Privacy Policy

The Base Support Services Inc. (TBSS) recognises the importance of protecting the privacy and rights of individuals in relation to their personal information. This Privacy Policy explains how we manage your personal information and safeguard your privacy in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) contained in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and other relevant State laws that govern the use of personal information.

Definitions

For the purposes of this Policy:

Personal information is information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable, whether true or not, and whether the information or opinion is recorded in a material form or not (e.g. your name and address, your date of birth).
Sensitive information is a subset of personal information, attracting a higher level of protection under the Act (e.g. health information as well as information about race or ethnic origin, political opinions, sexual orientation, criminal record).
Health information is information or an opinion about an individual’s physical or mental health or disability, health preferences including future provision of health services.

Why we collect your personal information?

We collect personal information so that we can provide you with the best and most suitable service possible. We only collect information necessary for our functions and activities. More information on our services is available on our website: www.tbssinc.com.au.

What personal information do we collect and hold?

The types of personal information that we collect about you will depend on your relationship with us, the nature of the service we are providing or the activity that you are involved in, and any legal obligations we may have. For example, if you:

seek care and support services, we may collect your name, contact details, details of your guardian (if applicable), government identifiers (Medicare card), information about your circumstances and any special needs as well as what you are seeking assistance with
provide care and support services to our clients, we may collect your name, organisation, background and screening checks, insurance details and contact details
make a donation to TBSS, we may collect your name, contact details, the amount and frequency of your donation and payment details
attend a TBSS event, we may collect your name, organisation, contact details, payment details (if applicable) and any dietary and accessibility requirements
participate in our surveys, we may collect your name, organisation, contact details and your survey responses
send us an enquiry, we may collect your name, contact details, information about your circumstances and details of your query
make a complaint, we may collect your name, contact details, the details of your complaint, information collected in any investigation of the matter and details of the resolution of the complaint
apply for a role at TBSS, we may collect the information you include in your application, including your cover letter, resume, contact details and referee reports as well as background and screening checks.

We also collect some information that is not personal information because it does not identify you or anyone else (e.g. collection of anonymous answers to surveys, aggregated information about how users use our website for statistical purposes only).

Sensitive information

We may collect your sensitive information when we have your consent and when the collection is reasonably necessary for us to carry out one or more of our functions or activities. Sensitive information is generally relevant to an assessment of whether a person is eligible for our services, and is relevant for the delivery of care and support services. This might include information about whether a person has a mental illness, disability or substance abuse problem.

Employees

The Privacy Act does not apply to personal information about current or former employees and this Policy does not apply to that information. Instead, workplace laws prescribe the personal information to be held in employee records and the way in which employees may access their personal employee records.

What if you don’t provide us with your personal information?

In some circumstances we allow individuals the option of not identifying themselves, or of using a pseudonym, when dealing with us (e.g. when viewing our website or making general phone queries). Donations may also be made anonymously, however we will not be able to issue a tax-deductible receipt. The nature of the business carried on by TBSS means that, generally, it is not possible for us to provide services to our clients in an anonymous way.

How do we collect your personal information?

In most cases, we will collect your personal information directly from you. We collect this information from you through a number of different channels including:

through our websites or social media pages
when you correspond with us (e.g. by letter, fax, email or telephone)
on hard copy forms (e.g. assessment forms, volunteer/employment applications, purchase orders)
in person (e.g. at job interviews and where we meet with a client face-to-face)
from referrers who refer you to us for assistance (e.g. Queensland Police Service, Youth Justice)
at events and forums.

We endeavour to gain your consent when collecting your personal information. This may happen before, during or after the process. Once you have provided your consent, you are able to withdraw it at any time by Contacting Us. Please however understand that by withdrawing your consent, we may not be able to provide you with the services you require.

If we are unable to collect personal information from you directly, we may obtain further information from:

your authorised representative (e.g. guardian, family member)
another organisation/s (e.g. during recruitment to conduct a background/screening check)
other sources where necessary to provide services.

What if we receive unsolicited personal information?

If we receive unsolicited personal information, we will make an assessment as to whether we could have collected the personal information from you ourselves. If we could not, we will destroy it or de-identify it as soon as it is lawfully and reasonably possible to do so. This can be affected by the options available to us and the resources and costs of taking such action.

How do we use and disclose your personal information?

We use and disclose your personal information so that we can perform our activities and functions, and to provide the best quality service. There are various exceptions to this:

you have consented to the use of your personal information for another purpose
your personal information is used or disclosed for another related purpose
in relation to your sensitive information, the other purpose is directly related to the reason why it was collected
we are required or authorised by law to disclose your information for another purpose
the use or disclosure is otherwise permitted by the Act.

