Privacy collection notice
Improving our service
The Department of Social Services (we, the department) collects feedback and complaints from the public so that we can work on doing things better. One of the ways we improve is by investigating the concerns you tell us about so that we can resolve them.
Providing information to us
You do not have to tell us who you are when you provide feedback or make a complaint, but this may limit how we can respond to you.
Where you have contacted us about a program or service we deliver with or through others, then our investigation may mean we need to work with them. By asking for our help, we have understood that you agree that the department and other agencies or organisations may share personal information about you, as part of investigating and resolving your concern. This may include any sensitive information you share with us when you make your complaint, such as information about your health.
If you change your mind and don’t want your personal information to be shared in this way, please let us know. This may mean we can’t help you as much as we would like to.
Sharing with our partners
We deliver programs and services with the cooperation and assistance of a range of people and organisations. To resolve your concern, we may need to share information with our delivery partners. Below are examples of who we may need to include to help resolve your concerns.
| Type of concern or issue | Delivery partners we may need to include |
|---|---|
| Centrelink benefits | Services Australia |
| Transition to Independent Living Allowance | Services Australia |
| Child support | Services Australia |
| National Disability Insurance Scheme matter | The National Disability Insurance Agency |
| Redress application | Your nominee or (depending on your query) the relevant institution |
| Disability employment services | Other services we fund that you have already accessed as part of raising your issue, such as the Complaints Resolution and Referral Service (CRRS) and the National Customer Service Line (NCSL), your Disability Employment Service Provider or the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations. |
| Experience with information or support services we fund such as 1800RESPECT, CRRS NCSL and Carer Gateway | Our commercial partner who delivers the services to you |
If we collect your personal information under legislation (like the National Redress Scheme for Institutional Child Sexual Abuse Act 2018), there may be rules under that legislation about how we may deal with your personal information as well. Visit the Redress Scheme website to learn more about how personal information is handled in the Redress Privacy Policy(Opens in a new tab/window).
You should also be aware that the department may share your personal information if it is necessary to do this to lessen or prevent a serious risk to the life, health of safety of any person, or to public health or safety. If you report possible fraud or other misconduct to us, we may also use and disclose personal information in that report to investigate.
You can find more information about how we handle personal information by reading our Privacy Policy. This includes information about how to contact us to access or correct information about you, and your rights to make a complaint about how we handle your personal information.
Information collected through our website
We use the GovCMS platform provided by the Department of Finance to run our website.
This means that when you contact us through our website, the Department of Finance may collect and use website analytics information about your activity on our website. We do this too. Read our Privacy Policy to learn more.
When you contact us through our website, the Department of Finance and its subcontractors may only access your personal information in the GovCMS platform if they have to do this to maintain or fix the platform. Some subcontractor staff may access the GovCMS platform from other countries.
Personal and sensitive information
We handle your personal and sensitive information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988.
‘Personal information’ is any information or opinion about an individual whose identity is apparent, or can reasonably be ascertained, from the information.
‘Sensitive information’ is a subset of personal information and is defined as information or an opinion (that is also personal information) about an individual's:
- racial or ethnic origin
- political opinions
- membership of a political association
- religious beliefs or affiliations
- philosophical beliefs
- membership of a professional or trade association
- membership of a trade union
- sexual orientation or practices
- criminal record
Sensitive information may also be defined as:
- personal information
- health information about an individual
- genetic information about an individual that is not otherwise health information
- biometric information that is to be used for the purpose of automated biometric verification or biometric identification
- biometric templates.