Consultation period

20 September 2024 - 12:00 am To 5 December 2024 - 11:59 pm

Privacy Collection Notice Consultation Events

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 us to carry out our functions. More information about how we handle your personal information is set out in our Privacy Policy.

This privacy collection notice aims to ensure you are aware of certain matters in relation our collection of your personal information, as required by the Privacy Act.

What is the purpose of the collection?

The Australian and State and Territory Government are seeking the views of the disability community to inform the design and delivery of Foundational Supports and a Foundational Supports Strategy.

Information provided to the Department during face to face and online engagements will be used by the Department and The Social Deck, the Department’s contracted service provider for this project, to inform the development of Foundational Supports.

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

You can choose to participate in face to face or online engagements with a pseudonym (a fake name). For online consultations, you can participate with your camera off.

Identifying information, such as names, will be omitted for the purposes of maintaining privacy during consultation analysis and reporting to the Department.

Through your participation in face to face and online consultation events, The Social Deck, on behalf of the Department will collect a range of information, if you choose to share it:

  • Your first and last name, at the time of event registration.
  • If you speak online during an event, your name (or pseudonym) as part of the automated transcription process,
  • If you speak, your voice will be recorded as part of the event’s video recording.
  • Your appearance, as part of the event’s video recording (this may reveal your gender, race, age, Indigenous or Torres Strait Islander status etc.).
  • Your personal experiences, that you choose to share.

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 the primary carer of a person who is incapable of providing consent.

How we collect and use your personal information

The Social Deck and the Department will collect your personal information, for the purpose of informing the development of Foundational Supports.

The Social Deck will collect your personal information to:

  • Facilitate your attendance in face to face and online events; and
  • analyse the input and results of community consultations.
  • The Social Deck will share with us de-identified and aggregated information that is collected during the consultation. to i

if you choose to participate in face to face or online consultation events. The Social Deck, on behalf of the Department, will collect your personal information by:

  • Recording your registration details for consultation events
  • Taking notes of what people choose to share during events; and,
  • Recording video and audio of the consultations and keeping transcripts of what was said during events.

The Social Deck may use Zoom or similar application to hold and record the online consultations.

The Department will use your information to help develop Foundational Supports. The Department will also analyse any de-identified and aggregated personal information collected by The Social Deck to inform the development of Foundational Supports.

Who we disclose your personal information to

We may disclose your personal information to the following people, organisations or third parties:

  • The Social Deck
  • The Department of Social Services
  • Other parties where the disclosure is required or authorised by law.

All entities contract by the Department are subject to strict confidentiality, privacy and security obligations.

Managing preferences

When participating in consultation events, you may choose to use a pseudonym (a fake name). Alternatively, if you are concerned about sharing your personal information, you may contact foundationalsupports@thesocialdeck.com to discuss alternative consultation options.

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

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 or foundational.supports@dss.gov.au.

Confirmation and consent

You consent to the Social Deck, on behalf of the Department, and the Department collecting your personal information and handling your personal information in accordance with this Privacy Collection Notice by:

  • providing your personal information when registering for a consultation event
  • providing your personal information when participating in a consultation event.