Introduction
The Australian Breastfeeding Association (ABA) is a non-profit organisation offering counselling, information, education and support services to the community. It has many sectors and activities. Through these varied operations, ABA gathers information from members and other people to enable delivery of services and to improve the nature of the services provided. ABA understands individuals’ concerns regarding confidentiality and takes seriously its obligations in respect of all information it gathers. The Australian Breastfeeding Association is committed to being consistent to both its mission and the laws of Australia. It therefore seeks to abide by the Privacy Act 1988.
Privacy policy framework
This framework ensures the organisation including all its employees, volunteers with office bearing positions, sectors and activities collect, use, hold, correct and disclose personal information in a manner that conforms to the amended Privacy Act 1988.
Privacy policy
All personal information collected by all sectors of the Australian Breastfeeding Association will comply with the National Privacy Principles as detailed below and as amended from time to time.
How and why we collect personal information
a) Nature of information:
– The information we collect in most cases relates to our customers and members but can relate to suppliers and other parties with which we deal.
– Personal Information is gathered for a range of purposes, including: the provision of information; provision of counselling, group& association services; the compiling of membership lists; and internal fundraising within the association.
– In this policy ‘personal information’ means any information or opinion about an individual from which her/his identity is apparent or can reasonably be ascertained.
b) Collection of information:
– In accordance with the NPPs, where practical, you may deal with us on an anonymous basis. However, as a provider of a wide range of services, we frequently find that it is necessary to collect personal information during the course of providing our services.
– Personal information is collected directly from you when you provide this information by phone or in documents such as applications forms.
– When personal information is collected from you, you will be advised at the time of collection or as soon as practical after its collection as to: the purpose of collection and the fact that you can gain access to the Personal Information.
c) Sensitive information:
– As a provider of information and counselling services we may need to collect personal health information or other sensitive information about you to provide our services to you. We will only ask you for information where we believe it is necessary for us to know that information in the course of providing our services.
What we do with your information
You may request that your personal information not be used for the purpose of fundraising for the association by contacting ABA’s Privacy Officer. In general only volunteers with office – bearing positions and employees of ABA may view your personal information. We will only grant access to other parties other than our volunteers with office bearing positions and employees of ABA to view personal information where we believe that it is necessary and in your best interests for those people to view that personal information.
ABA will only disclose personal information to parties other than our volunteers with office bearing positions and employees of ABA if: that disclosure is required to give effect to the purpose for which we collected the Personal Information; you have consented to that disclosure; we believe that the disclosure may lessen a risk of harm to the health or safety of any person; we believe that unlawful activity is being undertaken and Personal Information is disclosed as part of our investigation into this activity; we are required by law to disclose this activity; the disclosure is required for the enforcement of a criminal law or a law imposing a pecuniary penalty or for the protection of public revenue; or the third party is ABA’s agent or contractor and is required by us to keep that personal information confidential and will only use that information for the purpose for which it is disclosed.
Quality and security of personal information
We will take reasonable steps to ensure that personal information is accurate and provide opportunities for individuals to update their personal information.
Personal Information is stored in both hard copy and on computer. Reasonable steps will be taken to ensure that hard copies of personal information and personal information stored on computers are secure.
We regularly delete, destroy or de-identify personal information if the information is no longer needed by us.
Openness
Contact ABA head office for any further information about the Privacy Policy, or call 03 9885 0855. Further information on privacy can be obtained from the Privacy Commissioner.
How to access and correct your personal information
You can update your personal information at any time by contacting our Privacy Officer. You may access your Personal Information by contacting ABA’s Privacy Officer. Access is generally granted within 30 days of that request.
We may impose a reasonable charge for access to cover administration costs.
A request by an individual to access their personal information may be withheld in a certain number of limited circumstances, as per the Privacy Act 1988.
Where ABA does withhold personal information, we may instead choose to give you a summary of that information.
Identifiers
ABA does not use any prohibited identifiers (for example tax file or health care card numbers).
Anonymity
You are able to access ABA’s counselling service anonymously. However personal information may be collected if you access other ABA services or activities.
Trans-border data flows
Although it is not usual for ABA to transfer personal information overseas, if personal information is transferred overseas, we will wherever practical obtain your written consent before doing so. If obtaining your consent is not practical, then the information may still be transferred if, as part of the agreement for the transfer of that information, the other organisation agrees to comply with ABA’s privacy policy.
Modifications to this document
ABA may modify this Privacy Policy and the way it handles personal information at any time at its sole discretion. Such modifications will be consistent with current privacy legislation.