Privacy policy

1. Policy Statement

Flourish Australia is committed to maintaining the privacy and confidentiality of personal information. Our privacy practice accords with relevant privacy legislation including the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), Information Privacy Act 2014 (ACT), Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 (NSW), Information Privacy Act 2009 (Qld) and Privacy and Data Protection Act (Vic). We also adhere to the associated Privacy Principles when collecting, using, disclosing, securing and providing access to personal information. Every person engaging with Flourish Australia (the person) has the right to privacy and to be treated with dignity in all areas of their life including the services and supports provided by Flourish Australia.

2. Scope

This policy applies to all Flourish Australia services, staff and persons who use our services. It details how Flourish Australia generally collects, retains, uses and discloses personal information and an individual's rights in relation to that personal information.

3. Implementation

a. Collection of personal information

The personal information Flourish Australia may collect will depend on the circumstances of collection, including whether Flourish Australia collects the information from:

persons referred to Flourish Australia;
persons who use our services;
persons seeking employment from or are employed by Flourish Australia; or
persons providing services to Flourish Australia.

The types of personal information collected depends on the nature of the relationship with the individual or the particular service we provide. Flourish Australia:

may collect and hold the following categories of information from people accessing our services as appropriate to its dealings with them: name, address, e-mail address, telephone number, date of birth, health information and other sensitive information, financial details (including banking details) and history with the organisation (including communications between Flourish Australia and the individual);
may collect and hold the following kinds of personal information about contractors, service providers and suppliers: name, job title, business contact details of company representatives with whom Flourish Australia deals, financial information and banking details; and
in the context of Flourish Australia's recruitment process for employees and contractors, may collect and hold the following kinds of personal information: name, email address, telephone number, address, financial details (including banking details), date of birth, history with Flourish Australia (including communications between Flourish Australia and the individual), citizenship, employment references, criminal records, working with children check, driver's licence information, education, employment history, marital status, membership of a professional or trade association, and health information.

In most cases, Flourish Australia collects personal information about an individual directly from the individual, through meetings with the individual in person, or through other contact methods such as by telephone, facsimile, email and mail, or when the individual completes application or consent forms or transacts with Flourish Australia. Flourish Australia may also collect personal information about the individual from the following third parties such as family members or guardians, government agencies, publicly available records, service providers, parties to whom the individual refers Flourish Australia or from whom the individual authorises collection, on-line searches and social media.

b. Use of personal information

Flourish Australia generally collects, holds, uses and discloses personal information for the following purposes:

to provide specific services to the individual;
to maintain, manage and develop our relationship with the individual;
to respond to any questions or enquiries from the individual;
to contract out some of our functions to external service providers and suppliers (such as mailing houses and printing companies, advertising and marketing);
to assess and consider applications from prospective job applicants, contractors and service providers;
to manage our human resources and provide information requested by external parties, including our funders;
such purposes for which Flourish Australia may obtain consent from time to time; and
to comply with Flourish Australia's legal and regulatory obligations.

Flourish Australia collects and may use an individual's personal information collected to send the individual information about its programs or services that may be of interest to the individual. If at any time the individual no longer wishes to be notified about Flourish Australia's programs or services, the individual can contact Flourish Australia at the contact details set out below.

Personal information will not be disclosed to overseas recipients.

c. The quality and accuracy of personal information

Protecting and maintaining the quality and accuracy of personal information is one of Flourish Australia’s key priorities. Flourish Australia takes reasonable steps to keep an individual's personal information as accurate, complete and up to date as possible. An individual may assist Flourish Australia by notifying Flourish Australia if his or her circumstances change. An individual may request that Flourish Australia correct personal information it holds about that individual that is inaccurate or out of date. Flourish Australia will take reasonable steps to rectify the situation free of charge if it is satisfied that the information is inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading. If Flourish Australia refuses to correct an individual's personal information, Flourish Australia will give the individual written notice setting out its reasons for the refusal and the mechanisms available to complain about the refusal.

d. Security of personal information

It is important to Flourish Australia to ensure the security and confidentiality of personal information in both the physical and electronic environments. In this regard, Flourish Australia has implemented physical, organisational, contractual and technological security measures to protect personal information from loss or theft, unauthorised access, disclosure, copying, use or modification. Flourish Australia maintains standards for the security and protection of information and endeavours to ensure that personal information is stored securely in lockable cabinets or password protected electronic files and access is restricted to authorised personnel only.

e. Access to personal information

Subject to any exceptions in the Privacy Act, where Flourish Australia holds personal information about an individual in such a way that it can readily be retrieved, the individual has a right to request confirmation of whether or not Flourish Australia holds that individual's personal information and to have access to it. Within a reasonable period after receiving a request from the individual, Flourish Australia will take reasonable steps to provide the individual with access, if it is reasonable and practicable to do so. If the individual wishes to request access to or update his or her personal information, please contact Flourish Australia on the details provided below.

