1. As a requirement of the Privacy Act 1988, and the National Privacy Principles all  clients of the Commonwealth Carelink Centre, North Metropolitan Region must be informed of:

  • the reasons they may be asked to provide personal information,
  • their right to refuse to provide that information,
  • the manner in which any personal information which they do provide will be stored, and
  • the purposes for which such information may be used.

Information Requested by Staff

The Commonwealth Carelink Centre may seek basic demographic data from you such as your name, address and/or phone number, fax number, e-mail address.  In addition you will be asked to provide information about the nature of difficulty you may be experiencing, your diagnosis where relevant, and whether or not you are currently receiving assistance from other providers.

 

Your permission will be sought before any information is recorded and retained by Commonwealth Carelink Centre.

 

Use of Information

 

The Commonwealth Carelink Centre reassures its service users that all personal information it collects is strictly confidential and that Commonwealth Carelink Centre will not disclose such information to another party except in the following situations:

  •  where there is a statutory obligation to do so,
  • where relevant regulatory bodies such as those who fund service provision require such disclosure,
  • where contracted individuals require the specific personal information to evaluate and monitor service provision from the Commonwealth Carelink Centre.

A copy of the Privacy Statement is available upon request.

 

Commonwealth Carer Respite Privacy Obligations

 

    The Privacy Act (1988) places an obligation (as record keepers) on agencies funded by the Australian Government, to ensure that all people with access to Carer Respite Centre records comply with the following principles when handling personal information:

  • Collection of information must be lawful and fair.
  • Informing people why information is collected.
  • Ensuring personal information collected is of good quality and not too intrusive.
  • Ensuring proper security of personal information.
  • Allowing people to know what personal information is collected and why.
  • Allowing people access to their own records.
  • Ensuring that personal information stored is is of good quality, including allowing people to obtain correction where it is not.
  • Ensuring that personal information is of good quality before use.
  • Ensuring that personal information is relevant before use.
  • Limiting the use of personal information to the purposes for which it was collected.
  • Preventing the disclosure of personal information outside the service.

Note: These principles have been summarised and a short version offered in this context. the complete form of these principles is available in the Privacy ACt (1998) as amended by the Privacy Amendement (Private Sector) Act 2000. the ACt, accompanying guidelines and Information Sheets on the application f the Privacy Act are available on the Federal Privacy Commissioner website at www.privacy.gov.au