SharkSmart Instagram Community Guidelines

These guidelines apply to those visiting and interacting on the NSW Government’s SharkSmart Instagram.

Information you provide to SharkSmart social media may be recorded and shared with third parties contracted to the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD).

Further data may be received through your comments, shared images, profile, and reactions, which are then processed to answer or communicate with, or stored securely for record management purposes. DPIRD will not disclose your personal information to third parties for any purposes not already stated in this Privacy Collection Notice, or to which you have otherwise consented, unless DPIRD is required, or authorised, by law to do so.

Members expect a place that is respectful, reliable, relevant and safe. We may hide or delete posts that moderators consider to be:

  • Abusive, offensive or unlawful: Harassment, bullying or provoking other community members, swearing, derogatory language and expression of views that are racist, sexist, homophobic, predatory or sexually explicit are not acceptable.
  • Posts we deem to be potentially defamatory or that violate privacy laws will be removed.
  • Political in nature: While we welcome the discussion of policies and initiatives, it is not the place to discuss political parties and personalities. As a public service agency, we're apolitical and unable to respond to political commentary.
  • Misleading information or misinformation: Information that is false, unfounded or misleading, whether intentional or not, will be removed.
  • An infringement of intellectual property rights: Respect and acknowledge original creators when sharing content.
  • Promotional: We do not accept advertisements, requests to endorse commercial products or services or soliciting donations.
  • Spam or harmful: Copied and pasted, duplicated or off-topic posts will be removed. We do not tolerate posts containing links to harmful or suspicious websites or applications.
  • Personal details: As these are public pages, we will remove any posts that contain private information or personal details, such as email addresses or phone numbers.
  • A violation of the platform’s terms and conditions.

If you breach these guidelines, we may block your account. To create meaningful and valuable discussion, please stay on topic when commenting on posts to the page. If you would like to contact the Shark Management Program, please contact us via our website Contact Us page.

SharkSmart Instagram is managed by DPIRD. We’ll do our best to respond to you within 5 business days, however we may take longer during busy periods. We appreciate your patience.

Questions relating to a specific activity within the NSW Government may be referred to the relevant Department or Minister’s Office for a response. As a public service agency, we’re unable to respond to political commentary. While we’re here to help you find the information you need, we’re unable to provide information or advice tailored to your situation.