Here are some examples of how your personal information may be used and disclosed:

enabling better co-ordination between us and other organisations involved in your care and support
closed circuit television surveillance (CCTV) (these systems may not always collect or store personal information)
providing information to a responsible person (e.g. a parent, guardian, spouse) if you are incapable or cannot communicate, unless you have requested that we do not disclose your health information.
management
funding and accreditation bodies
service/quality improvement, monitoring, planning and evaluation
complaints handling
contracted service providers (e.g. auditors, insurer or legal services, information technology, marketing and communication agencies, freight and courier services, printers and distributors of direct marketing material)
client satisfaction and stakeholder surveys
staff education and training.
invoicing, billing and account management
provision of reminders for appointments or follow-up care
letting you know about care and support service options available to you
inviting you to participate in events and fundraising
referees whose details are provided to us by job applicants.

Duty of Care

In certain circumstances, if your communication with us raises safety concerns, we will try to contact you to check that you and/or others are safe. If necessary, we may need to pass on your contact information to authorities who can help protect you and/or others (e.g. Police). Where possible we will work with you openly, letting you know if our concerns reach the point where we need to involve other services. We are obliged to try to protect you and/or others if the information you submit tells us that:

you are being seriously hurt by someone else
you are thinking of seriously harming yourself
someone else is being, or is likely to be, seriously hurt by you or another person.

Direct Marketing

When you become a client of ours, we may use your personal information for direct marketing, in accordance with the Act. This means that from time to time we may contact you with marketing or fundraising materials either by mail, SMS, telephone, targeted online advertising or online behavioural marketing. Of course, you can request not to receive marketing and/or fundraising communications at any time by Contacting Us and we will stop contacting you in this way.

Overseas Disclosure

We will not disclose personal information to anyone located overseas. If we obtain your consent to post your personal information on a third party social media site, that personal information will be made public. Each social media site has its own set of terms and conditions as well as its own privacy policy.

How do we store and manage your personal information?

We understand the importance of protecting your personal information and will take all reasonable steps to keep personal information you provide us secure and protected from misuse, interference and loss as well as unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. Our Information Security Policy gives detail on how we protect information we hold.

We hold personal information in both hard copy and electronic formats. Paper files are stored in secure cabinets onsite.

If you are a client, we maintain a record of assessments, consent, referrals, support plans, progress notes and any other correspondence required in the provision of services. These records are retained in accordance with the Queensland Government’s Recording keeping requirements for non-government organisations.

All other correspondence retained by TBSS is generally kept for 7 years or until superseded, depending on legislative and funding obligations. When information we hold is identified as no longer needed for any purpose, we ensure it is effectively and efficiently destroyed, deleted or de-identified.

Our security measures include but are not limited to:

website and email protection measures (e.g. by SSL certificate)
access restrictions to our computer systems (e.g. login and password protection, server protection with built-in firewalls and anti-virus software)
restricted access to our office premises
staff training and implementation of workplace policies and procedures.

Our Website

When you visit our websites, we do not try to identify you or collect personal information. However you may choose to provide your personal information when you make a donation (which is managed by a third party website). To help keep our website working optimally, our site may collect statistics about visits, such as how many people visit our site, the user’s IP address, which pages people visit, the domains our visitors come from and which browsers they use. This information will not be used to identify you.

Third Party Websites

Our website may contain links to other websites that are not ours. These sites are not subject to this policy and we are not responsible for the content of these websites or the privacy practices of these sites. These sites may have their own privacy and security policies, which we encourage you to read before supplying any personal information to them.

Law Enforcement

It is also important to know that we may, at times, be obliged by law to allow law enforcement agencies and other government agencies with relevant authority, to inspect our IP logs.

Social Media

You may wish to participate in social media platforms hosted by us. One of the aims of these social media platforms is to facilitate and allow you to share content. However we cannot be held responsible if you share personal information on these platforms that is subsequently used, misused or otherwise appropriate by another user.

How you can access and correct your personal information

If you would like to see your information that we hold, you can ask by Contacting Us. These requests can be limited to exceptions permitted by law and you may be charged a fee to cover our reasonable costs of locating the information and providing it to you.

We will always aim to keep the most accurate, complete, up-to-date and relevant personal information. If you however seek correction of any personal information we hold, please ask by Contacting Us. We will take reasonable steps to correct your personal information if we are satisfied that it is inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading. There is no charge for requesting the correction of your personal information.

Note that we will need to verify your identity before processing your access or correction request. We will endeavour to respond to your request within 30 days.

If we do not agree with your request to access or correct your information, we will provide you with written reasons for our decision and available complaint mechanisms.

Contacting Us

If you have any questions or feedback about this Policy, would like to correct or access your personal information, or wish to make a complaint about a breach of this Policy, please contact us: 07 3818 3118 or admin@tbssinc.com.au.

We will endeavour to respond to your complaint within 30 days of receipt of your complaint (while complex cases may take longer to resolve, we will keep you updated on the progress of your complaint). If you are unhappy with our response, you can refer your complaint to the:

If you are unhappy with our response, you can refer your complaint to the:

Office of the Australian Information Commissioner or
in some instances other regulatory bodies such as the Office of the Information Commissioner Queensland.

Change to this Policy

We will update this Policy from time to time. Any updated versions of this policy will be posted on our website. Please review it regularly.

Where to find further information

Detailed information on privacy and the APPs is available on the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner’s website: www.oaic.gov.au.