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Your rights under legislation
The Children’s Protection Society (CPS) complies by provisions of the Federal Government’s Privacy Act 1988. CPS respects the privacy of its clients’ and donors' personal information.
The Privacy Act covers a number of rights and responsibilities such as:
- You must be told why information is being collected about you and whether it may be disclosed to anyone else and for what purpose;
- You have the right to have your personal information stored securely so that it is protected from unauthorised access, misuse or distribution;
- You have the right to request access to the information held about you and, if necessary, to have it corrected so that it is accurate, complete and up to date;
- You have the right to request an explanation or make a complaint if you believe your privacy has been infringed.
The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, commonly known as the Privacy Commissioner, states that the principles derived from the Privacy Act are not prescriptive.
That is, they don't tell agencies and organisations exactly what they must do in each situation. Instead, they offer guidelines about the way in which personal information should be handled and each organisation must apply those principles to its own situation in a fair and reasonable manner.
Why CPS collects information
CPS collects personal information from you for the purpose of providing a program or service (in the case of a client) or for the purpose of processing a donation (in the case of a donor). All information collected must meet our statutory requirements as directed by state and federal legislation, including the Privacy Act. Personal information may include contact details or information about your enquiry, request, donation, comment, complaint or circumstances.
Disclosure of your information
As a social profit organisation, CPS works in conjunction with different community-based groups in order to provide an integrated and tailored approach to serving its clients. Because of this, information may be disclosed to another community group in order to process your request for assistance or refer you to another community-based agency that can better meet a particular need.
As part of this process, we will explain the reasons behind any disclosure of information to a third party. Compliance with state or federal legislation may require CPS to disclose information to a government agency (for example, to abide by legislation governing the mandatory reporting of suspected child abuse).
Access to your information
Should you wish to see what information we hold about you, we will ask that you submit a written request to the Children’s Protection Society, 70 Altona Street, Heidelberg West VIC 3081. We will require proof of identity to ensure information is only disclosed to you in order to protect your privacy.
Proof of identity is a photocopy of your driver’s licence, birth certificate or passport that is certified by a police officer as being a legitimate copy of the original. This can be done free of charge at any police station counter upon request and your photocopy will be compared to the original and stamped, dated and signed by a police officer.
According to guidelines provided by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, although you have a general right to access all the personal information an organisation holds about you, there may be some access limitations on information collected before 21 December 2001 if the organisation has not used the information since that time.
CPS may refuse to give you access for other reasons, for example, a threat to your health and safety or the health and safety of someone else or where access is prevented by law. The approach we take will be considered on a case-by-case basis and will abide by the principles of the Information Privacy Act 2000 (Vic).
The ways you can request access to your information include looking over your records and taking notes, making a photocopy, or having them explained to you by a staff member at CPS. An organisation cannot charge you to submit a request to access your personal information but it may charge a reasonable fee to provide you with that information (for example, photocopy fees for large quantities of documents).
Access to your information (former client)
All former CPS clients have the right to seek access and update any information that CPS holds about them and the services they once received. This right of access to personal information is in accordance to the various provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Vic), Information Privacy Act 2000 (Vic), the Health Records Act 2001 (Vic), and the Privacy Act 1988 (Commonwealth).
In order for a former CPS client to access and update their information, please follow the procedure outlined in the above section.
Collection, use and disclosure of personal information through the CPS website
Generally, you can browse anonymously through the CPS website without providing your personal information. However, some of the functions of the website may require you to provide certain personal information such as contact forms and our donations processing page. When you email with a query through the website, CPS will collect the personal information you provide for the purpose of responding to your question or comment and providing adequate follow up.
Storage and security of information
Personal information from clients is stored in a secure manner onsite, including a locked file room and password access to computer files. Staff members at the Children’s Protection Society are required to undergo both a police check as well as a Working With Children check before they can commence employment with our organisation.
Information collected from donors on the CPS website will be used for processing payment through a bank-approved payment gateway with an approved SSL certificate. SSL (secure socket layer) allows data to be encrypted and sent in a secure manner between two destinations—for example, between the CPS and your bank when you make a donation online.
Client Feedback
CPS values your feedback and encourages you to give us your opinion about any of our services. To provide feedback, click here
Making a complaint
If you believe that your privacy has been unlawfully infringed under privacy legislation, please write to the Children’s Protection Society, 70 Altona Street, Heidelberg West VIC 3081 detailing your concerns. If you are not satisfied with our response, you can refer the matter to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner who may investigate the matter and make their own determination.