This Privacy Policy applies to the use of Participate Australia’s website.  Participate Australia respects your privacy and recognises the importance of protecting your personal information. The Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) informs and guides how we do this. This policy explains how we collect, store, use and disclose your personal information.

When used in this privacy policy, the term “personal information” has the meaning given to it in the Privacy Act.  In general terms, it is any information that can be used to personally identify you.  This may include your name, address, telephone number, email address and profession or occupation.  If the information we collect personally identifies you, or you are reasonably identifiable from it, the information will be considered personal information.

Why do we collect information and what sort of information do we collect?

Participate Australia collects your personal information so that we can perform our activities and functions and provide best possible quality of service and support  

We collect, hold, use and disclose your performance information for the following purposes:

• to help us understand what services and supports you need;
• to provide supports and services that you have requested to meet your needs;
• to answer enquiries and provide information or advice about our supports and services;
• to assess the performance of the website and to improve the operation of the website;
• to conduct business processing functions including providing personal information to our related bodies corporate, contractors, service providers or other third parties;
• to update our records and keep your contact details up to date;
• to contact you directly for marketing purposes with information and material that we believe may be of interest to you;
• to process and respond to any complaint made by you; and
• to comply with any law, rule, regulation, lawful and binding determination, decision or direction of a regulator, or in co-operation with any governmental authority of any country.

The information that we collect will depend on your relationship with us. It may include your name, address, contact details, your services and activities history, and payment details in connection with paying for a service, activity or donation.

We may also collect medical history, behavioural details and other information like language spoken at home, religious beliefs, ethnic origin etc. to support you adequately and respectfully. We will only collect such information with your consent. 

Photographs or video may be taken and used only with your consent. You can withdraw your consent at any time.

Direct marketing materials

Direct marketing involves communicating with you directly for the purpose of promoting goods and services to you. From time-to-time, we (or our service providers) may use your personal information to provide you with marketing information or materials through various forms, including by post, email or telephone in accordance with applicable marketing laws. If you indicate a preference for a method of communication, we will endeavour to use that method whenever practical to do so. At any time, you will have an opportunity to opt-out of receiving direct marketing materials by contacting our Privacy Officer or by using the opt-out facilities provided in the marketing materials. 

How is your personal information collected?

In most cases, we collect your personal information directly from you unless it is unreasonable or impracticable to do so. In cases where it is impracticable, we may then collect your personal information from your family or other people or organisations that you have given us permission to contact. We might obtain the information verbally, in writing or electronically via email or through your access and use of our website, or interaction with any of our social media presence.

Cookies and web analytics

In some cases we may also collect your personal information through the use of cookies and other website analytics tools.  Please refer to our website terms and conditionshere. 

Who do we share your personal information with?

To co-ordinate a better service, we may disclose your personal information to health, education or other third-party service providers for any authorise purposes, where required or authorised by law, or with your consent.

What happens if you do not want to share your personal information with us?

If you request a service or support from Participate Australia, and you do not provide us with your personal information, we may not be able to provide you with our services, or we may only be able to do so in part.

Supporters and donors have the right to remain anonymous or to use an alias when dealing with us. Supporters who wish to receive a tax-deductible receipt for a financial donation must provide some personal data under Australian tax law.

How secure is your personal information?

Participate Australia considers the security of your personal information a priority. We have a range of measures in place to protect it from misuse, interference, loss and unauthorised access, modification, or disclosure. Electronic data is stored in a secure network which is password protected. Paper based files are used where it is unavoidable or required.  Personal information is destroyed or de-identified when no longer needed.

If your service or relationship with Participate Australia ends, we follow any records management rules prescribed by our funding contracts and any relevant state and commonwealth legislation. This may include the secure destruction of records not required to be archived by law.

Can you access and correct your information?

We take all reasonable steps to keep your personal information accurate, up to date, relevant and complete. We ask that you let us know if you believe your information to be inaccurate or incomplete, so that we may update your record. We will update your record if we consider that the information requires amendment. If we do not agree that there are grounds for amendment then, at your request, we will add a note to the personal information stating that you disagree with it.

If you would like a copy of your personal information, please send a request to us in writing so we can confirm your identity. You can do this by email or mail (see below). Where we hold information that you are entitled to access, we will try to provide you with suitable means of accessing it (for example, by mailing or emailing it to you). There may be instances where we cannot grant you access to the personal information we hold. If we cannot give you access to your information, we will explain the reason in writing.  Note that we will need to verify your identity before giving you with access to your personal information.

Please contact us if:

• You have a question about our Privacy Policy
• You wish to access the personal information we hold about you
• You no longer want us to contact you for marketing purposes
• You have a complaint about how we have managed your personal information

You may do so by speaking with one of our staff, calling, emailing or sending a letter to Participate Australia or by sending us a message via the online form.

Privacy Officer

Participate Australia Ltd
PO Box 210 Croydon NSW 2132

Phone: 02 9799 4333
Email: enquiries@participateaustralia.com.au

What will happen if I make a complaint?

If you consider that your privacy has been breached, please contact our Privacy Officer using the contact information above and provide details of the incident so that we can investigate it.

We request that our complaints about breaches of privacy be made in writing, so we can be sure about details of the complaint. Our Privacy Officer deals with privacy complaints and any complaints should be directed to our Privacy Officer using the contact details below.

Once we have received your complaint, we will usually contact you within 3 business days to discuss it with you. We may need up to 3 weeks to investigate and resolve your complaint.

However if you are not satisfied with how we handled your complaint, you may complain to Participate Australia’s Chief Executive Officer or the President of the Board, or the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner by phoning 1300 363 992 or lodging an online complaint through oaic.gov.au

Changes to our privacy policy

We may change this privacy policy from time to time.  Any updated versions of this privacy policy will be posted on our website.  Please review it regularly.

This privacy policy was last updated on [13 October 2021].