Privacy Policy

Your privacy is important

This statement outlines PSC ‘s policy on how Psychology for a Safe Climate (PSC) uses and manages personal information provided to or collected by it.

PSC is bound by the Australian Privacy Principles contained in the Commonwealth Privacy Act and is compliant with the Privacy Amendment (Enhancing Privacy Protection) Act 2012. In relation to health records, PSC is also bound by the Victorian Health Privacy Principles which are contained in the Health Records Act 2001].

PSC may, from time to time, review and update this Privacy Policy to take account of new laws and technology, changes to PSC ’s operations and practices and to make sure it remains appropriate to the changing legal environment.

This Privacy Policy assumes that you are resident in Australia.  If you are resident in the UK or Europe, please contact us for more information regarding how we treat your personal information.

Privacy when using the PSC website

Our website address is: https://psychologyforasafeclimate.org.

Comments

When visitors leave comments on our website, we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.

An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.

Media

If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.

Cookies

If you leave a comment on our website you may opt-in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.

If you visit our login page, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.

When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me”, your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.

If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day.

Embedded content from other websites

Articles on this website may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.

These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

Who we share your data with

If you request a password reset, your IP address will be included in the reset email.

How long we retain your data

If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognise and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.

For users that register on our website (if any), we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.

What rights you have over your data

If you have an account on our website, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.

Where we send your data

Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service.

What kind of personal information does PSC collect

The type of information PSC collects and holds includes (but is not limited to) personal information, including sensitive information, about:

  • Your name, address, phone number and email address
  • Your professional background, employment or qualifications

Personal Information you provide

PSC will generally collect personal information held about an individual by way of forms, phone calls or at meetings and events. You do have the right to seek to deal with us anonymously or using a pseudonym, but in almost every circumstance it will not be practicable for us to deal with you or provide any services to you except for the most general responses to general enquiries, unless you identify yourself.

In relation to employee and volunteer records

Under the Privacy Act, the Australian Privacy Principles do not apply to employee records, however they do apply to volunteer records. As a result, this Privacy Policy does not apply to the PSC ’s treatment of an employee record, where the treatment is directly related to a current or former employment relationship between the PSC and employee. However, the PSC must provide access and ensure compliance with the Health Privacy Principles under the Victorian Health Records Act 2001.

How will PSC use the personal information you provide?

PSC will use personal information it collects from you for the primary purpose of collection, and for such other secondary purposes that are related to the primary purpose of collection and reasonably expected, or to which you have consented.

In relation to direct marketing, PSC will use your personal information for direct marketing where you have provided that information, and you are likely to expect direct marketing materials. Only then you will be sent direct marketing containing an opt out. If we use your personal information obtained from elsewhere we will still send you direct marketing information where you have consented and which will also contain an opt out. We will always obtain your consent to use sensitive information as the basis for any of our direct marketing.

We may use video surveillance for security purposes and the footage will be used only by PSC and by the providers of our security services for security purposes. Surveillance videos are not used by PSC for other purposes and the footage is not publicly available. Surveillance cameras are not located in any bathrooms or change room facilities.

Job applicants, staff members and contractors

In relation to personal information of job applicants, staff members and contractors, PSC ’s primary purpose of collection is to assess and (if successful) to engage the applicant, staff member or contractor, as the case may be.

The purposes for which PSC uses personal information of job applicants, staff members and contractors include:

  • for insurance purposes;
  • to satisfy PSC ’s legal obligations


Where PSC receives unsolicited job applications these will usually be dealt with in accordance with the unsolicited personal information requirements of the Privacy Act.

Volunteers

PSC also obtains personal information about volunteers who assist PSC in its functions or conduct associated activities, such as to enable PSC and the volunteers to work together.

Marketing and fundraising

PSC sees marketing and fundraising as important for the future growth and development of the organisation. Personal information held by PSC may be disclosed to an organisation that assists in PSC’s fundraising.

Who might PSC disclose personal information to?

PSC may disclose personal information, including sensitive information, held about an individual to:

  • government departments;
  • people providing services to PSC; and
  • anyone you authorise PSC to disclose information to.

Sending information overseas

PSC will not send personal information about an individual outside Australia without:

  • obtaining the consent of the individual (in some cases this consent will be implied); or
  • otherwise complying with the Australian Privacy Principles or other applicable privacy legislation.

We do not use overseas providers of IT services including servers and cloud services.

How does PSC treat sensitive information?

In referring to ‘sensitive information’, PSC means:

“information relating to a person’s racial ethnic origin, political opinions, religion, trade union or other professional or trade association membership, sexual orientation or criminal record, that is also personal information; and health information about an individual”.

Sensitive information will be used and disclosed only for the purpose for which it was provided or a directly related secondary purpose, unless you agree otherwise, or the use or disclosure of the sensitive information is allowed by law.

Management and security of personal information

PSC’s staff are required to respect the confidentiality of personal information and the privacy of individuals.

PSC has in place steps to protect the personal information PSC holds from misuse, loss, un-authorised access, modification, interference or disclosure by use of various methods including locked storage of paper records and passworded access rights to computerised records.

We have a data breach response plan, which we would follow in the unlikely event of a privacy or data breach.

Updating personal information

PSC endeavours to ensure that the personal information it holds is accurate, complete and up-to-date. A person may seek to update their personal information held by PSC by contacting the Executive Director of PSC at any time.

The Australian Privacy Principles and the Health Privacy Principles require PSC not to store personal information longer than necessary. In particular, the Health Privacy Principles impose certain obligations about the length of time health records must be stored.

You have the right to check what personal information PSC holds about you.

Under the Commonwealth Privacy Act and the Health Records Act, an individual has the right to obtain access to any personal information which PSC holds about them and to advise PSC of any perceived inaccuracy. There are some exceptions to this right set out in the applicable legislation. To make a request to access any information PSC holds about you, please contact the Executive Director in writing.

PSC may require you to verify your identity and specify what information you require. Although no fee will be charged for accessing your personal information or making a correction, PSC may charge a fee to retrieve and copy any material. PSC If the information sought is extensive, PSC will advise the likely cost in advance.

How long will the PSC keep my information?

Under our destruction and de-identification policies, your personal information that is no longer required will be de-identified or destroyed. In many circumstances, however it will be kept for marketing purposes, as you will have consented to that in writing with us.

Enquiries and privacy complaints

If you would like further information about the way PSC manages the personal information it holds, please contact the Executive Director. If you have any concerns, complaints or you think there has been a breach of privacy, then also please contact the Executive Director who will first deal with you usually over the phone. If we then have not dealt satisfactorily with your concerns we will meet with you to discuss further. If you are not satisfied with our response to your complaint within 30 days from this meeting then you can refer your complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner via:

  • Email:  enquiries@oaic.gov.au
  • Phone:  1300 363 992