DSS Engage Consultation – APP 5 Privacy Collection Notice
Your personal information is protected by law, including under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act).
The Department of Social Services (Department, we, us, our) collects personal information about individuals for a range of purposes to enable it to carry out its functions. More information about how we handle your personal information is set out in our Privacy Policy.
This Privacy Collection Notice is designed to ensure you are aware of certain matters in relation to the Department’s collection of your personal information, as required by the Privacy Act.
What is the purpose of the collection?
The Department is currently inviting people to subscribe to register their interest to receive information and updates, and alerts about engagement opportunities, on the Evidence-based Assistive Technology and supports co-design.
The subscription is facilitated by the Department and the Department does not use any third party subscription service provider. This means the Department will directly collect your personal information for the purpose of your inclusion on the subscription list.
The Department will use the subscription list to provide updates to subscribers on the co-design.
What is ‘personal information’ and ‘sensitive information’?
Personal information is information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable.
Sensitive information is a subset of personal information. It includes information or an opinion about your racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs or affiliations, philosophical beliefs, membership of associations or unions, sexual orientation or practices, criminal record, or health, genetic or biometric information.
What personal information we collect
The only mandatory personal information required to subscribe to the mailing list is your email address. There is an option to provide your name and the reasons you want to receive updates about the co-design, however the provision of this information is not mandatory.
Through your participation in this subscription list, we will continue to hold the information you have provided to the Department at the time you subscribe (at a minimum, your email address) in accordance with our information storage obligations as set out below.
The Department does not intend to collect your sensitive information for this subscription list.
How we collect your personal information
We will collect information from you directly when you subscribe to the mailing list.
Why we collect your personal information
Your personal information is collected for the purpose of managing the subscription list related to the co-design. You are only required to provide your email address to subscribe to the mailing list. If you do not provide your email address, we will not be able to add you to the subscription list to receive updates on the co-design.
Who we disclose your personal information to
We may also disclose your personal information to the following people, organisations or third parties:
- entities contracted to provide services to assist us with the development of the co-design (which may include entities contracted by the Department to provide updates on the development on the co-design, or entities contracted to provide information technology, accessibility, analysis and/or editing services);
- individuals within agencies, organisations and bodies that will be working with the Department on the development of the co-design, including Ministers and their staff, state and territory governments, and advisory groups to the Australian Government; and
- other parties where the disclosure is authorised by law.
All entities contracted by us are subject to strict confidentiality, privacy and security obligations.
We will not provide your personal information to anybody else, unless we are authorised or required to by law. We will not disclose your personal information to anybody overseas.
Storage of your personal information
Storage of personal information (and the disposal of information when no longer required) is managed in accordance with the Australian Government records management regime, including the Archives Act 1983 (Cth), agency-specific records authorities and general records authorities. This ensures your personal information is held securely by the Department.
All personal information collected by the Department is stored on Services Australia’s cloud storage, on servers located in Australia. Services Australia and the Department retains effective control over any personal information held on our cloud, and the information is handled in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles.
Any information disclosed to third parties will be handled in accordance with the Privacy Act and stored in accordance with agreed security protocols.
More information
The Department’s Privacy Policy contains more information about how we handle personal information, how you can access any personal information that we hold, and how to seek correction of that personal information. It also contains information about how to make a complaint about a breach of the Australian Privacy Principles, as set out in the Privacy Act.
If you have any concerns or questions, you can contact us at complaints@dss.gov.au.