Privacy Policy

INTRODUCTION

We value your privacy and respect the trust you place in Novita when you provide us with your personal details.

Novita is committed to protecting the privacy and confidentiality of customers, families, staff, volunteers, prospective employees, service providers, donors, sponsors, community partners and stakeholders in the way information is collected, stored and used.

We are bound by the Commonwealth Privacy Act 1988 (the Privacy Act) and the Australian Privacy Principles as well as other related laws protecting privacy. We are open and transparent about our management of your personal information.

We strive to ensure that the personal information we collect, use or disclose is accurate, complete, up-to-date and relevant to what we do.

Our Privacy Policy aims to help you to know:

• what guides us when we collect personal information
• what we must do before we can use or disclose personal information
• the choices you have about giving us personal information
• your rights to access and correct personal information
• your rights to complain about our handling of your personal information

When you give your personal information to Novita, you consent to our collection, use and disclosure of your personal information in line with this Privacy Policy and any contract, agreement or other arrangement between us.

PRINCIPLES

Novita is committed to ensuring that information is used in an ethical and responsible manner.
We recognise the need to be consistent and thorough in the way that personal information is recorded, stored and managed.

All individuals have legislated rights to privacy of personal information. In circumstances where the right to privacy may be overridden by other considerations (for example, child protection concerns), staff act in accordance with the relevant policy and legal framework.

All staff, Board members, students and volunteers are to have an appropriate level of understanding about how to meet the organisation’s legal and ethical obligations to ensure privacy and confidentiality.

COLLECTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

Novita generally collects information directly from you. We only collect personal information from you that is necessary for us to do our jobs.

The kind of personal information that we collect will depend on your relationship with Novita, for example, as a customer, donor, business partner, employee, volunteer, member, or on-line user of the Novita website.

Sometimes we may need to collect information about a customer from a third party, such as a parent, carer, guardian, health service provider, government or similar agency or the customer’s educational institution or workplace. We do this if the customer has authorised us to collect the information in this way, or where it is not reasonable or practical for us to collect this information directly from the customer.

We collect personal information only when it is reasonably necessary and directly related to Novita’s functions and activities.

Your Personal Information

The personal information that Novita collects will depend on your relationship with us and the service you have requested. It may include an individual’s name and contact details, and information about the individual’s age, gender, occupation, and relationship with Novita.

We also collect information about an individual’s disability, together with related information which is necessary to deliver the specific services which our customers request.

Your Sensitive Information

Sensitive information will be collected only when it is specifically required for operational reasons. The sensitive information that Novita collects may include health and medical information. We will limit the collection of sensitive information to the minimum amount required in the circumstances.

Anonymity and Pseudonym

Whenever it is lawful and possible, supporters and donors have the option of being anonymous or using a pseudonym when dealing with Novita.

However, if you are receiving a service from us, you cannot be anonymous or use a pseudonym because we need your personal information to provide you with the service.

Government Identifier

Sometimes we are required to collect government identifiers such as a tax file number or Medicare number.

We do not use or disclose this information unless required by law or if you consent to disclose this information to any third party.

USE AND DISCLOSURE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

Novita uses and discloses personal information for the purpose for which it was collected and will only use or disclose information for another purpose where this is permitted under the Privacy Act. In general, we do not use or disclose personal information for another purpose unless one of the following applies:

• the individual has consented
• the individual would reasonably expect Novita to use or disclose the information for that other purpose and it is either related or, in the case of sensitive information, directly related to the purpose for which it was collected
• it is required or authorised by or under an Australian law or a court order
• it is necessary to lessen or prevent a serious threat to somebody’s life, health or safety, or to public safety.

Customers

If you are a customer of Novita we may use your information to:

• Provide our services
• Record communications with you
• Communicate with you by phone, email and other electronic means to distribute our publications, promotional material, host events, raise awareness about our services and respond to queries and complaints
• Work with contractors and service providers
• Report to government and other funding bodies on the services they fund us to provide. Reports generally cover demographic and service use information only – your personal information will not be passed on.

Donors

If you are a donor to Novita we may use your information to:

• Process your donation and complete your tax receipt
• Engage third party service providers to process online donations. We take reasonable steps to make sure that they protect the privacy of your personal information
• Communicate with you by phone, email and other electronic means to distribute our publications, promotional material, host events, raise awareness about our services and respond to queries and complaints
• Measure how effective our fundraising activities are.