4. Contact details

If an individual has any questions regarding this document, or if an individual has a complaint regarding Flourish Australia's handling of his or her personal information please contact Flourish Australia at:

Chief Executive Officer
Flourish Australia
5 Figtree Drive, Sydney Olympic Park NSW 2127
Phone: 02 9393 9000

5. Complaints

Flourish Australia will respond to complaints within a reasonable period of time. If an individual disagrees with Flourish Australia's decision, the individual may refer the complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner by visiting www.oaic.gov.au, calling 1300 363 992 or by emailing enquiries@oaic.gov.au.

6. Risks

Failure to ensure compliance with privacy obligations exposes Flourish Australia to breaches of privacy legislation and associated penalties. Breaches of a person’s privacy rights may also damage Flourish Australia’s reputation as a mental health NGO.

7. Review Cycle

This policy will be reviewed:

Every two years.
When changes are made to relevant Acts, Conventions or Standards.

All policies will be reviewed over time under the direction and coordination of the General Manager Business Excellence. Staff and persons accessing Flourish Australia services will be consulted as part of the review process.

8. Related policies

Risk Management Policy
Record Keeping Policy
Retention and Disposal of Records Policy
Rights of people accessing Flourish Australia Services Policy
Decision making and Choice Policy
Grievance (Complaints) and Dispute Resolution Policy
Consent to Request and Release Information Policy
Human Resources Records Policy
Information Systems and Computer Security Policy
Relevant WHS Policies

9. Relevant Legislation / Standards

Australian Human Rights Commission Act 1986
Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and associated Privacy Principles
Information Privacy Act 2014 (ACT) and associated Privacy Principles
Health Records (Privacy and Access) Act 1997 (ACT)
Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 (NSW) and associated Privacy Principles Information Privacy Act 2009 (Qld) and associated Privacy Principles
Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014 (Vic)
Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002 (NSW)
Privacy Amendment (Notified Data Breaches) Act 2017 (Cth)
National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013 (Cth)
NDIS Practice Standards and Quality Indicators
NDIS Code of Conduct
National Standards for Disability Services
NSW Disability Service Standards
Queensland Human Service Quality Standards
National Standards for Mental Health Services
ISO 38500 Corporate Governance of Information Technology
United Nation Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability

10. Cookie policy

The Flourish Australia website uses 'cookies’ for maintaining contact with a user through a website session.

A cookie is a small file supplied by our website and stored by the web browser software on your computer when you access our website.

Cookies enable Flourish Australia to recognise you as you move from one page to another and track our site usage. This information is used to help you use our website systems more efficiently and to provide functionality, not to track your movements or to record information about you.

Any system on this website that records information about you will specifically ask your permission first.

This information is analysed to show broken links in our website, traffic problems, and which pages are performing well to make improvements and provide a better service.

No attempt will be made to identify anonymous users or their browsing activities unless legally compelled to do so, such as in the event of an investigation, where a law enforcement agency may exercise a warrant to inspect the Internet Service Provider's log files.

Our website uses Google Analytics, a service which transmits website traffic data to Google servers in the United States. Google Analytics does not identify individual users or associate your IP address with any other data held by Google. We use reports provided by Google Analytics to help us understand website traffic and usage.

Please note, by using this website, you consent to the processing of data about you by Google in the manner described in 'How Google uses data when you use our partners' sites or apps' which is located at https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.

Use of cookies

The following table shows cookies we use on our website. By using this website, you agree that we can place these cookies on your computer/device for the stated purposes.

Cookie	Description
_fw_crm_v	This cookie identifies users of the website’s chat widget. This cookie is provided by Freshworks. Please view their privacy statement – https://www.freshworks.com/privacy/
_gcl_au	This cookie stores conversion linker tags from Google Tag Manager. Conversion linker tags are used to help tags measure click data so that conversions are measured effectively.
_ga	This cookie is used by Google Analytics to uniquely identify users.
_fbc, _fbc	These cookies are provided by Facebook Pixel. _fbp is used to uniquely identify users. _fbc is used to track site traffic from Facebook.