Privacy Notice
Review of the Social Services and Other Legislative Amendment (Simplifying Income Reporting and Other Measures) Act 2020 (Cth)
Your personal information is protected by law, including under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (the Privacy Act).
This Privacy Collection Notice is designed to ensure you are aware of certain matters in relation to the collection of your personal information, as required by the Privacy Act.
About this consultation
The Department of Social Services (department, we, us) is currently inviting participants to provide their views on the change of reporting income requirements under the Social Services and Other Legislative Amendment (Simplifying Income Reporting and Other Measures) Act 2000 (Cth) (the Consultation).
This Consultation forms the basis of an independent review of the Social Services and Other Legislative Amendment (Simplifying Income Reporting and Other Measures) Act 2000 (Cth) (the Act), which changed the way that people receiving social security payments report how much money they receive from an employer (the Paid Income Model, in comparison to the previous Earned Income Model).
Participants are invited to provide their views in two ways:
- by completing the following short survey; and/or
- by lodging a written submission after completing the survey.
To comply with the Act, the department is required to engage an independent reviewer to undertake a review into the transition to the Paid Income Model. The department has engaged KPMG Australia (KPMG), a professional services firm, to conduct this review.
Please note that Services Australia will be assisting the department with some of the IT aspects of the Consultation.
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 personal information we are collecting
Survey
Through your participation in the Consultation, we will collect a range of your personal information (some of which could be sensitive information) including:
- identity details relating to your gender, your age, whether you identify as having a disability, your ethnicity, and your geographic and demographic information; and
- your personal views about the change from the Earned Income Model to the Paid Income Model.
As part of this survey, you are not asked to provide any personal details that will or may reasonably identify you or another person, such as a name, phone number, email address, or residential/ postal address. Where you or another person is able to be identified (or where you or another person are reasonably identifiable) from your response, your response will be handled in accordance with the Privacy Act as it will be ‘personal information’.
There are no questions in this survey that are compulsory, and you are not required to provide an answer to all questions in order to submit your response to the survey. If you do not provide your personal information (which includes the “identity details” noted above), we will still be able consider your views as part of this Consultation and your identity will remain anonymous. Please only provide information that you are comfortable to disclose.
Written submission
You are not asked to provide any personal details that will or may reasonably identify you or another person, such as a name, phone number, email address, or residential/ postal address. Where you or another person is able to be identified (or where you or another person are reasonably identifiable) from your response, your response will be handled in accordance with the Privacy Act as it will be ‘personal information’.
If you choose to make a separate written submission, we will ask whether you would like your submission to be published on DSS Engage after the Consultation period has closed. If you agree to your submission being published, we may redact parts of your submission before publishing it, as appropriate. This may occur in circumstances where the submission contains information that is not relevant to this Consultation, it contains personal or sensitive information, could potentially defame others, or is offensive in nature.
Where you make a written submission on behalf of an organisation, you are confirming that you have authority to do so and that you have authority to agree to publication of the submission (where you have agreed to this).
Why we collect your personal information
This consultation forms the basis of the review into the change of income reporting requirements from the Earned Income Model to the Paid Income Model under the Act.
Survey responses and written submissions 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 Families and Social Services and then tabled in Parliament.
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.
Storage of personal information (and the disposal of information when no longer required) is managed by the department in accordance with the Australian Government records management regime, including the Archives Act 1983 (Cth), agency-specific records authorities and general records authorities. This ensures your personal information is held securely.
All personal information collected is held 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.
For information about the way that KPMG handles your personal information, including how it stores your personal information, please refer to KPMG’s Privacy Policy.
Who we disclose your personal information to
We may disclose your personal information to the following people, organisations or third parties:
- KPMG, which is contracted by the department to conduct an independent review of the change from the Earned Income Model to the Paid Income Model;
- other entities contracted to provide services to assist us with the review of the change from the Earned Income Model to the Paid Income Model, where required (which may include entities contracted to the department to provide information technology, accessibility, analysis and editing services);
- the Minister for Families and Social Services, including individuals that are working within the Minister’s office;
- individuals within agencies, organisations and bodies that will be working with the department on the review, including Ministers and their staff, state and territory governments, and advisory groups to the Australian Government;
- Services Australia, for the purposes of assisting the department to administer the DSS Engage Survey and providing the department with other information technology services; and
- other parties where the disclosure is authorised by law..
All entities contracted by us are subject to strict confidentiality, privacy and security obligations.
If your submission raises specific comments in relation to a serious threat to the life, health or safety of any individual, or to public health or safety, your submission may be referred to the appropriate enforcement agency for the purpose of lessening or preventing a serious threat to the life, health or safety of any individual, or to public health or safety, in accordance with the Privacy Act.
No information about you will be disclosed overseas.
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.
More information about how KPMG will handle your personal information is set out in its Privacy Policy.
Confirmation and consent
This section only applies if you are providing sensitive information as part of your consultation response. Please note that you do not need to provide your sensitive information if you do not wish to do so.
By providing your sensitive information as part of this Consultation, you consent to the department and KPMG collecting and handling your sensitive information in accordance with this Privacy Notice.