AUSTRALIAN GENDER EQUALITY COUNCIL

Privacy Policy

1. General

The Australian Gender Equality Council Ltd (ABN 86 616 402 414) and its related bodies corporate (referred to in this document as we, us or our) are committed to protecting the personal information it collects from you. To the extent we are required to comply with the provisions of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs), this document sets out how we will manage your personal information.

 

2. Collection

2.1     Types of information collected

We may collect and hold personal information about you (that is, information that can identify you) that is relevant to the purposes for collection.

The kinds of information we typically collect include your name, gender, address, phone number, email address, any personal information submitted in an employment or volunteer application, social media account details and other information relevant to providing you with the services you are, or someone else you know is, seeking. We may also collect information through the use of our digital platforms including user preferences, ‘cookie’ information, and geographical location.

If you are an employment or volunteer applicant, employee or volunteer, we may collect sensitive information about you during the application process and during your engagement with us. Sensitive information is defined in the Privacy Act as health information, racial or ethnic background, sexual orientation or practices, criminal record, political opinions, membership of a political association, religious beliefs or affiliations, philosophical beliefs, membership of a professional or trade association or trade union, genetic information, biometric information, and biometric templates.

 

2.2     Method of collection

Personal information will generally be collected directly from you through the use of any of our standard forms, when you sign up to receive our email or other communications, using our website or social media accounts, registering for an event, applying for an employment or volunteer position, via email, or through a telephone conversation with you. We may also collect personal information about you from third parties acting on your behalf.

There may, however, be some instances where personal information about you will be collected indirectly because it is unreasonable or impractical to collect personal information directly from you. We will usually notify you about these instances in advance, or where that is not possible, as soon as reasonably practicable after the information has been collected.

If we receive unsolicited information about you that we did not ask for or which is not directly related to our functions or activities, we may be required to destroy or de-identify that information, provided it is lawful and reasonable to do so.

 

2.3     Purpose of collection

The personal information that we collect and hold about you depends on your interaction with us. Generally, we will collect, use and hold your personal information if it is reasonably necessary for, or directly related to, the performance of our functions and activities and for the purposes of:

  1. providing services to you or someone else you know (including provision of workshops and events);
  2. responding to your enquiries and requests for services or information;
  3. providing you with information about other services that we and other organisations that we have affiliations with, offer that may be of interest to you;
  4. providing you with information relevant to your type of business or other area of expertise or interest;
  5. facilitating our internal business operations (such as our activities of advocacy, research, education, memberships, and events), including the fulfilment of any legal requirements, the assessment of employment and volunteer applications, and maintaining employment and volunteer records; and
  6. analysing our services and customer needs with a view to developing new or improved services.

 

2.4     Failure to provide information

If the personal information you provide to us is incomplete or inaccurate, we may be unable to provide you, or someone else you know, with the services you, or they, are seeking, and we will not be able to assess your employment or volunteer application. Failure to provide all or some of the information required of an employee or volunteer may adversely affect our ability to comply with our legal obligations or your employment or volunteer engagement.

 

2.5    Internet users

If you access our website, we may collect additional personal information about you in the form of your IP address and domain name.

Our website may contain links to other websites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of linked websites and linked websites are not subject to our privacy policies and procedures.

Our website uses cookies. The main purpose of cookies is to identify users and to prepare customised web pages for them. Cookies do not identify you personally, but they may link back to a database record about you. We use cookies to monitor usage of our website and to create a personal record of when you visit our website and what pages you view so that we may serve you more effectively.

 

3. Use and disclosure

Generally, we only use or disclose personal information about you for the purposes for which it was collected (as set out above). We may disclose personal information about you to:

  1. our employees, contractors, and related and affiliated entities for the purposes of facilitating our and their internal business processes and fulfilling requests by you;
  2. third party service providers, who assist us in operating our business, and providing services to you (including payment processors, event organisers, cloud data storage suppliers, information technology service providers, mail distribution service suppliers, or professional advisers such as lawyers, accountants, and auditors) and these service providers may not be required to comply with our privacy policy;
  3. our related entities and other organisations with whom we have affiliations so that those organisations may provide you with information about services and various promotions;
  4. third parties to whom you have agreed we may disclose your information; and
  5. as otherwise permitted or required by law.

We may expand or reduce our business and this may involve the sale and/or transfer of control of all or part of our business. Personal information, where it is relevant to any part of the business for sale and/or transfer, may be disclosed to a proposed new owner or newly controlling entity for their due diligence purposes, and upon completion of a sale or transfer, will be transferred to the new owner or newly controlling party to be used for the purposes for which it was provided under this privacy policy.

We will also disclose your personal information to a third party where the personal information was collected from you for the purpose of passing that personal information on.

We won’t sell, trade, or exchange your personal information without your permission.

 

4. Disclosure of personal information overseas

We are assisted by a variety of external service providers to deliver our services, some of whom may be located overseas. These third parties are too numerous to list, and they change from time to time. Some examples of the types of third parties including technology service providers, promotion or marketing service providers who may be located in the United States of America.

You consent to this overseas disclosure and agree that by providing that consent, APP 8.1 under the Privacy Act no longer applies, and we are not required to take reasonable steps to ensure that the overseas recipient does not breach the APPs in relation to that information.

 

5. Security

We store your personal information in different ways, including in paper and in electronic form. The security of your personal information is important to us. We take all reasonable measures to ensure that your personal information is stored safely to protect it from interference, misuse, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure, including electronic and physical security measures.

Some of the personal information we collect is hosted on third party data servers located outside Australia. We take reasonable steps to ensure any third party data storage suppliers we partner with have appropriate cyber and physical security controls in place.

Where personal information we hold is no longer necessary, we delete the information or permanently de-identify it, subject to specific laws in respect of data retention.

 

6. Access and correction

You may access the personal information we hold about you, upon making a written request. We will respond to your request within a reasonable period. We may charge you a reasonable fee for processing your request (but not for making the request for access).

We may decline a request for access to personal information in circumstances prescribed by the Privacy Act, and if we do, we will give you a written notice that sets out the reasons for the refusal (unless it would be unreasonable to provide those reasons), including details of the mechanisms available to you to make a complaint.

If, upon receiving access to your personal information or at any other time, you believe the personal information we hold about you is inaccurate, incomplete or out of date, please notify us immediately. We will take reasonable steps to correct the information so that it is accurate, complete and up to date.

If we refuse to correct your personal information, we will give you a written notice that sets out our reasons for our refusal (unless it would be unreasonable to provide those reasons), including details of the mechanisms available to you to make a complaint.

 

7. Complaints and feedback

If you wish to make a complaint about a breach of the Privacy Act, the APPs or a privacy code that applies to us, please contact us using the details below and we will take reasonable steps to investigate the complaint and respond to you.

If after this process you are not satisfied with our response, you can submit a complaint to the Office of the Information Commissioner. To lodge a complaint, visit the ‘Complaints’ section of the Information Commissioner’s website, located at http://www.oaic.gov.au/privacy/privacy-complaints, to obtain the relevant complaint forms, or contact the Information Commissioner’s office.

If you have any queries or concerns about our privacy policy or the way we handle your personal information, please contact our privacy officer at:

 

Street address: PO Box 1022 Leichhardt NSW 2040
Email address: privacy@agec.org.au
Telephone: 0419 325 027
Website: www.agec.org.au

 

For more information about privacy in general, you can visit the Office of the Information Commissioner’s website at www.oaic.gov.au.