Our Commitment
We recognise that your privacy is very important to you. We are committed to protecting the privacy of your Personal Information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).
The Privacy Act details Australian Privacy Principles that set minimum standards for how government agencies and private sector organisations may collect, use, disclose, store, provide access to and correction of Personal Information.
We are committed to complying with the Australian Privacy Principles.
This policy may change from time to time and all changes will be posted on our web site so please check it periodically. Alternatively, contact us and request a copy of our most recent policy.
Whenever using our web site you should read this policy in conjunction with our Terms of Use.
Personal Information we collect
The Personal Information we collect depends on the products and services we offer you or you use or apply for. Typically the details we collect and hold include your name, contact details (address, phone and email address).
How we collect your Personal Information
We collect your personal information in various ways, including via telephone, our website, hard copy forms or email.
Whenever you deal with us we will collect this information directly from you unless it is unreasonable or impracticable for us to do so. In some instances we may collect your information from someone else. This may include our authorised representatives, our distributors or referrers, agents or related entities, another party involved in a claim, family members, anyone you have authorised to deal with us on your behalf.
If you provide Personal Information to us about another person, we rely on you to have made or make them aware that you will, or may, provide their information to us and the types of third parties we may provide it to, the relevant purposes we and any of the third parties will use it for and how they can access it. If you have not done, or will not do, so, you must tell us before you provide the relevant Personal Information.
From time to time we may request Personal Information from you through competitions or surveys. Participation in these competitions or surveys is completely voluntary and you, therefore, have the choice of whether or not you disclose the Personal Information requested.
Why we collect and How we use Personal Information
We collect Personal Information to provide or offer you the various services we distribute, or otherwise as permitted by law. Such purposes include responding to your enquiries, providing you with assistance you request of us, maintaining and administering our services; processing your survey or questionnaire responses; market research and the collection of general statistical information using common internet technologies such as cookies; providing you with marketing information regarding other services (of ours or a third party); quality assurance and training purposes; performing administrative operations (including accounting and risk management) and any other purpose identified at the time of collecting your information.
If you do not consent to us collecting and using all or some of the Personal Information we request, we may not be able to provide you with our services.
Cookies and the collection of information through our website
We may use a cookie that collects anonymous traffic data. A cookie is a message given to a web browser by a web server and which is then stored in a text file. Each time the browser requests a page from the server this message is sent back which enables the user’s computer address (IP address) to be identified.
We may use the information provided by cookies and IP addresses to analyse trends, administer the site, or for research and marketing purposes to help us better serve our clients. No information which personally identifies you will be collected through the cookies. You can set your browser to notify you before you receive a cookie so you have the chance to accept it and can set your browser to turn off cookies. No information which personally identifies you will be collected as part of these cookies.
Sharing and Disclosing your Personal Information
We never sell, rent or trade your Personal Information.
We may share your Personal Information with our Related Companies, our Brand Partners and other third parties who provide services to us or on our behalf.
We will not share your Personal Information with any unrelated party except under the following circumstances:
- in accordance with this Privacy Policy,
- as provided in any privacy notice we give you;
- where a product or service you apply for is provided or supplied by or through a third party;
- where a third party, such as a mailing house, carries out activities on our behalf;
- if disclosure is otherwise required in order to provide you with a particular product or service;
- in order to ensure our ability to continue providing products and services;
- if disclosure is required for the purposes of conducting business analysis in order to improve our products and services;
- if disclosure is required by law or requested by a statutory authority; including the Financial Ombudsman Service, other dispute resolution providers, government bodies, regulators and other law enforcement agencies;
- where a third party has an interest in the product or service we supply, for example a referral agent, distributor or insurance intermediary;
- where it is necessary for a third party to assist us in providing our services, for example, underwriters, insurance intermediaries, reinsurers, insurance reference bureaus, credit providers, external IT service providers, external claims data collectors and verifiers, lawyers, accountants, and others involved in the claims handling process;
- where you have provided your consent – which may be given expressly or may reasonably be implied by your conduct
Related and unrelated third parties to whom your Personal Information is disclosed are required to keep the information confidential and only use it for the same purposes we are permitted to use it.
Quality of your Personal Information
We aim to ensure that your Personal Information is accurate, complete and up to date.
During the course of your relationship with us we will ask you to inform us of any changes to your Personal Information. You should, however, contact us at any time to update your Personal Information or advise us that the information we have is not accurate or complete.
Security of your Personal Information
We are committed to keeping your Personal Information secure and will use all reasonable precautions to protect it from loss, misuse or interference and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure, including:
- Physically securing external and internal premises;
- Maintaining computer and network security such as user identifiers and passwords to control access to computer systems;
- Restricting access to your Personal Information to employees or those who perform services on our behalf who are authorised to handle your Personal Information and on a ‘needs to know’ basis;
- Entering into confidentiality agreements with relevant employees and third parties;
- Appropriate training of staff;
- Retaining your Personal Information for no longer than it is reasonably required to service a policy or continue to provide any products and services to you, unless we are required by law to retain it for longer;
- Taking reasonable steps to destroy or de-identify Personal Information that we no longer require or which was unsolicited and we identify that we would not have otherwise collected it from you.
Access to and Correction of your Personal Information
You may generally access the information we hold about you and request corrections. This right is subject to the exceptions detailed in the Australian Privacy Principles. For example, we may refuse access where the:
- information may have an unreasonable impact on the privacy of others;
- request is frivolous or vexatious;
- information relates to existing or anticipated legal proceedings and would not be accessible by the process of discovery in those proceedings;
- information would reveal our intentions in relation to negotiations in such a way as to prejudice those negotiations.
If we refuse access or to give access in the manner requested by you we will let you know why in writing.
Where providing access would reveal evaluative information in connection with a commercially sensitive decision-making process, we will provide an explanation for the decision rather than direct access to the information.
For access to complex information or more detailed requests for access to your Personal Information, for example, access to information that is archived, we may require you to place your request in writing and charge you a fee for our reasonable costs of retrieving and supplying the information to you.
In all cases you will be asked to verify who you are before your Personal Information is provided.
All requests for Personal Information will be handled in a reasonable period of time.
How to contact us
If you have any questions, suggestions or complaints about our privacy practices or this privacy policy, please contact us by sending an email. We will respond to your question, suggestion or complaint as soon as possible.
If you are not satisfied with our response to your enquiry or complaint you can contact us and request that it be reviewed by a senior staff member who will endeavour to resolve your dispute within 30 days. If you are still not satisfied we will tell you about any options you have to refer the matter to a recognised external dispute resolution.
You can obtain information on privacy issues in Australia by visiting the website of the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (“OAIC”) located at www.oaic.gov.au or by contacting the OAIC by email at enquiries@oaic.gov.au or by calling on 1300 363 992.
