Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy - Ballarat East Neighbourhood House

You can read and download all policies and procedures for the Ballarat East Neighbourhood House online.

Privacy Statement

The Ballarat East Neighbourhood House will use the information provided in our registration forms to communicate with the registered participant about the activity in which they have enrolled (for example: confirming activity details, finalising payments, changes such as cancellations or substitute teachers and priority enrolment opportunities for future activities). Where an email address has been provided, we will use your personal information to send you our regular email update and we may also send occasional extra communications about our activities, opportunities, relevant issues and about the Ballarat East Neighbourhood House more broadly. You may choose to opt out of the email updates. The Ballarat East Neighbourhood House's Privacy Policy is available at ballarateastnh.org.au/about-us/policies-procedures/privacy-policy-full. The policy contains important information about how you can access and request correction of information we hold about you, how you may complain about a breach of the Australian Privacy Principles and how the Ballarat East Neighbourhood House will deal with any privacy complaint. If you have any questions, our contact details are email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., phone: 0422 612 052 or post: Barkly Square: Wadawurrung Country, 25-39 Barkly Street, Ballarat East, 3350 or PO Box 1443, Ballarat East, 3354

Policy Declaration

Ballarat East Neighbourhood House (BENH) is committed to protecting and upholding the right to privacy of BENH users, staff,
Committee of Management (CoM) members and representatives of agencies we deal with. In particular, BENH is committed to protecting and upholding the rights of our users and staff to privacy in the way we collect, store and use information about them, their needs and the services we provide to them.

Policy Description

Application

This policy requires staff and CoM members to be consistent and careful in the way they manage what is written and said about individuals and how they decide who can see or hear this information.

This policy applies to:

  • all records – whether hard copy or electronic – containing personal information about individuals and to interviews or discussions of a sensitive personal nature.
  • the whole BENH website and services provided and documentation completed via the website. By accessing the BENH website, you are agreeing that your usage is subject to this Policy.

Background

BENH will follow the guidelines of the Australian Privacy Principles (APP) as set out in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (amended by the Privacy Amendment (Enhancing Privacy Protection) Act 2012).

To comply with our obligations under the APP, we have a Privacy Policy which sets out how we manage privacy in our organisation. For more information please contact the Manager for more information about the policy.

Objectives
BENH will ensure:

  • It meets its legal and ethical obligations as an employer and service provider in relation to protecting the privacy of BENH users and organisational personnel.
  • Users are provided with information about their rights regarding privacy.
  • Users and organisational personnel are provided with privacy when they are being interviewed or discussing matters of a personal or sensitive nature.
  • All staff, CoM members and volunteers understand what is required in meeting these obligations.
  • This policy conforms to the federal Privacy Act (1988) and the National Privacy Principles which govern the collection, use and storage of personal information. (Note: The Federal Privacy Act does not apply to organisations with an annual turnover
    under $3m, but many funding contracts require that funded organisations comply with the Privacy Principles).

Related Policies and Procedures

  • Code of Conduct Policy
  • Code of Ethics Policy
  • Social Media Policy
  • Recruitment and Appointment of Staff Policy
  • Feedback and Grievance Policy
  • Incident Reporting and Response Policy

Privacy Procedures

Dealing with Personal Information

In dealing with personal information, BENH staff will:

  • ensure privacy for BENH users, staff, volunteers and CoM members when they are being interviewed or discussing matters of a personal or sensitive nature.
  • only collect and store personal information that is necessary for the functioning of the organisation and its activities.
  • use fair and lawful ways to collect personal information.
  • collect personal information only by consent from an individual.
  • ensure people know what sort of personal information is held, for what purposes it is held and how it was collected, used, disclosed and who will have access to it.
  • ensure personal information collected or disclosed is accurate, complete and up-todate and will provide access to any individual to review information or correct wrong information about themselves.
  • take reasonable steps to protect all personal information from misuse and loss and from unauthorised access, modification, or disclosure.
  • destroy or permanently de-identify personal information no longer needed and/or after legal requirements for retaining documents have expired.

Responsibilities for Managing Privacy

All staff are responsible for the management of personal information to which they have access and in the conduct of research, consultation, or advocacy work.

The Manager is responsible for content in BENH publications, communications and website and must ensure the following:

  • Appropriate consent is obtained for the inclusion of any personal information about any individual including BENH personnel.
  • Information being provided by other agencies or external individuals conforms to privacy principles.
  • That the website contains a privacy statement that makes clear the conditions of any collection of personal information from the public through their visit to the website.

The Manager is responsible for safeguarding personal information relating to BENH staff, CoM members, volunteers, contractors and BENH members.

