Privacy

Allied Health Professions Australia (AHPA) recognises your right to privacy and your right to control your personal information. We are committed to protecting your personal information as set out in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act).

Allied Health Professions Australia Limited (‘AHPA’) is a company limited by guarantee. We are the peak national organisation for allied health professions.

Definitions

  • 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, finances, associations or health.
  • Health information means information or opinions about a person’s health. It includes information collected in connection with the delivery of health services.

Collecting your personal information

AHPA may collect personal information where this is required for the work we undertake. 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). Wherever practicable any personal information is de-identified.

The type of personal information collected may depend on your interaction with us. If you are an AHPA member, we may collect:

  • your name
  • your contact information (postal address, email address, telephone etc) and your preferred manner of contact for personal and professional purposes
  • information relating to your membership.

If you participate in any of our programs or activities, in addition to the above information, we may collect your credit card or bank details; if you are a job applicant, employee or contractor, we may also collect details about your employment history.

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.

If you do not provide your personal information to AHPA, we may be unable to offer membership to you or to maintain your membership, you may be unable to participate in or have access to our processes, programs, events and activities, or we may be unable to work with you.

Use of your personal information

AHPA will keep your personal information as long as we are legally obliged to keep it, or until the need for the personal information has passed. At that point it will be destroyed, deleted or de-identified.

AHPA’s use of your personal information will depend on our interaction with you. For members, our primary purpose for collection is to administer and provide you with the full benefits of your membership. For other individuals, personal information may be collected to respond to enquiries, communicate and work or transact with you, allow you to participate in our activities and programs 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 the Privacy Act.

Other than for administration, membership or any of the above purposes, AHPA 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 disclosure is required to protect the personal safety of any individual or the public.

We will not use an individual’s personal information for direct marketing purposes unless we are permitted to do so under the Privacy Act.

AHPA does not disclose personal information to any individual or organisation outside Australia. If we transfer personal information to an overseas person or organisation, we will comply with the requirements of the Privacy Act that relate to overseas disclosures.

We do not identify any person by a government created identifier, although we may create and use an AHPA membership number.

Storage and security of your personal information

AHPA takes 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 staff and the contractors who provide services related to our information systems are obliged to respect the confidentiality of any personal information held by us.

Use of cookies on our website

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.

Accessing your personal information

You have the right to access the personal information AHPA holds about you. To do so, please contact us using the contact details below. We reserve the right to refuse you access to your personal information as permitted under the Privacy Act. For example, we may refuse access if your request would pose a serious threat to another’s health, would unreasonably impact on another, or is frivolous or vexatious.

Correction of your personal information

AHPA will take reasonable steps to ensure your personal information held by us is accurate, up-to-date and complete. If you wish to update or correct your personal information, please contact us.

Problems or queries

If you have a problem, query or complaint about how AHPA collects, uses or discloses your personal information, please contact us. We take all aspects of privacy seriously, and welcome your feedback on the relevant issues. If you have a complaint about the manner in which AHPA has handled your personal information, we will investigate the matter relating to your complaint and endeavour to resolve your complaint promptly.

If you are unsatisfied with our response, you may contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at www.oaic.gov.au

Further information

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