People

If you are a job applicant or volunteer we may use your information to:

• Keep records of communication with you
• Assess your suitability when you apply for a position with us
• Communicate with you by phone, email and other electronic means to encourage, record and acknowledge your support as well as distribute our publications, promotional material and raise awareness about our services.

Marketing Communication

Novita may use your information to contact you with information about our products and services.
You can opt out of marketing communications by contacting us. Should you elect not to opt out, we will work on the basis that we have your consent to receive similar information and communications in the future.

Online Users

We collect anonymous data and use it to look at trends, track user movement, gather broad demographic information for aggregate use and to help improve the quality of the web pages. We use this information to make decisions about maintaining and improving our website and online services. This information remains anonymous and is not linked to personal identification details.

Google Analytics

Novita’s website uses Google Analytics, which is a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. (‘Google’). Reports obtained from Google Analytics are used to help analyse how our website is used.

Google Analytics uses ‘cookies’ which are text files placed on your computer to collect standard internet log information and visitor behaviour information in an anonymous form. The information generated by the cookie about your use of the website, including your IP address, will be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the USA.
Google uses this information to evaluate your use of our website, compile reports on website activity for website operators and provide other services relating to website activity and internet usage. Google may transfer this information to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on Google’s behalf. Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google.

By using our main website, you consent to Google processing data about you in the manner and for the purposes set out above. For further information, please refer to Google’s Privacy Policy. Website users can opt out of Google Analytics by disabling or refusing the cookie, disabling javascript, or using the opt-out service provided by Google.
Disclosure of information to overseas recipients

It is not Novita’s usual practice to disclose personal information to overseas recipients. In the event that this does occur, it will only be done when we have your consent and the recipient is subject to laws or binding schemes which are substantially similar to the Australian Privacy Principles.

DATA SECURITY

Novita endeavours to ensure that:

• personal information is reasonably protected from misuse, loss, unauthorised access, modification or inappropriate disclosure
• electronic data is stored in a secure network and staff may only access that data which is needed to do their job
• unless we are prevented by law, we take reasonable steps to destroy or permanently de-identify your information when no longer required.

The Internet is not a secure environment. Although all care is taken, there are inherent risks in managing personal information and we cannot guarantee that unauthorised access to your personal information will not occur.

We employ a range of methods to safeguard your personal information from access, use, modification, or release that has not been authorised, and protection generally from any other form of misuse. We use firewalls and password protection on our IT systems with access by authorised staff only.

When no longer required by Novita, personal information is destroyed in a secure manner.

DATA QUALITY

Novita takes steps to ensure that the personal information we collect is accurate, up-to-date and complete. These steps include maintaining and updating personal information when individuals advise us that their personal information has changed.

ACCESS TO PERSONAL INFORMATION

Generally, you have the right to access the personal information Novita has about you.

We respond to requests for access to personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act. Generally we will provide you with access except in limited circumstances where we are required or permitted by law to refuse access.

If you would like a copy of personal information that we have about you, please send the request to us in writing so we can confirm your identity. You can do this by email, mail or fax.

We may charge you a fee for the administrative cost of providing the information to you. This will be dependent on where the information is stored or the time it takes us to respond to your request. Access may be provided by hard copy or by allowing you to view the relevant records.

If for any reason we do not give you access to your personal information or do not give you access in the way that you requested, we will give you written reasons unless it would be unreasonable for us to do so.

CORRECTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

If you consider that your personal information held by Novita is inaccurate, incomplete or out of date, you may contact us to request that we correct your information. We will verify and where applicable correct the information.

We ask that you help us to keep your information up-to-date by letting us know promptly about any changes in your circumstances or personal information. Please contact us to ask for any corrections to be made to your information held by us.

Sometimes we are not able to correct your personal information in the way you have requested, for example, if we need to keep a record of what we knew or understood to be correct about your personal information at a particular time. In that case we take reasonable steps to make a note on our record of your personal information that you have said is inaccurate, incomplete or out of date.

COMPLAINTS

If you have a complaint about the way we handled your personal information, you can make a complaint by contacting us.

When we have received your complaint, we will investigate and reply within a reasonable period of time.

We take any privacy complaint seriously and will assess your complaint fairly and promptly.

If you are not satisfied with our response or how we handled your complaint, you are entitled to complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner. More information is available on the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner website.

CONTACT US

To request access to or correction of personal information, to request not to receive marketing material or invitations from us, or to make a privacy complaint to us, please contact:

Privacy Officer
Novita
341 Port Road
Hindmarsh
South Australia 5007

Phone: 1300 668 482

Email: privacy@novita.org.au

Fax: (61 8) 8243 8361