Future of Income Management – Privacy 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 and handling of your personal information, as required by the Privacy Act.
Purpose of this consultation
The Government is consulting on the future of Income Management across Australia (The Future of Income Management). Any decisions regarding the future of Income Management will be based on consultation with key stakeholders including states, territories and communities.
The Department wants to hear directly from people to provide advice back to government to inform future policies, including what the future of Income Management could look like.
We want to hear from people about:
- the role of Income Management in your community
- whether individuals or communities want to keep a form of Income Management
- how voluntary Income Management could work in each community
- what help and support is needed to move away from compulsory Income Management
The Department’s intention is for individuals who wish to provide feedback to not identify themselves or make themselves identifiable. However, even where individuals choose to remain anonymous, it is possible that the individual may still be identifiable due to various factors (for example, if you include personal information in your response). It is also possible that other individuals may be identified, or reasonably identifiable, from the information you provide in your response.
Where we are able to identify, or can reasonably identify, you or another person from your response we will handle your response in accordance with the Privacy Act as it will be ‘personal information’ that has been collected by the Department.
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. This applies whether the personal information is true or not or recorded in a material form or not. For example, personal information can include an individual’s name, signature, residential address, phone number, email address, date of birth, photographs, employment information, location information from mobile devices and internet protocol addresses.
‘Sensitive information’ is a subset of personal information. It includes information or an opinion about an individual’s 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. Health information includes any information regarding whether an individual has a disability and the nature of their disability.
Who is collecting your personal information?
Your personal information is being collected by the Department and by Services Australia, who will be assisting the Department with some of the information technology aspects of the consultation.
What personal information we collect
Individuals
Through your participation in the consultation, we may collect a range of personal information, some of which could be sensitive information.
The information we will require includes your views on the Income Management Review and the questions posed in the consultation discussion paper.
Please note that we are not seeking that you provide any personal or sensitive information and ask that you do not provide this information.
When providing your views on the Income Management Review, if you provide your:
- first or full name; or
- identify yourself through information you provide about your circumstances or experiences; or
- identify other people either by name or indirectly through other information you provide, such as family relationship or role in a community;
- you are providing personal information and possibly sensitive information.
If you include personal information or sensitive information in your response it may be included in internal reports prepared by the Department but in a form which will not identify you.
When you interact with our website, the Department also collects technical information including the IP address for the device you are using
How we collect your personal 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 information
Your personal information is collected for the purposes of informing the recommendations to the Minister for Social Services for the future of Income Management, which includes:
- Considering options for the future of Income Management policies;
- Understanding key themes and what us needed for future change; and
- understanding peoples experiences of Income Management.
Responses collected as part of this consultation will be summarised in an aggregated and de-identified format into a report, which will be provided to the Minister for Social Services.
Publication of consultation reports will be a decision for Government.
Who we disclose your 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 response, including your personal information, to the following people, organisations or third parties:
- the entity contracted to provide the consultation project and development of thematic reporting ETM Perspective (ETMP).
- 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. This may include, for example, if a response raises serious concerns about the welfare of any person.
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 in aggregated statistics.
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 (such as entities contracted to provide services to assist us with the Strategy) will be handled in accordance with the Privacy Act and stored in accordance with agreed security protocols.
More information
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.