OVERVIEW
The collection of personal information about individuals by organisations is governed by the Privacy Act 1988 (the Privacy Act) which contains a national scheme for the collection, use, correction, disclosure and transfer of personal information by organisations in the private sector.
Protecting client’s privacy is very important to us. As part of our commitment to ensuring the safety of our client’s private and confidential information and as a mechanism to ensure our compliance with the Privacy Act, we have established and implemented a Privacy Policy (the Policy).
PURPOSE
The Policy explains our policies and practices with respect to the collection and management of personal information we collect from you.
The Privacy Act requires us to handle your personal information in accordance with a set of principles, known as the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs). Those Principles and our approach to those Principles are set out below.
COLLECTION
What information do we collect?
We will collect and hold your personal information for the purposes of:
• Providing services to you;
• Managing and administering the services and
• Letting you know about our other services.
The type of information collected from you includes information that is necessary to for us to provide advice to you. We may ask you to provide personal information such as your:
• name
• email
• address
• date of birth
• occupation
• financial details
Much of this information is collected through the forms on our website or through communications with you.
We will not collect any personal information about you except where you have knowingly provided that information to us or we believe you have authorised a third party to provide that information to us (such as a family member or souse).
There are also specific circumstances in which we will ask for your sensitive information such as:
• personal health information from you when applying for insurance
• personal health information from medical practitioners when you are making a claim
• income information from employers in instances where you are applying for additional insurance protection or salary continuance insurance
• details of your dependents, as defined at section10 of the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993, for the purposes of
paying benefits in the event of your death.
We will always seek your consent before collecting this kind of sensitive information.
We may also need to collect information from third parties. For example, we may need to collect information from your accountant or product issuer. This will always be done with your explicit permission.
We are also required to ask for certain information by law. Wherever there is a legal requirement for us to ask for information about you, we will inform you of the obligation and the consequences of not giving us the requested information. Such evidence may include items such as a certified copy of your driver’s licence, passport or birth certificate.
What if you don’t give us the information we request?
You are not required to give us the information that we request. However, if you do not give us the information that we ask for, or the information you give is not complete or accurate, this may:
• prevent or delay the processing of your application or any claim
• affect your eligibility for specified insurance cover
• prevent us from contacting you
• impact on the taxation treatment of your account.
USE OF INFORMATION
How do we use the information that we collect from you?
We use your personal information for the purposes for which it has been obtained. We collect your personal information so that we are able to act on your request, such as:
• provide financial advice to you
• implement your investment instructions
• establish and maintain insurance protection
• keep you up to date on other services offered by us.
Personal information will also be used where you have consented to such disclosure or where it is required or authorised under law, in circumstances relating to public health and safety or in connection with certain operations by or on behalf of an enforcement body.
DISCLOSURE
Who do we give information to?
We will never provide your information to external parties without your explicit permission.
Like other financial services companies,there are situations where we may also disclose your personal information where it is:
• authorised by law (such as where we are obliged to disclose information in the public interest or to protect our interests)
• necessary in discharging obligations (such as to foreign governments for the purposes of foreign taxation)
• required to assist in law enforcement (such as to a police force). We will also disclose your information if you give your consent.
ACCESS AND CORRECTION OF INFORMATION
Can I access my information and what if it is incorrect?
You may request access to the personal information we hold about you. We may charge a reasonable fee to cover our costs.
There may be circumstances where we are unable to give you access to the information that you have requested. If this is the case we will inform you and explain the reasons why.
We will take reasonable steps to ensure that the personal information we collect or hold is accurate, complete, up to date, relevant and not misleading.
You have a right to ask us to correct any information we hold about you if you believe it is inaccurate, incomplete, out of date, irrelevant or is misleading. If you wish to access your personal information, you should contact us through our offices. Details of how to contact our offices are set out below.
COMPLAINTS
If you believe that we have mishandled your personal information, in turn,breaching the APPs, you may lodge a complaint with us. The complaint, addressed to the Privacy Officer, must be in writing in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988. See below for contact details for our Privacy Officer.
From receipt of your written complaint, the Privacy Officer has 30 days to respond.
In the event that the Privacy Officer is unable to resolve your complaint, you may lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner. You can lodge a written complaint with the Information Commissioner by:
Submitting an online form through the Information Commissioner’s website: www.oaic.gov.au
PROTECTION OF THE PERSONAL AND SENSITIVE INFORMATION THAT WE HOLD
How do we protect the security of your information?
We have security systems, practices and procedures in place to safeguard your privacy. Your personal information is stored on third party servers and is subject to regular audit. The people who handle your personal information for us have the training, knowledge, skills and commitment to protect it from unauthorised access or misuse.
Risks of using the internet
You should note that there are inherent security risks in transmitting information through the internet. You should assess these potential risks when deciding whether to submit your details to us through our website. If you do not wish to transmit information through our website, there are other ways in which you can provide this information to us.
GENERAL
How long do we retain your personal information?
We are required by law to retain certain records of information for varying lengths of time. Depending on the context surrounding the information, we maybe required to retain records which include your personal information from 7 years to permanently. Where your information is not required to be retained under law, we will take reasonable steps to permanently destroy or de-identify your personal information when it is no longer required for the purpose for which it was collected.