At Lifestart, we take the utmost care in protecting your personal information. Australian Privacy laws guide us in how we do this. This statement briefly explains how we collect, store, use and disclose your personal information. If you want to know more, please ask about our Privacy Policy.
What sort of information do we collect and why?
We collect your personal information to get a better understanding of your needs, so we can provide you with the best service possible. The information we collect will depend on your relationship with us. It may include your name, address, contact details, and payment details in connection with paying for a service or donation.
We will only collect sensitive information such as health and medical history, personal beliefs, racial or ethnic origin if it is relevant to how we support you or your family.
Sometimes we are required to collect government identifiers such as a tax file number or Medicare number. We do not disclose this information to a third party unless required by law or you have given your consent.
Photographs or video may be taken and used only with your written consent. You can withdraw your consent at any time.
How is your personal information collected?
In most cases, we collect your personal information directly from you, your family or other people or organisations that you have given us permission to contact. We might obtain the information verbally, in writing or electronically via email or our website. For more information about using our website, see our Website Policy.
Who do we share your personal information with?
To co-ordinate a better service, we may ask to share your personal information with another party such as health or education providers. We will ask for your consent.
There are times when we are legally required to disclose information we hold about you or your family without your consent, for example when someone’s safety is at risk.
If your personal information needs to be transferred outside of Australia, it will only be for reasons directly related to providing the service and only with your written consent.
What happens if you do not want to share your personal information with us?
If you are requesting a service from Lifestart and you do not provide us with your personal information, we may not be able to provide you with our services.
Whenever it is possible, supporters and donors have the option of being anonymous or using a pseudonym when dealing with us. However, taxation legislation requires Lifestart to collect personal data if a tax-deductible receipt is required for donations.
How secure is your personal information?
Lifestart considers the security of your personal information a priority and has measures in place to protect it from misuse, modification, unauthorised access or disclosure. Electronic data is stored in a secure network which is password protected. Staff may only access the data required to do their job.
If your service or relationship with us ends, we will archive, destroy or permanently de-identify your personal information following the records management rules set by law and our funding contracts.
Can you access and correct your information?
We take reasonable steps to make sure that the personal information we collect, use and disclose is accurate, complete and up to date. If you believe your personal information held by us is inaccurate or incomplete, please contact us to let us know. In most cases, we will correct your information immediately. There may be times we are not able to correct your personal information as you have requested. If this is the case, we let you know our reasons and will note your request on our records.
If you would like a copy of your personal information, please send a request to us in writing so we can confirm your identity. You can do this by email, mail or fax. If we cannot give you access to your information, we will explain the reason in writing.
Contact us
Please contact us if:
- You have a complaint about how we have managed your personal information
- You wish to access the personal information we hold about you
- You no longer want us to contact you for marketing purposes
- You have a question about our Privacy Policy
Privacy Officer
Lifestart Disability Services Ltd
PO Box 3563, Rhodes NSW 2138
Phone: (02) 9364 0111
Fax: (02) 9807 9600
Email: privacy@lifestart.org.au
What will happen if I make a complaint?
Once we have received your complaint, we will contact you within 3 business days to discuss it with you. We may need up to 20 business days to investigate and resolve your complaint.
If you are not satisfied with how we handled your complaint, you may complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner by phoning 1300 363 992 or lodging an online complaint through oaic.gov.au
