National Principles for the Regulation of Assistance Animals – Privacy notice
Privacy for email submissions
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.
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.
In making your submission through DSS Engage, you will be asked for your consent for the Department of Social Services to collect and handle your personal information in accordance with this Privacy Notice.
What is the purpose of the consultation?
Regulatory schemes governing assistance animals are the responsibility of state and territory governments. However, there are inconsistencies across states and territories for the regulation of assistance animals resulting in adverse consequences for people with disability who use assistance animals.
We have developed a set of Assistance Animal Principles to facilitate a nationally consistent approach to the regulation and accreditation of assistance animals. The Assistance Animal Principles are not intended to legally bind the States and Territories. Rather, State and Governments may have regard to the Assistance Animal Principles when developing laws and policies on the regulation and accreditation of assistance animals to achieve consistency across Australian jurisdictions.
What is the purpose of the collection?
We are seeking the views of the public to further develop the Assistance Animal Principles to achieve a nationally consistent approach for the regulation of assistance animals across Australia (to the extent possible).
We will use the information you give us in this consultation to further develop these Assistance Animal Principles. Where you have provided us with your consent, we may also include parts of your submission (including direct quotes) in our consultation report. Otherwise, we will summarise the information in a de-identified format into a report
We may also share de-identified information that we have collected in this consultation with:
- relevant stakeholders (such as the Australian Autism Alliance), and
- State and Territory Governments.
for the purposes of further developing the Assistance Animal Principles
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 questions are optional and you do not have to provide answers.
As part of the Consultation, we will not ask you to provide identifying information such as your name, phone number or address. However, any submissions emailed to the Department may include your name, email address and other identifying information You might also be identifiable from other information that you include in your response to the consultation or in your submission.
In making your submission through DSS Engage, we will ask for information about you, including:
- If you are a person with disability, or a carer, parent or family of a person with disability
- If you use an assistance animal
- What state or territory you live in
- What region type you live in
- If you identify as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- If you identify as Culturally or Linguistically Diverse (CALD)
- If you are responding on behalf of an organisation, the name of your organisation
- Your personal experiences, that you choose to share
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.
Please only provide information about other individuals where they have consented to you sharing the information with us or you are otherwise authorised to disclose the information to us (for example you are a parent or guardian to a child or are the primary carer of a person who does not have capacity to consent). Where appropriate, please provide a copy of this privacy notice to that individual.
How we collect and use your personal information
The Department may collect your personal information for the purpose of developing the Assistance Animal Principles. If we do collect personal information, we will usually collect it directly from you or someone you authorise to share it with us.
We will not publish your written submissions at the end of the public consultation period without your consent. In making your written submission through DSS Engage, you will also be asked if you consent to the Department publishing your submission with:
- your name
- your name and/or name of the organisation you represent, or
- anonymously,
Where you have provided your consent for publication, the submissions will be published on the Engage.dss.gov.au website. Prior to publication of your submission, the department will take steps to redact any personal information that you have not consented to the release of (such as your name, and personal information related to other individuals). Otherwise, we may summarise your submissions in a de-identified format into a report that we publish.
We may also use the information in your submissions to inform our discussions with state and territory governments and other stakeholders, such as advocacy bodies. In doing so, we will not disclose your personal information or information that could reasonably identify you.
If you have given consent for us to publish your submission, but later change your mind, you can contact us to withdraw your consent by emailing Sector.Engagement@dss.gov.au. Please note that once we publish your submission on DSS Engage, it may remain in the public domain even if we remove it from the DSS Engage Platform.
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.
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.
Confirmation and consent
You consent to the Department collecting your personal information and handling your personal information in accordance with this Privacy Collection Notice by:
- providing your personal information when participating in this consultation.