.
• Illegal activity
• Material that violates copyright or trademarks

This also includes hijacking posts with repetitive and/or irrelevant comments. For example, the same or similar comments on multiple posts about different topics. We do not accept this as it takes away from the original intent of the post and can be distracting for other users. Comments must be related to the topic of the post being commented on.

Our social media channels are not open to comments promoting or opposing any person campaigning for election to a political office. This includes any public comments made on our page during the election period by any political candidate.

Promotion or advertisement of a business on our social media channels by a person or organisation within the community is not allowed.

All content shared to our social media channels is monitored and recorded. Public comments that violate these terms of engagement will be either hidden or deleted from our page. The user will not be advised that their content has been removed or hidden.

If a user is frequently having their posts removed or hidden, then they may be banned from posting to our page. We may, at our discretion, issue one warning to users before banning them if they continue to breach our social media terms of engagement.

We may pass material posted on our social media channels to any third party, including Netsafe and the New Zealand Police.

Content shared or posted on our social media channels is also subject to the terms of service of the platform (i.e. Facebook). For more information on this, visit their terms of service.

We may also disable comments on our posts at our discretion.

You may use the Mackenzie District Council news feeds in order to display Mackenzie District Council content on your website, blog or other product or service for personal and business use provided you comply with the following:

• You must display the Mackenzie District Council feeds that you subscribe to in full and accurately on your website, blog or other product or service.
• You may not directly or indirectly change, edit, add to or produce summaries of any Mackenzie District Council content.
• You do not have the right to use any Mackenzie District Council content or Mackenzie District Council trademarks or logos on your website, blog or other product or service or elsewhere except as included in the Mackenzie District Council feed itself.
• All copyright, trademarks, design rights, patents and other intellectual property rights (registered and unregistered) shall remain vested in the Mackenzie District Council or its third parties.
• The Mackenzie District Council assumes no responsibility or liability for any of your activities in connection with the feeds or for your use of the feeds in connection with your website.
• You must not directly or indirectly charge others for accessing, viewing or listening to any Mackenzie District Council content.
• You must not directly or indirectly suggest any endorsement, or approval or recommendation by the Mackenzie District Council of any product or service.
• You must not disrupt or try to disrupt Mackenzie District Council feeds or use them to distribute software viruses or other harmful programme
• You may not use Mackenzie District Council feeds to engage in harmful, offensive, harassing or otherwise objectionable activity.
• You may not subject the Mackenzie District Council feeds or Mackenzie District Council content to any offensive or derogatory treatment or use them in such a way that would damage the Mackenzie District Council or bring the Mackenzie District Council into disrepute.
• Mackenzie District Council content may contain content you consider objectionable or offensive, or which may not be suitable for young audiences. If you permit a child to access, view or listen to Mackenzie District Council content you are solely responsible for deciding whether or not that content is appropriate and the Mackenzie District Council shall have no responsibility or liability to you.
• If you are a business you will require users of your product or service to comply with these terms when using Mackenzie District Council feeds.
• The Mackenzie District Council reserves the right to discontinue providing any or all of the feeds at any time without notice.

Information about browser and document support.

Browser support

Mackenzie District Council aims to be browser and operating system neutral. This site has been designed and tested to work on the latest versions of all the major browsers. If you're using an older browser we strongly recommend that you upgrade it as soon as possible.

Upgrading your browser will improve the appearance of websites, significantly reduce the chances of your computer becoming infected with malware and protect your personal information

Accessing documents

Mackenzie District Council strives to make its website as accessible as possible to people of all abilities.

The website is designed to meet New Zealand Government web accessibility and usability standards:

• Web Accessibility Standard
• Web Usability Standard

We will continually develop our website to deliver on our commitment to improve accessibility and usability for our users.

Text size

The text size for this site can be changed using your browser.

• Chrome: Select the page menu at the top right, then 'Zoom', then 'Larger' or 'Smaller'.  Alternatively select CTRL + /-
• Internet Explorer: Select the "View" menu, then "Text size"
• FireFox: Select the "View" menu, then "Zoom" or "Zoom text only"
• Safari: Select the "View" menu, then "Make text bigger" or "Make text smaller"
• Opera: Select the "View" menu, then "Zoom"

Contact us

If you have comments, or would like to suggest improvements to the website, please get in touch using the contact us form.

Mackenzie District Council may update the content on this Website from time to time, but no assurance is given that the Content on this Website is up-to-date, accurate, error-free or complete. To the fullest extent permitted by law, Mackenzie District Council:

1. Makes no representation or warranty regarding the functionality or condition of this Website, its suitability for use, or that its use will be uninterrupted or error-free;
2. Does not represent or warrant that the content or services accessed from or through this Website will be uninterrupted or free of errors, defects, viruses or other harmful components, or that any such problems which are discovered will be corrected;
3. Will not be liable to any person or entity for any damage, direct or indirect, incidental, special or consequential for access to, use of or inability to use the content, Online Services including transaction processing services or this Website; and
4. Assumes no liability for errors or omissions in the content or the Online Services including the transaction processing services.

Without limiting the foregoing, all content, Online Services including transaction processing services and this Website are provided ‘as is’ without warranty of any kind, whether express or implied, including but not limited to implied warranties of fitness for a particular purpose or non-infringement. Some jurisdictions do not permit the exclusion of implied warranties, and if you are in one of those jurisdictions these exclusions may not apply to you.

Use of this Website and these Terms shall be governed by, and shall be interpreted consistently with, the laws of New Zealand.   Persons who access this Website from locations outside of New Zealand do so on their own initiative and are responsible for compliance with local New Zealand laws.

Please contact us if you have any issues or complaints about any of our services.

Mackenzie District Council makes no warranty or representation, express or implied, as to continuity of service. It reserves the right to suspend, terminate or otherwise alter access to some or all of the site's services at any time and without notice.

Other than personal information, which is covered under the Privacy Statement, any material you transmit or post to the site is considered non-confidential. This includes feedback or submissions you provide.

We do not claim to own your copyright material. You do, however, grant Mackenzie District Council a non-exclusive, royalty-free and irrevocable licence to:

• publish such material in any media and in any format, including:
  • on this or any other website
  • in hard copy publications
  • in email notifications or alerts
  • in web feeds, and
• sub-license such material for re-use by others on the same terms as the licence you've granted Mackenzie District Council.