Privacy Policy

POLICY STATEMENT

I. Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to outline Southern Cross Housing’s (SCH) policy for collection, storage, use, sharing and destruction of personal information.

II. Definitions

• Personal information is information, or an opinion, about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable:
  • whether the information, or opinion, is true or not, and
  • whether the information, or opinion, is recorded in a material form or not.
• Sensitive information is a subset of personal information relating to individuals, including information about their health, ethnicity, religion, political opinion, sexual preferences, criminal record, genetics or biometric identification.
• Health information is a subset of sensitive information including any information collected about an individual’s health or disability and any information collected in relation to a health service we may provide. Health information includes such things as:
  • notes of symptoms or diagnosis and the treatment given to an individual, and
  • specialist reports and test results.

III. Coverage

This policy applies to all SCH staff.

IV. Principles

SCH is bound by the Privacy Act 1988. SCH will only collect, store and disclose personal, sensitive or health information in accordance with the SCH Privacy Statement. The Privacy Statement is available on our website.

Individuals may request access to the personal information SCH hold about them, or request that SCH change the personal information, by:

• emailing info@scch.org.au,
• calling 02 4421 5145, or
• writing to the SCH Privacy Officer at PO Box 785, Nowra NSW 2541.

Before disclosing any information, SCH will establish the identity of the individual making the request. SCH will do this by asking the individual questions about the personal information recorded. Individuals may contact SCH anonymously (ie, without identifying themselves) or by using a pseudonym. However, if an individual chooses not to identify themselves, SCH may not be able to give the information or provide the assistance they might otherwise receive.

An individual can make a complaint about a breach of their privacy by SCH (that includes the Australian Privacy Principles or the Health Privacy Principles) in writing, by phone or face to face using the contact details above.

V. Responsibilities

All SCH staff are responsible for understanding their responsibilities under the Australian Privacy Principles and the SCH Privacy policy. The Privacy Officer is responsible for monitoring compliance with the policy and investigating potential breaches of the Act.