How we manage your privacy
Better Place Australia is committed to ensuring the privacy of its clients. We are also bound by the Commonwealth Privacy Act 1988 and are required by law to protect all personal and health information in accordance with Australian Privacy Principles (2014).
Why do we collect information?
It is necessary for us to collect information to:
- help us identify and provide the correct service to best meet your needs
- comply with Funding Body Data Collection requirements
- improve our services by using your de-identified information (with consent), for surveys, valuations, and research
- communicate with you on matters relating to your service delivery.
What information do we collect?
When you become a client at Better Place Australia, a client file is created which contains information such as your name, contact details and information relevant to the service provided to you such as assessments, case notes and family relationship information. Each time you attend a service new information is added to your file. Your information will be stored on a secure client management database and in your client file.
Your ‘information’, means:
- your name, address, phone numbers, email address and other contact details
- documents such as intervention orders or court orders
- referral information received from other programs within our organisation (if applicable).
How is your information protected?
We are committed to protecting the confidentiality of your information. Digital information is securely stored on our purpose built, cloud-based client record managing system to help keep data private and safe. Better Place Australia does not provide your information to people overseas (and does not use any overseas cloud or servers).
Who can access your information?
Some staff at Better Place Australia, such as administration, practitioners and managers may require access to client information in order to undertake and support various functions within the organisation. Staff must keep your information confidential and are bound by a Code of Conduct and Confidentiality agreement.
Do we disclose this information?
With consent, we may refer to other agencies. Your information will not be used for any other purpose or disclosed to any other person or agency without your specific consent, except for the following limits to confidentiality.
All personal information you share will remain confidential and secure except when:
- it is subpoenaed by a court, or;
- failure to disclose the information would place you and/or another person at risk, or;
- you disclose behaviour that breaches the law. Your information will not be provided to a third party (outside funding bodies) unless required or authorised by law, for example, to protect someone from harm.
Our programs are funded through multiple funding bodies, with data collection and regular reporting required to maintain funding compliance. Data shared with these funding bodies are non-identifiable and they do not receive your name or any other personally identifiable information about you.
Using a pseudonym or remaining anonymous
To provide our services we do need to know who you are. However there may be circumstances where you wish to use a pseudonym. Please discuss this with someone when you call us.
How long do we keep your information?
By law we are required to securely retain your file for seven years, from the last date of contact with you, before destroying it. If any of your children have attended Better Place Australia, the file will be kept until the youngest of those children turns 25 years of age, and then it will be destroyed.
How can you access your information?
Clients (past and current) may request access to information*. To submit a request, you must complete the Request to Access Client Record form.
* Refer to the Request to Access Client Records form for more information on requesting access to client records.
Can you request to correct your information?
Clients can submit a request to correct personal information that align with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC). Requests to correct personal information must be made in writing.
What do you do if you think there has been a breach of your privacy?
You can:
- phone (03) 9556 5333, email or write to the Privacy Officer, Quality Manager, Better Place Australia, PO Box 2770 Cheltenham Vic 3192
- contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner by email, or by phone: 1300 363 992, or by fax: +61 2 9284 9666 or online.
Investigations and complaints may take up to 30 days to resolve. If you wish to provide feedback or make a complaint, please call 9533 5666 or send an email.
Measuring how the website is used – cookies
We use software on this website to find out which pages are visited, for how long, on what operating systems and browsers, and from what geographical areas. This helps us understand how people use the website so that we can improve it.
Our website uses cookies (text files placed in the browser of your computer to help remember your preferences). A cookie cannot retrieve any other data from your hard drive, pass on a computer virus or capture your email address. The cookie remains on your computer as a record for future visits to this website.
The information generated by a cookie about your use of this website does not include your personal information. It does include your IP address, which is transmitted to and stored on servers in data centres within and outside Australia.
The software may also transfer this information to third parties where required to do so by law, or where third parties process the information on the software provider’s behalf.
By using this website, you consent to the processing of data about you by Google in the manner and for the purposes set out above. Find out more about Google’s privacy policy.
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