Privacy Notice

Why do we collect your personal information?

The Organisation requests this information so we can provide services and can plan and implement requirements for obtaining Government funding.

What personal information do we collect?

The type of personal information we may collect includes:

• contact information (such as your name, address, email address, and telephone number);
• personal information (such as your gender, date of birth, Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander status);
• information regarding your general practice training status or fellowship status (for example, your medical college, Regional Training Organisation, expected year of training completion);
• the status of your university studies (such as your expected graduation year, student ID number, university, year of study);
• information relating to your prevocational hospital training year;
• any feedback that you provide to us about our products and services, our website, or other matters.

What other information do we collect?

Personal information may be collected by way of forms filled out by individuals (including hard-copy and online forms), surveys, emails, telephone conversations, market research, face-to-face meetings and interviews. Where necessary we supplement the information we receive from you with information from third party sources, such as information about you that is available on public record. This includes, but is not limited to, the status of your medical registration as listed by Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA).

We also collect analytical information about our website visitors, eNewsletter readers, and social media audiences, using analytics provided by third-party service providers such as Google Analytics, Facebook Analytics and Twitter Analytics. Some of these services use cookies to assist in understanding how visitors access and utilise our site. A cookie is a file containing small amounts of information which is downloaded to your computer or mobile device when you visit a website.

How might we use and disclose your personal information?

Generally, the Organisation may use and disclose your personal information for a range of purposes, including:

• to provide you with our core membership services;
• to provide you with our products or services that you have requested;
• to respond to your queries or feedback;
• to facilitate your participation in events;
• to enable our standards development work in general, such as evaluating stakeholder proposals and accrediting or auditing standards;
• to provide you with any electronic or hard-copy communications or publications in which we think you might be interested, or which you have requested;
• to let you know about developments in our Organisation, as well as products, services, activities and programs that might be of interest to you;
• to analyse and improve all aspects of our organisation including, but not limited to, our standards development processes, our business systems, processes, outcomes, communication, website, engagement and performance;
• purposes to which you have consented;
• any other circumstances authorised by the Privacy Act.

Disclosure of personal information to other parties

If you are a part of the GPSN network, your membership information will be shared with the leadership of your local GPSN club that may include (but is not limited to) the Club Chair, Secretary and Events Officer.

Membership information that identifies you personally will not be passed on to or shared with any third parties, unless you give the Organisation permission. From time to time, we provide general statistics and information about our members to third parties, for example, the number of members who are GP Fellows.

We do not sell or license your personal information to third parties.

We may also disclose your personal information if it is required or authorised by law, where disclosure is necessary to prevent a threat to life, health or safety, or where we are otherwise permitted by the Privacy Act.

Security and management of personal information

The Organisation will take reasonable steps to protect the personal information we hold from misuse and loss and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. The ways we do this include:

• limiting physical access to our premises;
• limiting access to the information we collect about you (for instance, only those in our Organisation who need your information to carry out our business activities are allowed access and committee or working group members only have access to the contact details of members);
• requiring any third party providers to have acceptable security measures to keep personal information secure; and
• putting in place physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards in line with industry standards.

If we no longer require your personal information and are not legally required to retain it, the Organisation will take reasonable steps to destroy or permanently de-identify the personal information.

Links from our website to other websites

Our website may contain links to third party websites. We do not own or manage these websites and are not responsible for the collection or handling of personal information gathered by the owners and managers of these websites.

Accessing and updating your personal information

Under the Australian Privacy Principles, you may be able to obtain a copy of your personal information held by the Organisation.

The Australian Privacy Principles provide some exceptions to your rights in this regard. To make a request to access this information, please contact us in writing. We will require you to verify your identity and specify what information you require.

We endeavour to ensure that the personal information we hold about you is accurate, complete and up-to-date. Please contact the Organisation at the contact address set out below if you believe that the information we hold about you requires correction or is out-of-date.

To access or update your personal information email enquiries@gpra.org.au or call 03 9629 8878.

Complaints

If you are concerned that we have not complied with your legal rights or applicable privacy laws, you may bring a complaint internally through our complaints process or you may decide to make a formal complaint with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, which is the regulator responsible for privacy in Australia.

We will deal with complaints as follows:

1. If you would like to make a complaint, you should let us know by contacting our Privacy Officer (see below for contact details).
2. We will launch an investigation of your complaint. Our Privacy Officer will investigate your complaint.
3. A response to your complaint will be provided in writing within a reasonable period.
4. If you are dissatisfied with the response, you can also contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner. Complaints must be made in writing. You can contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) through the details below.
   Director of Compliance
   Office of the Australian
   Information Commissioner
   GPO Box 5218
   Sydney NSW 2001
   www.oaic.gov.au 1300 363 992