Draft National Autism Strategy – 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 Department is inviting stakeholders and community members to share their views on the Draft National Autism Strategy (draft Strategy) by completing a survey which will also influence prioritisation and implementation of the final Strategy.
The draft Strategy has been informed by a national consultation process, involving Autistic people and their families and carers, to ensure the voices of Autistic people and the community are heard.
This consultation process will include a simple survey on the DSS Engage page, which will collect demographic data on those surveyed, as well as questions with a ranking scale. To allow for more detailed and/or complex views to be shared by stakeholders, the survey will also include a free text section.
As part of the Consultation, we do not require you to provide your name, phone number or address. However, any responses emailed to the Department directly will 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 a range of factors (e.g., free text boxes and the nature of the questions). Where we can identify you (or reasonably identify you) from your response, we will handle your response in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (the Privacy Act) as it will be ‘personal information’.
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 in this Consultation, we may collect a range of personal information, some of which could be sensitive information.
The personal information we will collect includes your views on the draft Strategy.
The personal information we will ask for, includes:
- Age
- Gender
- whether you are a community member or represent a government, non-government, or not-for-profit organisation.
- location information, such as the state or territory you live in and the type of geographic location (for example, remote/ regional/ metropolitan).
- First nations status
- Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD)
- Disability Status
- LGBTQIA+ status
We may also collect personal information from you if you include personal information in your submission.
Organisations
Through your participation in this Consultation, we will collect your full name, work email address, and the name of the organisation that you are making the submission on behalf of, as well as location information, such as the state or territory you live in and the type of geographic location (for example, remote/ regional/ metropolitan) and target demographic . Your ‘personal information’ will be handled in accordance with the Privacy Act and this Notice, and in accordance with the Department’s broader Privacy Policy.
How we collect your information
If your personal information is collected, we will do this by collecting information from your response to the Consultation (which is undertaken through the Department’s website: Engage.dss.gov.au).
Why we collect your personal information.
This Consultation will inform the development of the final Strategy.
Survey responses collected as part of the Consultation will be summarised in an aggregated and de-identified format into a report which will be provided to the Minister for Social Services, policy areas, other relevant Government agencies and third parties assisting us in developing the final Strategy and may be published on the Engage.dss.gov.au website.
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.
Individuals
If you do not provide your ‘personal information’ (including sensitive information, such as the optional information we ask for), we will still be able to consider your views as part of this Consultation process and your identity will remain anonymous, provided you do not provide information which can identify you when providing any views in the free text section.
Organisations
If you are making a submission on behalf of an organisation, you are asked to provide your name, email address, and the name of your organisation. If this information is not provided, you are unable to prepare a response on behalf of the named organisation. You may, alternatively, wish to prepare a response as an individual.
Where you prepare a response on behalf of an organisation, you are confirming that you have authority to do so.
Who we disclose your personal information to
Your response and any personal information or sensitive information collected from this Consultation process is accessible to staff at the Department, who are involved in the relevant Consultation process.
We may disclose your response, including your personal information, to the following people, organisations or third parties:
- Minister for Social Services, Employees of the Minister’s office, policy areas, other relevant Government agencies and third parties assisting us developing the Strategy.
- entities contracted to provide services to assist us developing the final Strategy (which may include entities contracted to the Department analysing and reporting on Consultation responses and consultation submissions in an aggregated way, or providing information technology, accessibility, analysis and editing services).
- 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.
All entities contracted by us are subject to strict confidentiality, privacy, and security obligations. If you have any concerns about the disclosure of your information to these entities, please contact complaints@dss.gov.au.
Any demographic information you provide in your Consultation response will only be used for internal analysis, and will not be published, except as aggregated statistics.
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.
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 privacy@dss.gov.au.
Confirmation and consent
This section only applies if you are providing sensitive information as part of your consultation response.
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 your 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.