Privacy Information for BENH Users

Prior to the initial interview, BENH users will be told by staff what information is being collected, how their privacy will be protected and their rights in relation to this information.

Privacy for Interviews and Personal Discussions
To ensure privacy for BENH users or staff when discussing sensitive or personal matters, the organisation will:

  • conduct all BENH user interviews in the specified interview rooms.
  • make phone calls relating to BENH users in the privacy of their offices.
  • provide private rooms for all outreach BENH user interviews.
  • respect BENH users’ privacy when attending outreach locations.

Participants in Research Projects

People being invited to participate in a research project must be:

  • given a choice about participating.
  • given the right to withdraw at any time.
  • informed about the purpose of the research project, the information to be collected and how information they provide will be used.
  • given copies of any subsequent publications.


The collection of personal information will be limited to that which is required for the conduct of the project. Individual participants will not be identified.

Organisational participants in research projects will generally be identified in BENH research, unless the nature of a particular project requires anonymity, or an organisation specifically requests it.

Ballarat East Neighbourhood House Online

BENH has a website and BENH-identified spaces on blogs and social networking sites such as Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. The BENH website refers to this privacy policy and conditions-of-use statement, both of which are linked from the footer of
every page on the website. BENH also uses third party software (TidyHQ, Mailchimp, etc.) to manage some activities and endeavours at all times to ensure your personal information is secure.

The website provides online services requiring users to provide personal information. Personal details are maintained on secure servers. Sometimes BENH also invites people to submit comments, photos, or stories via forms on the website. Although users are
encouraged not to identify people, the stories may include some personal information. Whenever BENH collects such content, individuals are informed about the purposes for which their content will be used (for example, publication on the website).

Cookies

The BENH website uses ‘cookies’. A cookie is a small data structure sent from a web server to the internet browser and saved on your hard drive as a text file. The information is made up of a string of letters and numbers which uniquely identifies your computer and any username or password you may have already registered on the BENH website. The information collected is used to authenticate or identify whether you are registered on the BENH website, without requiring you to re-enter details each time you log on to the website.

Most web browsers are set to accept cookies. If you do not wish to receive cookies, you can disable this function or delete existing cookies in your web browser, although doing so may restrict access to or use of some of the pages on the BENH website.
Cookies are not used to collect and store your personal information. Cookies store information such as your server address, your top level domain name, the date and the time of your visit to a website, the pages you accessed and downloaded, the address of
the last website you visited and the type of browser you are using. If you choose to personalise the BENH website, the cookies will also enable the BENH website to remember your preferred settings for your subsequent visits.

BENH uses this information for monitoring website use to facilitate website management, development and planning.

Online Forms

If you provide personal details during your visit to the BENH website, then BENH only use and disclose your personal information for the purpose for which it was collected. Any other type of use and disclosure will require your consent or be in accordance with
prescribed exemptions under privacy laws.

For example, if you complete an online form requesting services, unless you give consent to your personal details being used for other purposes, then those details will only be used for the purpose of requesting that service, for a secondary related purpose, or for another that falls within one of the exemptions of use and disclosure in the privacy legislation.

Security of Transactions on the BENH Website

BENH recognises there are risks associated with transmitting information across the Internet and has implemented procedures to maximise security where transactions are undertaken on the website. In these areas, information such as your credit details are not
stored on our Internet server.

Google Analytics

Our website uses Google Analytics, a service which transmits website traffic data to Google servers in the United States. Google Analytics does not identify individual users or associate your IP address with any other data held by Google. We use reports provided by Google Analytics to help us understand website traffic and webpage usage.

By using the BENH website, you consent to the processing of data about you by Google in the manner described in Google’s Privacy Policy and for the purposes set out above. You can opt out of Google Analytics if you disable or refuse the cookie, disable JavaScript, or use the opt-out service provided by Google.

Linking to Other Sites

This Privacy Policy does not extend beyond the BENH website. When linking to other sites you should familiarise yourself with their website privacy statements.

The Privacy Contact Officer

The Privacy Contact Officer is the Manager. The Manager is responsible for:

  • ensuring all staff are familiar with the Privacy Policy and administrative procedures for handling personal information.
  • ensuring BENH users and other relevant individuals are provided with information about their rights regarding privacy.
  • handling any queries or complaints about a privacy issue.

How to gain access to your personal information

BENH will provide you with access to personal information acquired or presented about you on the BENH website for the purpose of verification and correction.

If you wish to enquire about the use of your personal information, contact us at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Or
Manager
Ballarat East Neighbourhood House
PO Box 1443, Ballarat East 3354
0422 612 052