The Future of Supported Employment Discussion Paper – Privacy Collection Notice
Your personal information is protected by law, including under the Privacy Act 1988 (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.
Purpose of this Consultation
The Australian Government is releasing a discussion paper on the future of supported employment (the Consultation). The purpose of this paper is to seek feedback on the design of new supported employment initiatives committed in the 2023-24 Budget.
The discussion paper includes a number of discussion questions to guide (but not limit) your feedback. You can share your views by addressing some or all of the questions outlined in the Discussion Paper, or you may choose to provide us with your feedback and thoughts without responding to any particular discussion question.
As part of the Consultation, we do not ask for you to provide your name, phone number or address. However, as submissions are to be emailed to the Department directly, submissions may include your name, email address and other identity details. The Department’s intention is for participants to not be identified or be reasonably identifiable. However, this may not always be possible due to various factors (e.g. free text boxes and the nature of the questions). Where we are able to identify you (or reasonably identify you) from your response, we will handle your response in accordance with the Privacy Act as it will be ‘personal information’.
The Department does not intend to publish submissions on DSS Engage and your personal information will not be disclosed overseas.
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 we collect
Through your participation of the Consultation, we may collect a range of your personal information (some of which could be sensitive information) including your:
- name
- organisation name
- email address; and
- views on the future of supported employment.
We may also collect personal information from you if you include the personal information in your responses to questions.
How we collect your information
Your personal information relating to your personal views will be collected if you choose to participate in the Consultation. We will do this by collecting information from you directly through an email submission.
Why we collect your personal information
Your personal information is collected for the purposes of seeking feedback on the design of the new supported employment initiatives.
If you do not provide your personal information (including sensitive information), we will still be able to consider your views as part of this Consultation process and your identity will remain anonymous.
Some of the information collected by us from our targeted or public consultations or surveys has research value in developing policies that extend beyond the specific consultation or survey for which it was originally collected. Where this is the case, the information that we collect from this consultation may be used for our other research purposes. In doing so, we will apply the Australian Privacy Principles to the handling of any personal information.
Who we disclose your personal information to
Your response and any personal information or sensitive information collected from this Consultation process is accessible to Department staff involved in the relevant Consultation process.
We may disclose your personal information to the following people, organisations or third parties:
- entities contracted to provide services to assist us with developing supported employment initiatives;
- Services Australia, for the purposes of assisting the Department to administer DSS Engage and providing the Department with other information technology services; and
- other parties where the disclosure is required or authorised by law. If we receive information in response to this Consultation that indicates there is a risk of harm to the respondent or another person, we are required to report it under Australian Law. This may include referral to the relevant state or territory authorities, in line with the relevant state, territory and Commonwealth legislation.
All entities contracted by us are subject to strict confidentiality, privacy and security obligations.
Any other outputs or reports produced will be de-identified before disclosure or distribution.
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, 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
More information about how we handle your personal information is set out in our Privacy Policy. Our Privacy Policy contains more information about 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
Confirmation and consent
By providing personal information as part of your Consultation response, you consent to the Department’s collection and handling of personal information in accordance with this collection notice and the Department’s Privacy Policy.
Please note that you do not need to provide sensitive information if you do not wish to do so.
By providing sensitive information as part of your Consultation response, you consent to the Department collecting your sensitive information and handling your sensitive information in accordance with this collection notice and the Department’s Privacy Policy.