QAIHC recognises your privacy is very important to you and that you have rights to control your personal information. Providing personal information is an act of trust and we take that seriously. We are committed to protecting your personal information.
This Privacy statement sets out QAIHC’s policy relating to the collection and use of your personal information, and is designed to provide you with options as to how we collect and use your personal information. This Privacy statement also sets out how we manage personal information to meet our obligations under the Information Privacy Act 2009 (Qld) (link and size), which cover the collection, use, disclosure, security, quality, access, correction and openness of personal information. We believe our Privacy statement not only complies with relevant laws but also represents best practice. In the unlikely instance this Statement conflicts with the Privacy Act, the Privacy Act will prevail.
Personal information means information or opinions about a person from which that person is reasonably identifiable. Personal information includes sensitive information. Sensitive information includes information about a person's beliefs, associations or health. Health information means information or opinions about a person’s health, or collected in accordance with a health services provided to them.
QAIHC may collect personal information as reasonably necessary for one or more of its functions. We will only collect personal information by lawful and fair means and primarily directly from you (for example, through our interaction with you or your use of our website). As a non-profit organisation, we may collect members’ sensitive information for activities that further our charitable purposes, where the information relates to that purpose. However, wherever practicable we will de-identify personal information. In certain circumstances you may not need to identify yourself, or may use of a pseudonym instead. We will ordinarily alert you to these circumstances when relevant. The type of personal information collected may depend on your interaction with us. For example, if you are an RACGP Member, we may collect:
4.1.1 Your name
4.1.2 Your contact information (address, telephone etc), including your preferred manner of contact for personal and professional purposes
4.1.3 Professional practice information, including qualifications, addresses and areas of professional interest
4.1.4 Information relating to your membership or Fellowship, assessments and continuing professional development requirements (as appropriate).
If we receive unsolicited personal information, or information we would not ordinarily be permitted to collect, we will ordinarily destroy or de-identify that information.
We will take reasonable steps to notify you of our collection of your personal information. Any such notification will include all additional information required by the Privacy Act.
Personal information is kept until we are no longer legally obliged to keep them, or when the need for the personal information has passed (at which point it will be destroyed, deleted or de-identified). Our purpose for collecting your personal information will to a degree depend on your interaction with us.
For Members, our primary purpose for collection is to provide you with your full benefits of and administering your Membership, and providing services (unless I have “opted out” by advising QAIHC), sending related information, or as a record of confirmation of attainment of academic or other professional qualifications.
For other individuals, personal information may be collected to respond to enquiries or comply with other legal obligations.
We may also require limited disclosure to contractors we engage to act for us or on our behalf, such as IT service providers, in order to enable them to provide their services. All contractors engaged in this fashion are required to comply with this policy.
Other than for administration or membership purposes, we will not use or disclose your personal information without your consent. Some permitted exceptions to this apply, including where we are legally required to disclose, or to protect the personal safety of any individual or the public.
We will not ordinarily disclose your personal information to anyone outside of Australia. However, we do have several contracted tools that may store information external to Australia. In these instances, we have scrutinised their privacy policies and systems to ensure they uphold our privacy standards to ensure privacy compliance.
We take all reasonable steps to keep your personal information secure, safe and protected from misuse, interference, loss or unauthorised access. Your information is either stored on secure servers (electronic records) or is protected in controlled facilities (hard copy records). In addition, our employees and the contractors who provide services related to our information systems are obliged to respect the confidentiality of any personal information held by us. You can also play an important role in keeping your personal information secure, by maintaining the confidentiality of any password and accounts used on our website or intranet. You should regularly change your website password, and in setting a password. Please notify us immediately if there is any unauthorised use of your account by any other individual or any other breach of security.
Cookies are pieces of information that a website transfers to your computer's hard disk for record-keeping purposes, website usage statistics or to provide enhanced functionality on the site. Our cookies may do some or all of these depending on the particular page and its functionality. Generally, the information obtained by cookies is de-identified and does not constitute personal information, but may include the IP address of your computer. We may use this information for additional functionality or to analyse usage patterns.
You are ultimately in control of your browser’s dealings with cookies. Most browsers are by default set to accept cookies, but have the capacity to block or delete them. However, if you do not wish to receive any cookies you should set your browser to refuse cookies. In some instances this may mean you will not be able to take full advantage of parts of our website.
By using our website, you accept the use and installation of these cookies to provide you with these services.
At times you may be asked if you wish to complete survey questionnaires that appear on our site; for example, on issues affecting the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community Controlled Health Sector. Taking part in these surveys is entirely voluntary, and many surveys are able to be completed anonymously. If you do agree to participate in a survey, you will be asked to review and accept certain additional terms and conditions relating to the use of any personal information you provide.
This is a QAIHC website. Email correspondence sent to this site will be treated as a public record and will be retained as required by the Public Records Act 2002 (Qld) (link and size) and other relevant regulations. Your name and address details will not be added to a mailing list, nor will we disclose these details to third parties without your consent unless required by law. Email messages may, however, be monitored by our website support staff for system trouble shooting and maintenance purposes. Although every effort will be made, QAIHC does not guarantee to reply to email correspondence. Where appropriate, emails sent to this site may be forwarded internally to other Queensland Health officers for direct response.
We comply with the Spam Act 2003 and the Do Not Call Register Act 2006. Unless you have indicated you do not wish to receive such information, we may contact you on your nominated phone number, email, fax or other address for such purposes as:
10.1.1 Communicating with you about our services or activities
10.1.2 Providing documents and data that you have requested
10.1.3 Discussing Fellowship and membership procedures and benefits
10.1.4 Gathering information to assist in our advocacy for the sector
10.1.5 Highlighting educational opportunities
10.1.6 Responding to your enquiries.
10.1.7 Issuing you with newsletters and information that you have requested
We will not disclose any sensitive information in any of these contacts and will remove you from our e-newsletters upon online request.
You have the right to access the personal information we hold about you. If at any time you want to know what personal information we hold, please contact us using the contact details below. We will provide you with your information within a reasonable time of your request, however where necessary we may require you to attend our offices. We will not generally charge for your access to your personal information. We reserve the right to refuse you access to your personal information as permitted under the Privacy Act.
We will take reasonable steps to ensure your personal information held by us is accurate, up-to-date and complete. However, the personal information we hold may not be incomplete due to planned and periodic destruction, or when an extract of personal information is adequate for the intended purpose. If you wish to update or correct your personal information, please contact us using communications@qaihc.com.au
If you have a problem, query or complaint about the way in which we collect, use or disclose individuals’ personal information, please contact us using the contact details below. We take all aspects of privacy seriously, and welcome your feedback on the relevant issues. Any concerns received will be internally reviewed and where appropriate an internal investigation will be conducted to ensure we continue to comply with the Privacy Act. If you are unsatisfied without response, you may contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at www.oaic.gov.au
From time to time, our policies are reviewed and may be revised. We reserve the right to update or amend this statement at any time. We will notify you of any changes by posting an updated version of the statement on our website. The amended statement will be effective on and from its uploading.
For more information about privacy issues in Australia and protecting your privacy, visit the website of the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at www.oaic.gov.au.
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